100 Years Ago – Bringing Coal to Hawai‘i
Hercules (built 1907; tugboat). At sea, circa 1910. Towing five-masted schooner, W.J. Pierrie. San Francisco Maritime Digital Museum and Archival Collection. Asset ID 4ca72e24-c8b0-4f7f-8b32-51b471cf3111.
On account of the shortage of coal in Honolulu, the Rolph Navigation and Coal company [sic] will send the barge Celtic Monarch[*] to Nanaimo to act as a coal carrier between the British Columbia port and Honolulu for three or four trips. On the trips to the islands the tug Hercules[**] will do the towing. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 24 September 1917.)
Hercules, with Celtic Monarch in tow, left Comox, British Columbia for Hawai‘i on 28 September 1917. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 2 October 1917.)
Three weeks later:
The following shipping was reported by Purser Kamaiopili of the Mauna Loa, yesterday: Tow-boat Hercules arrived at Port Allen [Kaua‘i] from Comax [sic], B. C., towing the barge Celtic Monarch, loaded with coal. (The Hawaiian Gazette, 19 October 1917.)
The coal was unloaded at Port Allen instead of Honolulu Harbor.
*Celtic Monarch was built by Thomas Royden and Sons of Liverpool, England and launched in 1884. Before being converted to a barge, she was rigged as a three-masted ship (image below). She was eventually re-rigged as a barque.
The iron ship Celtic Monarch, 2119 tons, at anchor. State Library of South Australia, A.D. Edwardes Collection, PRG 1373/9/6.
**Hercules was built by John H. Dialogue and Sons, of Camden, New Jersey and launched in 1907. Hercules is a National Historic Landmark and is currently part of the collection of ships at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
