Cleopatra's Barge - The Pride of Hawai'i

Evocative lines from a Shakespearean play gave inspiration for the name of a ship that was to play an interesting role in Hawaiian history. Hidden out of sight, beneath the sands and waves of Hanalei for over a hundred and seventy years, a King's vessel is now being brought to light by archaeologists and volunteers from the Smithsonian Institution and the Sandwich Islands Shipwreck Museum.

Teredo worms and winter surf have long since removed visible signs of the sailing ship that has the distinction of being the first ocean-going pleasure yacht ever built in the United States. Underwater archaeologists from the Smithsonian Institution have teamed up with volunteers from the Sandwich Island Shipwreck Museum, and other historically minded members of the island's community, to uncover the remains of a once proud ship and document the findings of a story that began in Salem Mass. as early as 1815.
It was in that year that the shipping firm of George Crowningshield & Sons was dissolved. George Crowningshield Sr. had made the family fortune as a privateer during the Revolution and War of 1812. The following spring, his eldest son, George Jr., commissioned Salem's most prominent shipbuilder, Retire Becket, to construct a hermaphrodite brig measuring 100 feet along the deck. Hermaphrodite refers to the sail plan being square-rigged on the main mast and fore-and-aft rigged on the mizzen. It was to be a ship of pleasure, not war or commerce. No expense was spared. Christened Cleopatra's Barge after the inspirational lines in Act II, scene ii of William Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, George Jr. had spent $50,000 on the ship and a like amount on the furnishings.
A six-month voyage of pleasure was undertaken in April of 1817. The luxurious yacht anchored in sixteen ports in southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Many, many people visited the ship. Up to eight thousand would come out in a single day, just to feast their eyes on the opulent splendor that few had come to expect from an American. Returning to Salem, George Crowningshield Jr. began to plan his second voyage. He was suddenly taken ill and passed away. Family members removed the expensive furnishings and auctioned Cleopatra's Barge in July of 1818 for $15,400. Fortunately, many of those furnishings have since been donated to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. and are on display there today. One run to Rio de Janeiro, for a cargo of coffee, proved to her new owners that, although fast, her construction made her unfit for use as a cargo ship. The Boston merchant firm of Bryant & Sturgis decided that it would be a worthwhile gamble to send the smart looking vessel to Hawaii and trade her there for sandalwood, a commodity highly prized in the Orient by the Chinese artisans for its clear grain and sweet smell. King Kamehameha II, Liholiho, was found in Lahina on November 6, 1820. He inspected the ship as soon as possible and owned her outright nine days later. The King took the helm after promising to pay 8,000 piculs of sandalwood. The going price at the time was $10 pr. picul, so the shippers made a good profit on the transaction.
Liholiho cherished his new yacht and immediately renamed her Ha'aheo o Hawaii or Pride of Hawaii. The royal court traveled frequently aboard her as they commuted between the islands on personal and government business. Missionaries and foreign visitors often mentioned the King's brig in their diaries, journals and letters to friends back home. One of the more notable channel crossing was in September of 1821, when Kaumuali'i, the King of Kauai, was detained below decks and brought to Honolulu as Liholiho's reluctant guest.
Two years later, with affairs in the islands now under control, Liholiho and his favorite wife departed for London, in hopes of having an audience with King George IV. Unfortunately, the royal couple contracted measles and died without meeting the sovereign. Had he lived to return to the Islands, Liholiho would have been heartbroken to learn that his beloved Ha'aheo o Hawaii has suffered shipwreck on April 5, 1824, and been abandoned at the mouth of the Waioli River, in Hanalei. The exact cause of her demise remains a matter of speculation. Missionaries of the period blamed a drunken crew, others said it was the Captain's fault. Some historians now wonder if the King's vessel might not have been scuttled by the Kauaians in retaliation for the loss of their own King, who remained a virtual prisoner in Honolulu at the time.
What we do know is that a few days later, the Reverend Hiram Bingham was making a circuit around Kauai when he came upon the salvage attempt. His account speaks of a vast gathering of the people who had constructed thick ropes made of hau bark and tied them to the base of the masts. He explained how an old man sang the ancient chant to the god Lono, which had been used in ancient times when the people needed to haul heavy logs from the mountains. He wrote that "the multitude quietly listened some six or eight minutes, at a particular turn or passage in the song, indicating the order to march, rose together, and as the song continued with increasing volubility and force, slowly moved forward in silence, and all leaning from the shore strained their cables, tugging together to heave up the vessel. The brig felt their power -- rolled up slowly towards the shore, and there instantly stopped; but the immense team moved unchecked, and the mainmast broke and fell with all its shrouds, being taken off by the cables drawn by unaided muscular strength. The hull instantly rolled back to its former place, and was given up as irrecoverable."
