When Kaua‘i’s teller of Hawaiian tales Eric Knudsen (1872-1957) was a young man, he became acquainted with an elderly, former Hawaiian whaleboat captain named Kapahe, and it was Knudsen’s pleasure to listen to Kapahe’s past exploits.
Kapahe told Eric that in his youth, during a time of lawlessness on Kaua‘i, he’d belonged to a secret society called the Stranglers, whose members were trained in the art of murder.
He said he’d once killed a man, a member of a rival society called the Clubbers, during a violent struggle that occurred when their paths crossed in Kokee.
That lawless societies once existed on Kaua‘i was documented in 1834 by the Rev. Samuel Whitney of Waimea.
After these societies were broken up, Eliza Sinclair, the owner of Ni‘ihau, hired Kapahe to captain her whaleboat, and he thereafter made his living transporting poi, taro and other goods between Ni‘ihau and Kalalau and Waimea.
One morning, Kapahe took Eric’s father, Valdemar Knudsen, aboard his whaleboat at Ni‘ihau and set out to Waimea along with his crew of rowers.
But, by late afternoon, headwinds and tides had carried them off course, outside the breakers at Barking Sands.
Tired, and with several arduous hours of rowing still remaining to reach Waimea, and with the Barking Sands shoreline not far off, Valdemar decided to hasten his homecoming by swimming ashore and walking home to Waiawa, 5 miles east of Barking Sands.
However, Kapahe warned him, “Don’t try it. The surf is bigger than you think and the shore is not safe to land on.”
Ignoring Kapahe’s sound advice, Valdemar then dived overboard and began swimming.
Soon he was inside the breakers, but could make no further headway, and while trying to return to the whaleboat, he became exhausted.
Suddenly, Kapahe grabbed ahold of him.
“I was watching you, and I thought, no haole can make that shore today in such a surf. I just jumped overboard and came to help you.”
Valdemar, smiling weakly, said, “Mahalo!”
And, in a few minutes they reached shore.
With Valdemar safely ashore, Kapahe then swam back to his waiting whaleboat.
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Hank Soboleski has been a resident of Kauai since the 1960s. Hank’s love of the island and its history has inspired him, in conjunction with The Garden Island Newspaper, to share the island’s history weekly. The collection of these articles can be found here: https://bit.ly/2IfbxL9 and here https://bit.ly/2STw9gi Hank can be reached at hssgms@gmail.com
