Looking Back on These Island's History

 Imagine, if you will,  that we can look back through misty time and see the past. 

This Blog is dedicated to an historical look at Hawaii's Late Traditional Period and the Historical Period before the reign of Kamehameha the Great.   We must deal in myth and legend, but I hope not to dwell in fairy tales and stories arising out of Western influences.

The information I present will primarily be a result of the research I do in investigating these times of people for my novels.  I will cite my sources as best as possible.  I present this with the deepest respect for the past.   However what I present is what I have come to feel is the 'best truth' I can arrive at.  It may not be your truth.   The Hawaiians of the past realized this.

"E Ehu Ana ka Wa i Hala, na Mea i Hala"  ...Time itself Obscures the Past.

An old saying from the times past, often passed among those who sat to tell the stories or recite the myths.  We can not know for sure.  We can only reach out, extend our hands an hope that the spirits of the past touch us in a way that provides some insight into their lives. 

You are welcome to join me as I relate what I have learned.  I hope you find it entertaining and educational. 

Aloha,  M.N. Muench

The First European to Anchor in (what is now known as) Honolulu Harbor.

Being First always seems to be important to people. Often first does not mean best

So can you answer the question "Who the first European was to enter and moor in Honolulu Harbor?"

The Lady Washington was actually the third vessel to enter the harbor.  She arrived  a week or so after the Jackal, but no body bothered to catch the Jackal on their iphone. 

Above is pictured the Lady Washington (90 tonnes) and the Columbia her sister ship, (after which the river is named). 

Times up.... no it wasn't Cook and it wasn't Vancouver, but good try on the latter. It was a British former Naval Lieutenant, and Atlantic Whaling Captain, William Brown, pictured below with his crew..

Brown's first command as he entered the Honolulu Harbor  
......" Make is so!"
(Though some report is was actually "Where's the warf Worf?"

Who? You ask. That’s right, few people know the man’s name and fewer know who he was, or why he was bothering with Honolulu. Well the fact was is that the lagoon was called Kou back before the turn of the 19th Century. So it sometimes gets confusing. To add to that, Brown himself named the harbor Fair Haven, but it was a bit of a misnomer; at least from his point of view. For a few years after Brown's visit it was also called Brown's Harbor by the occasional trader who came along the south coast of Oahu.