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Island History
William Owen Smith
By Hank Soboleski for The Garden Island
W. O. Smith (1848-1929), the eldest son of Kaua‘i missionaries Dr. and Mrs. James W. Smith, was born in Koloa and grew up there when the town was a port of call for whalers.
Years later, Smith recalled that during the boom years of whaling, between 1843 and 1860, as many as forty to sixty whalers called at Koloa each year for supplies of vegetables, fruit, beef, pork, firewood and water.
These whalers would often not anchor, but would instead lay offshore while Yankee captains in whaleboats were rowed to Koloa Landing to purchase provisions.
Ashore they’d bargain with George Charman, a jovial and sociable soul who acted as middleman for Koloa merchants. Wood sold at $5 per cord; fresh beef cost $.04 per pound; sheep were priced at $3 per head; goats were bought for half that price.
Salt beef was carried aboard in barrels. Pigs and cattle were loaded on board ship to be slaughtered later, and provisioned whalers could be seen with crookneck squashes strung about their sterns and in their rigging.
While growing up, Smith also knew people now generally forgotten in Kauai’s history.
There was Koloa Plantation manager John Burbank, known as “Keoni Lehe-pala” (John sore lip), since his lips were often burned by the sun. Dr. Wood was nicknamed “Kauka Poalu-maka,” because he’d once removed a patient’s eye.
Gentlemanly E. Lilikalani served as District Judge. David Kealahula taught at the government school. Nakapaahu kept the local jail, and Captain Likeke sailed a schooner running between Koloa and Honolulu.
Although Smith achieved success in Hawai‘i as sheriff, lawyer, legislator, attorney general and Bishop Estate trustee, it was by his leadership in planning the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani and the Monarchy in 1893 that he made his mark in Hawai‘i’s history.
Years later, Smith recalled that during the boom years of whaling, between 1843 and 1860, as many as forty to sixty whalers called at Koloa each year for supplies of vegetables, fruit, beef, pork, firewood and water.
These whalers would often not anchor, but would instead lay offshore while Yankee captains in whaleboats were rowed to Koloa Landing to purchase provisions.
Ashore they’d bargain with George Charman, a jovial and sociable soul who acted as middleman for Koloa merchants. Wood sold at $5 per cord; fresh beef cost $.04 per pound; sheep were priced at $3 per head; goats were bought for half that price.
Salt beef was carried aboard in barrels. Pigs and cattle were loaded on board ship to be slaughtered later, and provisioned whalers could be seen with crookneck squashes strung about their sterns and in their rigging.
While growing up, Smith also knew people now generally forgotten in Kauai’s history.
There was Koloa Plantation manager John Burbank, known as “Keoni Lehe-pala” (John sore lip), since his lips were often burned by the sun. Dr. Wood was nicknamed “Kauka Poalu-maka,” because he’d once removed a patient’s eye.
Gentlemanly E. Lilikalani served as District Judge. David Kealahula taught at the government school. Nakapaahu kept the local jail, and Captain Likeke sailed a schooner running between Koloa and Honolulu.
Although Smith achieved success in Hawai‘i as sheriff, lawyer, legislator, attorney general and Bishop Estate trustee, it was by his leadership in planning the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani and the Monarchy in 1893 that he made his mark in Hawai‘i’s history.
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