THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	138
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Requesting the state to RECOGNIZING THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FALLS OF CLYDE as a sailing jewel of hawaii.

     WHEREAS, the significance of sailing to the State of Hawai'i is apparent by the existence of those who have braved the high seas in the past; and

     WHEREAS, the earliest people who arrived in Hawai'i, supported by archaeological evidence, sailed on a double hulled canoe across the ocean; and

     WHEREAS, in the late 1770's Captain Cook sailed from Europe to Hawai'i, as did the missionaries in the early 1800's sailed from the Cape around the Horn; and

     WHEREAS, the Falls of Clyde built and launched from Port Glasgow, Scotland in 1878 and sailed the seas as a trade ship, its voyages taking it to Karachi, Australia, India, New Zealand, the British Isles and California; and

     WHEREAS, in 1899, Capt. William Matson purchased the Falls of Clyde, and it became the first four-mast ship to fly the Hawaiian flag; and

     WHEREAS, in 1900 a special Act of Congress allowed the ship to fly both the United States and Hawaiian Flags; and

     WHEREAS, from 1900 until 1907, the Falls of Clyde serviced the residents of Hawai'i by carrying sugar from Hilo to San Francisco and returning with goods for Hawaii residents; and

     WHEREAS, after being purchased by an oil company in 1907, the ship was refitted and continued its hard work as a bulk tanker and oil barge; and

     WHEREAS, the Falls of Clyde still continued to serve Hawaii for 13 years, hauling molasses from Hilo to San Francisco; and

     WHEREAS, in 1963 the Falls of Clyde was rescued and returned to Hawaii with the help of Honolulu Advertiser's columnist Bob Kraus, the maritime community, Hawaii's school children and the U.S. Navy; and

     WHEREAS, the Bishop Museum took over management and the Falls of Clyde was docked at Pier 5 in Honolulu Harbor and was then toured by tens of thousands of people; and

     WHEREAS, the Falls of Clyde was named a National Historic Monument by the National Parks Service in 1988; and

     WHEREAS, in 2008, the Friends of the Falls of Clyde formed a nonprofit corporation in order to save the ship; and

     WHEREAS, the Falls of Clyde, with a wrought-iron hull and at two hundred sixty five feet long and weighing more than a thousand tons, is the only surviving fully rigged four-mast sailing ship remaining in the world; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Falls of Clyde is recognized as a historic jewel of Hawaii; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Falls of Clyde should always be treasured and protected by the State of Hawaii and its residents; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Bishop Museum, and the Friends of the Falls of Clyde.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Falls of Clyde; historic jewel of Hawaii