Kaiulani, The Ship That started Members of NMHS and readers of Sea History will be well familiar with the lines of the barque Kaiulani; her image is captured in the line drawing of the NMHS logo, it appears on our letterhead and merchandise, and recently we even released a magnet with the image of Kaiulani dashing through the waves. Our website and publications explain that NMHS was founded to save Kaiulani, but despite valiant efforts, that battle was lost. All of this will be old news to those who have been with NMHS since the beginning, but the many NMHS members and readers who have discovered us in the years since our founding may have some questions: What was the Kaiulani, and what made her so special, enough to inspire the founding of a national organization to save her? Why didn't the campaign succeed? In this our SO'h anniversary year, it seemed like a good idea to retell the tale of the Kaiulani, and how she inspired so many people from all walks of life to band together in their efforts to bring her back to our shores.
K
aiulani was built in the Arthur Sewall & Co. shipyard in Bath, Maine, in 1899. Williams, Dimond & Co. commissioned the ship for the
regular sugar packet trade between Hawaii and San Francisco, carrying raw sugar for H. Hackfeld & Co. The 1,570-ton threemasted steel barque was 225' 7" long and
was designed by naval architect J. A. Hargan, of Brooklyn, New York. The new ship was launched into the Kennebec River on 2 December 1899, nine months after the death of the ill-fated crown princess of the deposed Hawaiian monarchy, Princess V ictoria Kaiulani C leghorn. The young princess h ad been sent to England for her education and was abroad when the monarchical government led by her aunt, Queen Lydia Liliuokalani, was overthrown in 1893. Miss Cleghorn set out on a speaking tour in the United States to argue against American annexation of H awaii, but the U ni ted States annexed the territory of Hawaii in 1898. She returned to H awaii, but died not long thereafter of illness at the age of23. Arthur Sewall's son , Harold Marsh Sewall, had encountered the yo ung princess at the theater one evening, and she made quite an impression on him, nodding to him from where she was seated. The elder Sewall named the barque Kaiulani ("royal, sacred one") in her honor. Kaiulani's first journey out was not auspicious; upon setting out from New York en route to Honolulu, the barque had to turn back for repairs after a storm carried away her fore and main topgallant masts. W hat followed, however, was a ten-year career for Hackfeld, carrying raw sugar from the islands to San Francisco and returning with machinery, canned goods, dairy cows, and grain. She also carried passengers at a fare of $40 per person, a significant reduction from the $75 typically charged by steamers for the same passage. In the offseason, Kaiulani sailed to Australia for coal.
(left) The Kai ulani was built in Maine for service in the Pacific, between Hawaii and San Francisco at the turn ofthe century. 10
SEA HISTORY 142, SPRING 2013