refreshed in the ports of the islands. As late as 1863 the number of whaling vessels visiting Honolulu was 102, of which 92 were American. But during the year following one of the Confederate cruisers appeared in the North Pacific, and the industry for a time disappeared. The fleet fell off to 47 in 1871, and since that date has steadily declined, owing in great measure to the scarcity of whales. But for more than thirty years it was the chief dependence of the islands for their prosperity; the vessels disbursed large sums for supplies and repairs; and the inhabitants, being excellent seamen, were largely employed on the vessels.[1]
Notwithstanding the commercial interests caused the American influence to be predominant in the Hawaiian Islands, a new element was added which increased it and still more affected the social and political development. When they were discovered by Captain Cook in 1778, the different islands were ruled by rival chiefs and were almost continuously in a state of warfare. Captain Vancouver, on his arrival in 1792, found Kamehameha, king of the island of Hawaii, the largest of the group, intent on bringing all the other chiefs into subjection to his rule. He was possessed of military capacity and of many of the higher qualities of manhood, and Vancouver not only advised the rival chiefs to accept his sovereignty, but he instructed him in the arts of war
- ↑ Hist. American Whale Fisheries, A. Starbuck, U. S. Fish Commission, 1875–6, pt. iv. pp. 96, 225; Residence in Sandwich Islands, H. Bingham, New York, 1847, p. 609; Hist. Hawaiian Islands, J. J. Jarves, Boston, 1843, p. 231; The Hawaiian Islands, R. Anderson, Boston, 1865, p. 251; Alexander's Hawaii, 181, 297; W. H. Seward in U. S. Senate, July 29, 1852, Cong. Globe, vol. xxiv. pt. ii. p. 1973, 32d Cong. 1st Sess.
