Stories by Hank Soboleski

ISLAND HISTORY: Hawaiian artifact hunter Julius Scammon Rodman

Julius Scammon Rodman (1912-2001), of New Bedford, MA whaling stock, arrived in Hawaii in 1930 following a year at sea, and from then until 1940, he scoured the caves of Hawaii in search of age-old Hawaiian artifacts – bark tapestry, weapons, calabashes, ornaments of feather work and ivory, and the like – that he supplied to collectors such as Honolulu’s Bishop Museum.

ISLAND HISTORY: A brief history of Kauai’s early Germans

Johann Heinrich Zimmermann (1741-1805) was one of three German sailors aboard Captain James Cook’s ships “HMS Resolution” and “HMS Discovery,” when Cook made his discovery of Hawaii on Jan. 18, 1778, and was present aboard “HMS Discovery” when first contact with Hawaiians occurred off the coast of Kipu Kai, Kauai on the 19th.

ISLAND HISTORY: The sacred burials of Koaia Gulch, Kauai

In early 1939, Honolulu police officer Harry Shupak informed treasure hunter Julius Scammon Rodman (1912-2001) that in 1934, while pig hunting in Waimea Valley, Kauai, he’d discovered a thatched grass house perched high upon a cliff in Koaia Gulch that contained a mummified corpse.

ISLAND HISTORY: Herb Kawainui Kane’s 1st contact with Hawaiians painting

In the artwork that accompanies this story, there’s a reproduction of artist Herb Kawainui Kane’s (1928-2011) painting, “Moment of Contact,” his artistic interpretation of the first contact between Hawaiians and English Captain James Cook and his men off Kipu Kai, Kauai on January 19, 1778.

ISLAND HISTORY: The mysterious Malae Heiau at Wailua, Kauai

In 1824, Kaahumanu (1768-1832) ordered the destruction of all vestiges of the old Hawaiian religion on Kauai by burning wooden idols and tearing down heiau, including Kauai’s largest heiau, Malae Heiau, located near the mouth of the Wailua River.