Captain James Hunnewell had been living at Honolulu for six months now. He could have caught a ship to the Pacific coast or to China, and then on to Boston. He seems comfortable enough living in paradise. He did some trading, taking payment in piculs of sandalwood (a picul is a Chinese measurement, as they were the buyers for the fragrant sandalwood used as...

Merchant James Hunnewell living in Honolulu wrote in his journal: ” The brig that anchored off the harbor last evening proves to be the prize belonging to the patriots at Owyhee (Hawaii). They report they are bound for Canton, but in the course of the day they told contradictory stories. They have been collecting seed, and I expect they are bound to some...

A ship, the Bengal, arrives from Owyhee (the Big Island Hawaii). With it comes confirmation that there are indeed Spanish pirates visiting King Kamehameha there. The Bengal had come from the Spanish Main — which was the Caribbean Sea surrounded by the Spanish colonies of Central America, the Isthmus of Panama, and the north coast of South American. It was...

James Hunnewell was a merchant from Boston, Massachusetts. He had sold his ship to one of the local chieftains in December 1817 — owning a collection of Western ships was the highest show of power and status among the Hawaiian native elite. Mr. Hunnewell lived in a grass house in an area set aside for the fur trade mariners and sandalwood merchants using...

Apr 2, 2018

December 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of the first two illegal immigrants hiding out in colonial Spanish Los Angeles — believe it or not, they were despised American pirates!  Follow their twisted tale in the blog “El Pueblo.”