Kaimiloa here on voyage to South Seas

KAIMILOA HERE ON VOYAGE TO SOUTH SEAS

HILO TRIBUNE HAROLD, NOVEMBER 10, 1924

Carrying a party of pleasure seekers and scientists, the four masted schooner yacht Kaimiloa, on a cruise of the South Seas, the Mecca for adventurers, docked alongside Kuhio wharf at 8:30 this morning. She will remain port until Sunday evening when she will sail for Fanning Island.

Medford R. Kellum, retired Florida capitalist, is the owner of the ship and is traveling with Mrs. Kellum, Miss Ida Kellum, Medford R. Kellum Jr., Master James Kellum, and “Pinkie” Kellum. Mr. and Mrs. Dale Miller of Florida are guests of Mr. and Mrs. Kellum during the trip. L. V. Steck, and Joseph Shaw of the University of California are making the trip as tutors for the Kellum children.

Aid Bishop Museum

Mr. and Mrs. Kellum with their party of friends, put the Kaimiloa at the disposal of the members of the Bishop Museum scientific research party who are making the trip to study the great problem of the origin and migration of the Polynesian race, and particulary in relation to the Hawaiians. It is hoped by members of the scientific party that the cruise may figure substantially in the solution of this great problem.

The scientific party includes Gerrit P. Wilder, Honolulu botanist, and Mrs. Wilder, historian; Kenneth P. Emory, ethnologist; Dr. Armstrong Sperry and Dr. Stanley Ball. The last three will reach Hilo Saturday morning on the Haleakala joining the Kaimiloa here.

The Kaimiloa was formerly a lumber schooner which had been laid up Oakland for three years. She is 180 feet long, with a 36 foot beam, is 24 years old and during her life has made many trips to the South Seas and the Phillippines under the name of the Luzon. She has been repainted and the life boats and other equipment has been overhauled.

The dining saloon and social hall combined is placed amidships and is fitted up with all conveniences and comforts. The staterooms are commodious with conveniences similar to those of a first class passenger steamer.

Has Her Own Power

The Kaimiloa is equipped with two 110 h.p. Diesel engines and with them makes a speed of six knots. Electric lights and fans are installed in each stateroom.

An automatic refrigeration plant enables the Kaimiloa to carry enough meat for 30 persons 90 days, and the plant can make 200 pounds of ice every 24 hours.

A complete radio plant which is run by Fred Roebuck, will keep the members of the expedition in touch with the civilized world at all times. A daily newspaper will be published on board.

The laboratory for the use of the scientist is about 50 feet long.

The scientists have taken along a large supply of bottles and containers in which they will preserve fish and specimens of marine life for the Bishop Museum. They will make an exhaustive study of geology, anthropology, botany and ethnology.

Captain A. E. Carter is in command of the Kaimiloa and a crew of 16 men is carried, six of whom are Marshall Islanders. Ralf, the Negro cook from Kentucky, prepares all the meals and the members of the party are enthusiastic over his cooking. Agnes, his wife is the nurse for the Kellum children.

Go Around The Island

The party left this morning for the trip around the island and will return to Hilo late Saturday afternoon. They will be here all day Sunday and will sail for Fanning Island late that day.

They will stop at Christmas Island, Raratonga, Rapahonga, Pukapula, the Society Islands, Tahiti and Samoa, and will be gone until next spring.

“This cruise of the Kaimiloa cannot fail to bring about a great advance along scientific lines,” Wilder said this morning. “We are all grateful to the Kellums for making such a trip possible.”

The Long Search Begins (Vern HINKLEY, Editor)

To most of us adventure is a thing we will experience only through the pages of fiction. Life these days is too thoroughly a continuous contest for existence to permit of ramblings around the world. But even in these commercial days for some at least, adventure is not dead. This is proved by the arrival in Hilo this morning of the schooner Kaimiloa, carrying a group of scientists and pleasure seekers into the lesser known islands of the South Seas.

“Kaimiloa” means, in Hawaiian, “the long search,” and in this case it is a search for knowledge--knowledge which may throw a white light on the origin and existence of the peoples of the southern waters and of the races which first populated the islands which form the present Hawaiian group.

Two powers have joined hands to make this cruise, which is to end next April, possible; the wealth and interest of Medford R. Kellum, Florida capitalist who is providing the vessel, its crew and its equipment, and the thirst for knowledge of the Bishop Museum, Honolulu’s world-renowned institution of research.

The voyage began last Sunday in Honolulu. The Kaimiloa, here until Sunday, will continue on from Hilo to the south. Little known ports will be visited, the natives will be photographed and portions of their bodies measured accurately. Phonographic records of the speech, the songs, their chants will be taken. Garrit P. Wilder, Honolulu botanist, will collect specimens of plant life on all the groups visited. The

vessel will reach Oahu again next spring with a veritable wealth of scientific treasures in her hold. This contact with the primitive will doubtless result in a better understanding of the problems which now face the ethnologist and anthropologist.

The voyage of the Kaimiloa is of interest, not only to those who are an intimate part of the journey but to the people of Hawaii and to the inhabitants of the world in general.