Reverend Bingham's account was the primary piece of research that lead Dr. Paul F. Johnston, curator of Maritime History at the Smithsonian Institution, to believe that her remains might be found. When asked about the significance of this particular shipwreck, Dr. Johnston responded that, "due to the tropical environment of the Hawaiian Islands, almost nothing is preserved of the early 19th century and fewer than a handful of artifacts remain from Liholiho's reign. His ship and her contents promise to amplify that sparse story and provide information about early New England shipbuilding." The opportunity to investigate this wrecksite began to excite many experts in archaeological and historical circles. Before any search could begin there was the matter of permits. As it turned out, Dr. Johnston's request was the first time applications had been received in the State of Hawaii for any underwater archaeology. Permits eventually were granted from, not only the D.L.N.R., but also from the Office of Environmental Quality Control, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, and the County of Kauai as well.
With the proper paperwork in hand and generous support from the Princeville Corp., the archaeologists boarded the research vessel Pilialoha at Haleiwa Harbor and crossed the Kauai Channel to begin the first season of work on the King's vessel. July of 1995 was spent using modern search techniques to locate the remains of the shipwreck in Hanalei. A proton precession magnetometer was brought out from Memphis, Tnn. by Steven R. James Jr. of Pan American Consultants. That, along with satellite navigation, old charts and intuition combined to help locate a shipwreck at the mouth of the Waioli Stream.
Now, the scientists had to determine if they had the correct vessel. The problem was that the remains were located five to ten feet below the sand and had to be carefully uncovered so as not to damage the artifacts or the nearby reef structure. Fortunately, the Pilialoha was outfitted with a propwash-deflector, affectionately called Kaipuhi by her crewmembers.
By gently dusting off the sand, period artifacts began to be exposed. Glass and porcelain sherds, bits of bone and encrusted iron were carefully recorded and brought to the surface for later conservation. Bronze spikes and large drift-pins indicated that they were getting towards the bottom of the wreckage.
Bits of hull sheeting, crumpled at the time of the shipwreck or mashed by the relentless winter surf, were located and recovered. The most important artifact of the first season was a fragmentary sheet of copper hull sheeting that retained the makers mark: "W&G / G 24".
Dr. Johnston explains that the real work for archaeologists begins when they get back to the office and begin to conserve and catalog the artifacts. Further research and testing often brings out results that are not possible in the field. For instance, the maker's mark was traced to a company in Liverpool named Williams, Grenfell & Co. who had shipped the copper to New York before it made it's way to the Salem shipyard. X-rays on some of the encrusted metal revealed exciting artifacts such as a two-pronged fork and a folding knife.
The 1996 season went well as Dr. Johnston and his team were aware that they were on the proper shipwreck. That summer's diving was spent determining the extent of the wreckage. Similar artifacts were brought up and a general layout of the wreckage began to take shape. When the weather cleared, Captain Rick was able to back Pilialoha's stern right up to the reef wall, where they soon discovered an area of the ship's timbers, as well as some of the upper wood work and interior furnishings. Fragile artifacts such as a calabash gourd, a leather holster, a wooden wheel as well as block and tackle, with the ropes and lines still running through them, were gathered for preservation. The large ship's timbers were carefully reburied and markers were placed on the reef so that they could return to the find the next summer.
Futtocks, floor joints, and ceiling timbers were found connected to the keelson by treenails, iron spikes and drift pins. Bronze nails secured the copper sheathing to the outer hull. Hand-bored holes and adze-notched fittings were carefully measured during the summer of 1997. Diver Robert Spielman engineered specialized tools.Archaeologist Tom Ormsby applied his skills as an underwater illustrator to document the finds. When asked about his part of the project, he likes to say that "it is like mapping a grossly oversized pile of pickup sticks, numbering them, then figuring out how they once fit together." While the team of maritime investigators recorded what remained of the once-famous ship, some exciting finds came to the surface.
When visitors come out to the research vessel, they usually find the artifacts tagged, bagged and placed in plastic buckets full of seawater. Artifact conservator Lolly Vann told one group that "a quartered whale's tooth, a handful of musket balls, a lead load draft marker, as well as a number of stone artifacts of Hawaiian manufacture, show that this is proving to be a truly cross-cultural treasure trove." She was also proud to show them an ivory ring and gold-laced beads that may have come from the King's wardrobe. Not only are the researchers finding Hawaiian artifacts on an American-built vessel, but according to Steven P. Gould, curator of the Hawaii Maritime Center, "some of the black glass liquor bottles may have come from Great Britain and the fine cabinet glass has a French appearance." Susan Lebo of the Bishop Museum felt that "some of the utilitarian ceramics are domestic Chinese goods." Kauai geologist Chuck Blay suggested that "many of the ballast stones are likely from New England, some may have originated in Rio de Janeiro as well as the Hawaiian Islands." During the 1998 season, Divers brought up the bilge pump as well as numerous stone artifacts. In addition to the ballast stones, which helped trace the ship's movements, they recovered Hawaiian poi pounders, a small lava lamp, some cooking stones as well as two stone anchors of Hawaiian manufacture. The most impressive artifact to come up was the ship's horn, the trumpet shell, or pu, which soon sounded across the waters of Hanalei Bay for the first time in over 170 years. ____________________________________________________________