The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 39

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-s I. I -f vjl -i- t'rvA'x ii il1 -11" UII i of the Mediterranean Cleopatra's Barge had on board merry Latin musicians, hired to amuse these Yankee yachtsmen. The note on this in Ben's diary suggests that perhaps Uncle George was born a hundred years too soon. Gratification of tastes such as his was an art which did not reach the full flower of its growth until the years just preceding 1929. But Crowninshield's dream was a shortlived one.

In ISo-vemher, 1817, a month after the brig's return to Salem, America's first yachtsman died. Hardly had he been bijried before Cleopatra's Barge was pressed into trade. She made one trip to Bio de Janeiro and then for a couple of years plied as a passenger packet between Boston and Charleston, S. C. In 1820 her new owners, the firm of Bryant Sturgis of inshield, a cousin who had fought at Bunker Hill, and his son "Philosopher Ben," as navigator, the brig left New England's cold shores and headed across the Atlantic.

The diary of young Ben" tells a gay story of their trip: of their stop at the Azores in April and how they were chased by Moorish pirates off the coast of Spain. At Genoa Baron von Zack, famed German astronomer, came aboard and was amazed at the astronomical knowledge of young Ben and even of the negro cook who offered the astounded astronomer the information that Cleopatra's Barge was navigated largely upon the principles of Make-lyne, Lyons, Wichel and Bow-ditch. The; baron did not know, you see. that the cook was a pupil of Ben's, had himself accompanied Capt. James mand, and on November 6 of the same year hove to off 'Lahaina, Maui.

With bis court. King Liho-liho went aboard the brig for a royal inspection on November 9. He was evidently immediately "sold on the yacht's splendor. lie would buy it. The price? Well, thev would let him have it for of sandalwood, to be paid over a period of two years.

That, had the king deigned to figure it out, was about $80.000, with sandalwood selling for S10 a picul, a pieul being 133 pounds. for the already rotting hulk of a ship which five vears before had cost to build! No wonder Ralph S. Kuy-kendall in his work, "Early Hawaiian Commercial Development," points the sale out as one of the "glaring examples" of trade with the islanders! But Liholiho was more than pleased. Immediately he changed the yacht's name to Ifaaheo-o-Hawaii, or Pride of Hawaii, and placed her in the royal service. The king evidently celebrated his bargain well, according to Miionary Hiram Binrrbam's description of hi return to Oahu bruary 8.

Tu his account tcllmi of the firing of guns from the fort and Punchbowl, the leader wrote: "Successive flashing, of their bl -e on the dark curtain of By ALEXANDER MACOONALD ONE lack night in February, 821, the roar of guru anil cannon rou-rd Oahu to vakcfulness. A volley of shots crackled from the lieach at Waikiki anrl cannon mnuth? bclcherl red from tin fort down on the watrrfrnnt and from the summit nf Piniclibol. The din brnusht villagers swarm'nij; out of grass shacks alone the shore from Fort street to the plains of Waikiki. They peered out over the eea. "Ka MoiP thev cried.

'Ka Moil" And hoomin-voiced criers paed among the excited throngs demanding that dng and poi be made ready for a great reception. Some signal from the sea hail told that the king was returning, l.iholiho was back from a trip to Lahaina, Maui. In it-elf that tni-rht not have orcasiotu sm great furore, for rftfn the king went to the windward of Oahu or to the other i-le-. Hut tliiss time Kamr liamrha II wa- bringing hack the woudroit new ship whose fame had already spread frmn to villace through tin archipelago. The prospect of an early glimpse of llarg' such was the roval yacht named was rnoimh to turti all Oahu topsy-turvy.

Had l.iholiho not pledged SoO.Orw) worth of sandalwood for this new vanity? Had the diip not come half way around the all the way from Boston. for the pleasure of the kina? Was it not "1 echoes from the I JL SL I wnx, true that she wa painted all tl ie colors ll rainbow? in it he would sail the seven seas. Perhaps he had in mind, too, further glorification of the name of Crowninshield, already famous in American maritime history. His own brother, Benjamin, had been secretary of the navy under President Madison and in the War of 1812 three Crowninshield ships, one of them the famed America, had wrought havoc as privateers among the British merchant fleet. Another Crowninshield privateer in 1812 was the Jefferson, a s-loop which George had built in 1801 and which wa the first yacht in America.

Cleopatra's Barge, America's second yacht, was to gain greater fame because she was the first ever to sail foreign waters. So this idealistic Yankee, who became America's first yachtsman, called upon Retire Beckert, famous Salem shipwright, to build his dream ship. In the spring of 1816 the work was begun. On October 21 of the same year Cleopatra's Barge was launched. On December 6 she was ready for inspection.

