Volume 16 , Issue 42

1907, August - Necessity of Opening Pearl Harbor To Commerce

It was in The Hawaiian Gazette, 27 August 1907, page 3, that we found the following headlines: Urge Necessity of Opening Pearl Harbor To Commerce. Business men were unanimous in endorsing a project and urging necessity for haste.

The meeting of the business men of the city called by Admiral Very to take up the Pearl Harbor improvements was largely attended and resulted in the accompanying resolutions which were passed by a rising vote of those present.

The resolution presented at that meeting of business men was the following:

Whereas, Honolulu Harbor is of insufficient size to accommodate present commercial military and naval interests and cannot be enlarged to meet the demands of the near future, and

Whereas, There is a pressing need for dryadic facilities which cannot be located at Honolulu for lack of space and because of exposure to attack, and

Whereas, The opening of pearl Harbor, besides providing adequate facilities for military, naval and general commercial purposes will afford direct shipment for large and increasing amounts of freight from the Central and West portions of the Island of Oahu;

Therefore Be It Resolved By the citizens and business men of this City assembled at this meeting, that the deepening, widening and straightening of the Pearl Harbor Channel is an important and imperative necessity to the commercial interests both of this Territory and of the mainland; and

Whereas, The work necessary to accomplish this result will require much time;

Resolved Further, That we emphasize the necessity for prompt inception and effective protection of the work;

Resolved Further, That we urge the commercial bodies of this City to take action forthwith in furtherance of this project.

Those present at the meeting were unanimous in the idea that the Pearl Harbor improvements would be a great benefit in the matter of military and naval strategy, and also from a commercial standpoint. There was not an adverse expression of opinion during the session, which lasted for two hours and a half.

The most interesting statements made during the meeting was that of Admiral Very, who, in speaking of the coming of the fleet to this city, stated that there was no chance that maneuvers would take place here as there were no dry-docks, and, in case an accident should occur, there would be no way in which a vessel might be repaired here.

The meeting was opened by Admiral Very, who read a letter which reached him about two weeks before (13 August 1907) from captain William J. Barnett, a member of the General Naval Board, in which it was stated that it seemed almost impossible to make the needed improvements at Pearl Harbor for naval use alone and that if the business bodies of the Territory should show that there was a commercial use for the harbor it would assist greatly in helping appropriations for the harbor through Congress. He also stated that he understood from captain Niblick that there was a great deal of sugar which could be shipped from Pearl Harbor and that a line of steamers was willing to run its vessels there as soon as it was possible.

Admiral Very had written unofficial letters to Washington since he had been there for the last thirteen months. He had been in favor of the improvement of Pearl Harbor ever since his first visit there. It was first brought up by Admiral Wilkes, on his visit to these islands 67 years ago (1840). From that time the only thing that had been done had been the cutting of a little hole in the reef and the buying of a little land by the Government.

It was reported back then the difficulty came in taking a large ship through the long tortuous channel which they had at that time. All ships required a radius in which to turn and the amount of distance which it took a ship to turn in shows her turning qualities. A large vessel, such as a battleship, could hardly make the entrance to Pearl Harbor back then, no matter how deep the channel, with the sharp turns which were in the channel then.

There were a number of curves in which the distance was from 500 to 750 feet. Admiral Very had recommended that the curve radius be 2000 feet and believed that it was none too much. In fact, 3000 feet would be better. In order to cut off these curves an examination of the bottom must be made first, to ascertain whether it is hard or soft coral or sand. The army engineers cannot take the initiative. They must wait till Congress tells them to go ahead. Every Congressman with whom Admiral Very had talked int he months before the meeting had been in favor of giving an appropriation with which to start the work. Admiral very believed that about $15,000 would be needed for the preliminary survey and in order to remove the curves a rough estimate placed the amount of material to be moved at 1,700,000 cubic yards. It costs about twenty-five cents per yard for moving the soft coral back then, so ti would cost, if only this material was found, about $450,000 to complete this work. If hard coral was encountered it would mean that the expenditure would be greater.

The channel needed to be deepened to 35 to 36 feet and would need to be made at least double its present width, so that two vessels would be able to pass each other. If it was shown to Congress that it was a commercial as well as a military necessity, there was a great deal of hope for action in the very near future.

Drydocks were needed there. Admiral very had noticed in various local papers the idea that a dryadic should be built in Honolulu harbor. He did not believe that a private concern would take up the matter of a dryadic on this island without government aid and the Untied States would never place a dryadic in a harbor like this where it would be unprotected from attack by the enemy.

There was another question to be considered, also. For a suitable drydock for Pearl Harbor it would take more land than was available. Even without shops a modern dryadic would take about five acres of land. The question was, "Where were you going to get this in Honolulu harbor?"

The plant which the government had estimated on at Pearl Harbor would include two large dry-docks and four small ones. The two first for battleships and for ships like the Manchuria and the Mongolia. The smaller ones would be for the smaller naval boats and for the merchant vessels. At least thirty acres of land would be needed.

For drydocks back then the location at Pearl Harbor was superb. The dock would be protected by two miles of channel and a mile of reef from attack by the enemy and no more could be asked. The land and the harbor space were available. There was everything that was needed.
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