Kekaha Sugar Company office manager Ernest F. Shackleton

Born in England, Ernest F. Shackleton (1894-1972) emigrated from London to Hawaii in 1912 in search of good health. He found it in Hawaii Nei and went on to a 42-year career in the Hawaiian sugar industry.

He was first employed as a statistician at Oahu Sugar Co., but left Hawaii in 1915 to serve in the British Army in Europe during World War I.    

In 1919, he returned to work at Oahu Sugar until 1925, when he moved to Kauai to accept the position of office manager for Koloa Sugar Co.

Six years later, in 1931, he joined Kekaha Sugar Co. as office manager, a position he held until his retirement in 1954.

During the early years of Shackleton’s long residence in Kekaha, an elderly Chinese employee of Kekaha Sugar Co. named Ah Ton worked as his yardman.  

Ah Ton resided in Pah On Camp, now long gone, but formerly located alongside the old “Government Road” about a mile from, and on the Kekaha side of, Mana Reservoir.

Over time, Ah Ton transformed Shackleton’s backyard into a good-sized poultry ranch and vegetable garden, which produced many more birds, eggs and vegetables than Shackleton’s household required.

The enterprising Ah Ton then sold the surplus to neighbors and local merchants for profit.

Each work day at noon, when Shackleton came home for lunch, and regardless of whether visitors were present, or not, Ah Ton would stride into Shackleton’s house and submit his daily report to his boss.

He’d inform Shackleton in a barrage of pidgin English spoken so vigorously that one might imagine he was telling news of some enormous catastrophe, instead of relating an account of the number of ducklings or the progress of a sick turkey.  

Shackleton’s relationship with Ah Ton extended beyond the realm of his backyard and into the area of finance.  

Whenever Ah Ton’s friends needed an occasional $5 advance in pay, Shackleton would grant it, with Ah Ton acting as his trusted go-between.