Half of Salem went down to the docks that day to see the ship and doubtless there were among their exclamations of wonder as many murmuring? of "folly" and "frivolousness" that a Crowninshield should dedicate such a ship to pleasure and not to gainful trade in the Far East. Nine hundred persons were received aboard that day and for days after that hundreds filed, awe-eyed, through her exquisite cabins. On January 13, 1817, Cleopatra's Barge took a trial cruise through the frigid waters of Massachusetts Bav to sign, also in varied hues. They could see she measured about 83 feet in length and about 23 feet across the beam. If they were among the fortunate who got aboard for an interior inspection they saw a main cabin exquisitely finished with mahogany inlaid with birdseye maple and other woods.

The mahogany furniture was upholstered in red velvet and gold lace. There were even two large sofas with gilt-bronze ornaments. Rare oriental draperies hung from the walls. Off the main cabin there were five staterooms, decorated with as much lavishness. Forward were quarters for a crew of a dozen men.

From bow to stern every fitting and every furnishing on the brig was a concession to luxury. Cleopatra's Barge wa a palace afloat. She was a ship fit for a king! Who. now, had had this float ins: palace created? Who had conceived of a ship built only for pleasure when in those early nineteenth century davs a ship did not exist but had war or commerce for its function? Perhaps some East Indian prince, squandering some of his plenty in the indulgence of a passing whim. But no prince created Cleopatra's Barge.

A hard-headed Yankee had been her builder. George Crowninshield of Salem, visualizing the riches he had amassed in the China and East India trades, decided one day in 1815 to devote the rest of his life gratifying to the fullest his love for ships and the sea. He would build for his own pleasure the finest vessel that shipbuilders could make and fw lit I of their report, shouting of natives, voice of the crier dema'ulins hosr. drs. poi, for reception of his majesty (who was in his cups) formed a combination of the snh'ime and the ridiculous." Records tell little of the doings in Hawaii of Cleopatra's Barge save that for three year? the bns shuttled about the in the service of the kinz.

One reference that on May 28. she took two mi--'Claries. Messrs. Richards and Stewart, from Oahu to L-'hais. surest- that Liholiho in hi- more charitable turned her over or-casionrdly to purposes other tbrn his own pleasure.

But no kinily or kindlv cesture wa the use to which Knmohamcha II put Bnrse on September 16, 1821. There occurred aboard the shin that day no less an incident than the kidnapingby an emperor of a kins! L-hohho, bv virtue of the exrVit-i rf his conquering father, Kamehameha the Great, was emperor of all the cf Hawaii. He was (Continued on-the Second Page) i lhat she had sofa and furniture trimmed in gold lace? it i a enough to in-trisrup th, people. Hu? thpy were not to see the yacht thai rmiht. ith fl ares burning on her decks, she ve to off the reef drift- ahoul until mornins.

hen he came in next day 'hp foot Fort -treet was thronged with the curious. Outriggrr canoes, crowded to jbe gunwales, clustered about beneath the -hull of the yacht, wide-eyed paddlers and pas-fenaers getting a view. They saw a gaudily-painted brig, her square sails trimlv ticy incj "round to the starboard side -J7 the h.ull j)ainted in bricking horizontal stripes, all colors of the rainbow. On the port -ide they saw her bull done in hcrriiur bone de CLEOPATRA'S BARGE, PLAYTHING OF A TRADER AND A KING. A romantic history was that of the gaudy yacht George Crowninshield, Massachusetts trader, built in 1816 and which was later sold to King Kamehameha II of Hawaii.

This above sketch, drawn by Jerry Chong, Advertiser artist, depicts Cleopatra's Barge arriving in the night off Oahu with Liholiho aboard. At the top rieht is pleasure-loving Liholiho, Mho bought the royal yacht for $80,000 and at the left, Capt. John Suter, the Yankee skipper who sold it to him. Below are contemporary sketches, one of Cleopatra's Barge and the other an artist's sketch cf the Honolulu of those times. The sketch of "Hanarourou," was done by Louis Choris, French artist aboard the Russian expedition ship Runck which Hawaii in 1816.

Boston, decided to send Cleopatra's Barge to Hawaii where she might be traded off to a spendthrift king reputed to be on the throne. On June 18 the brig sailed for the Pacific, Capt. John Suter in com- Cook on his Pacific cruising and that Ben, in turn, was a Salem neighbor and favorite pupil of Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematical genius. All through a glorious cruise view Crowninshield's proud folly. By March everything was ready for Crowninshield's dream cruise to the Old World.

On the 30th, under command of Capt. Ben Crown- Gloucester, making a stirring picture in the winter sun. She returned the next day hut became frozen fast in the harbor. For days after that hundreds more Salemites braved their way across the ice to.