Sugar Transport on the High Seas Old Plantation Days, Nov. 2014

In the early days of sugarcane growing and Processing in Hawaii the sugar that was manufactured was placed into coopers barrels, sealed and sent on their way to ports around the world.

After wooden barrels became obsolete linen grain bags were filled with 100 lbs of raw sugar and stacked on pallets for transport to the ports or ships anchored off shore.

Perhaps many do not know, that bulk transport of sugar that was done in the later years of the industry or even containerized shipping of product is actually an artifact of modern days, that is the 1960’s and forward.  The bulk ships and container ships that are so common today did not exist when sugar was transported in bags or barrels.

Instead ships that carried booms, davits, cables, blocks and miles and miles of rope and cable were the norm.  Conveyors, elevators and vacuum systems were only a dream.  Look at this months picture of a beautiful vessel called the “Hawaiian Citizen”.  Nestled close to the dock the pallets of 1000 lb allotments were lifted straight off the dock on into the hold of the ship.  Lifting of these loads was not without some risk and loads were lost to swinging wildly or becoming off balance.

However, this picture actually shows a calm and ordered appearance of traffic.  Earlier articles in the Paradise Post and photos show these same ships anchored off the Hamakua Coast with long tram lines tying the vessel to the shipping warehouse a hundred feet or more up the steep rocky cliff.  Transporting the bags of sugar across the cliff and the open sea and then to the ship was not just dangerous, it was more an art.

If a Plantation was not so lucky to have a safe harbor like Hilo, they had to rely on their own make shift anchorages and treacherous cableway systems.  The portion of a 1926 Hawaiian Island Map was developed to show the shipping distances between plantations and San Francisco where the sugar was further refined into the white C&H Sugar.  Although not shown in the Post, the map states the following interesting bits of trivia regarding the shipping of sugar.

SUGAR TRANSPORTATION  METHOD TO OCEAN CARRIER:

“Honokaa Sugar Company – Plantation Railroad to Kukuihaele, thence by wire rope to ocean carrier.”

“Hawaiian Agricultural Company – Auto Trucks to Honuapo, thence by lighter craft to ocean carrier”

“Waiakea Mill Company – Barges loaded in Wailoa River, thence ½ mile to ocean carrier”

“Kaeleku Sugar Company – Plantation Railroad to Hana Wharf”

The list goes on mentioning all the various plantations.  How about that last one up there, Kaeleku Sugar Company….how many of you knew there was a sugarcane plantation in Hana Maui?  Not many I guess.

My mind wanders as I think about all these grand old ships and where they be today.  Unfortunately, I think they are all cut up for scrap, sunk during the various World Wars, maybe even used as targets for the military.    The memory of these ships only exist in photographs and the minds of old seafaring men.