THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	91
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE STATE TO RECOGNIZE THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FALLS OF CLYDE AS A SAILING SYMBOL OF HAWAII.

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

     WHEREAS, archaeological evidence shows that the earliest people who arrived in Hawaii sailed on a double hulled canoe across the ocean; and

     WHEREAS, in the late 1770s Captain Cook sailed from Europe to Hawaii, as did the missionaries who sailed to Hawaii around Cape Horn in the early 1800s; 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 Captain 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 to 1907 the Falls of Clyde serviced the residents of Hawaii by carrying sugar from Hilo to San Francisco, California 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 continued to serve Hawaii for thirteen more 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 The Honolulu Advertiser's columnist Bob Kraus, the maritime community, Hawaii's school children, and the United States 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, 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, that the Falls of Clyde is recognized as a historic symbol 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 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.

Report Title:

Falls of Clyde; Historic Symbol of Hawaii