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dust and foam, 1859
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Thomas Warren : Dust and Foam in Hawaii, 1859.
Extracted from
Warren, Thomas
Robinson (1828-1915):
Dust and
foam; or, Three Oceans and Two Continents.
C. Scribner,
New York, 1859.
Hathi
Trust
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/miun.afk6713.0001.001
Introduction.
Where?, Hawaii
circa 1859
Page 245
Every man,
woman or child who has ever written home concerning the
Sandwich Islanders, have described their "surfboards," and
their astonishing skill in guiding them through a surf in
which no civilized man could live, as also their excellence
in swimming, and almost superhuman endurance in the water.
Travellers
are apt to term a Kanaka " half man half fish."
I should say
that he was " third man and two-thirds fish "- for no fish
that swims the ocean could have any command over itself in
breakers where the island girls and boys sport for hours, as
perfectly at home as on the dry land.
The
surf-board is a piece of thin plank, five or six feet long
by about eighteen inches in breadth; when the long, green
swells are rolling in with terrific violence - with a din
and crash that out-thunders thunder itself, then men, women,
and children flock to the beach, and divesting themselves of
their superfluous clothing, dash into the breakers, board in
hand; with a miraculous agility they dodge the heaviest
rollers, plunging beneath them as they begin to crest, and
reaching the outside breaker, prepare for their lightning
ride shoreward.
Miraculous
as their outward progress through a boiling surf,
Page 246
FAMOUS SWIMMING.
which no
whale-boat would attempt, seemed to us, setting the force of
suction and undertow completely at defiance, we felt a
thrill of horror as we looked upon a couple of
delicate-looking girls kneeling upon a frail board, rushing
in, as if shot from a bomb, upon the crest of a great, green
billow, which, raising his head as he came, appeared like a
huge mountain of water; onward they came, just managing to
keep in such a position as to avoid the break of the roller,
and in less time than I have taken to describe, with screams
of delight they dashed up to the very spot where we were
standing.
As swimmers
they have no equals, men and women appearing to possess
equal powers of endurance; and most astonishing facts of
their aquatic feats are recorded, one of the most miraculous
of which is worth repeating,....
A report of a
party of natives forced to swim for four hours to reach land
after their canoe sunk, the one white member of the party did
not survive.
Every man, woman, or child wbo has ever
written home concerning the Sandwich Island
ers, has described their 'surf boards,' and their
astonishing skill in guiding them through a surf
in which no civilized man could live, as also
their excellence in swimming, and almost super
human endurance in the water. Travelers are
apt to term a Kanaka 'half man half fish.' I
should say that he was Hhird man and two
thirds fish'—for, no fish that swims the ocean
could have any command over itself in breakers
where the inland girls and boys sport for hours,
as perfectly at home as on dry land.
The surf-board is a piece of thin pla_k; five or
six feet long by about eighteen inches in breadth,
when the long, green swells are rolling in with
terrific violence—with a din and crash that out
thunders thunder itself, then men, women and
children flock to the beach, and divesting them
selves of their superfluous clothing, dash into
tbe breakers, board in hand; with a miraculous
agility they dodge the heaviest rollers, plunging
beneath them as they begin to crest, and reach
ing the outside breakers, prepare for their light
ning ride shoreward.
Miraculous as their outward progress through
the boiling surf, which no whale boat would at
tempt, seemed to us, setting the force of suction
and undertow completely at defiance, we felt a
thrill of horror as we looked upon a couple of
delicate looking girls kneeling upon a frail board,
rushing in, as if shot from a bomb, upon the
crest of a great green billow, who, raising their
i heads as they came, just managing to keep in
such a position as to avoid the break of the roller,
and in less time than I have taken to describe,
with screams of delight they dashed up to the
very spot where we were standing. As swim
mers they have no equals; men and women ap
pearing to possess equal powers of endurance;
and most astonishing tacts of their aquatic feats
are recorded, one of the most miraculous ot
which is worth repeating. A large native ca
noe, having on board a number of natives, left
one of the southern islands bound to the north
ward, when only a part of the way across the
Owybee passage, where there is always a heavy
cross sea and furious currents, a squall struck
and capsized her; among the passengers was a
native woman, the daughter of a chief, with her
husband, a white man ; the others being all Ka
nakas, they of course struck out tor themselves
toward shore, a distance of some thirty miles;
but the white man could not swim, and his true
hearted wife directing him to put his arms upon
ber shoulders, struck out for nearest land. For
hours and hours they toiled along, the fond
woman inspiriting the husbaud, refusing to
leave him ; all day and all night they buffeted
the angry currents, till at last human nature
gave way, and the white man gave up tbe
ghost; still clinging to his cold clay, the widow
toiled ou, till at last becoming insensible, her
efforts relaxed, aud she knew no more until she
found herself resuscitated by some friendly hands,
and ou inquiry, £»ood tbat a favoring current
had drilled ber upon an isiaud, where she had
been discovered aud brought to life by her de
liverers.
Another instance, scarcely leas remarkable,
occurred during the period of my vi-.it to Hono
lulu. At tbat time there was a large number ot
whaling vessels in port, many of which were
short ot men, and consequently sailors wages
were very high, and large advances were given
to any Kanakas wbo would ship. One ship in
pnrticular, bad lost tbe whole ot one watch by
desertion, and finally bad succet-ded in obtainiug
her complement; tbe men, all Kanakas, re
ceived their one hundred dollars each, as an ad
vance, and went on board, aud tbe ship got «u
--der way. All went on very well for the first
day and nigbt, and the captain was congratu
lating himself ou bis good luck. During the
middle watch of tbe second night, however, step
ping out on deck, the captain was astonished on
finding no one about, aud asking tbe man at tbe
wheel what it meant, was told he didn't know
what had become ot the* people, but presumed
tbey had gone below.
Calling the mate, and mustering the crew,
he found to his consternation that every Kanaka
had disappeared; they most deliberately jumped
overboard, determining to swim ashore, a dis
tance of sixty miles. On board whale ships the
mates do not usually stand a uight-watcb—the
watch being generally in charge of one of the
'boat steerer-,' and in this instance the 'boat
steerer" was a Kanaka, and tbey all went off
together; the plan was probably bit upon be
fore they left port —each man received bis oue
hundred dollars advance, aud then they de
liberately formed their desperate plot for break
ing their engagement.— Dust and Foam.
surfresearch.com.au
Geoff Cater (2007-2017) :
Thomas Warren : Dust and Foam in Hawaii, 1859.
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1859_Warren_Dust_Foam_Hawaii.html
