On June 1, 1834, the ship “Victoria,” commanded by Captain Samuel James Dowsett who, six years before, had settled in Hawaii, sailed from Honolulu on a pearl fishing expedition to the Pescadores Islands. A year passed and the mariner had not returned to his wife and four small children, left alone with comparative strangers in the “Sandwich Islands.”
Alarmed by his absence, the Hawaiian government, in 1835, sent the brig “Waverly’ on a search for the missing captain. But the “Waverly,” also, was fated never to return. The brig was seized by natives at Strong’s Island, captain and crew were murdered and the ship burned. No trace was ever found of Captain Dowsett.
Such was the final tragic chapter in the life of the British seafarer, first of his line in Hawaii, and although his stay in Honolulu was brief, his descendants have remained here for a century of progress in the islands.
Of the arrival of Captain Dowsett in Hawaii, little has been recorded. Research by members of the present generation of the Dowsett family has established the fact that Captain Dowsett first saw the islands in 1822, when, as first officer of the “Mermaid,” his vessel accompanied the “Prince Regent,” a gift-ship from King George IV of England to King Kamehameha, and he returned with the crew of the “Prince Regent” to Sydney, N.S.W., his colonial station.
Available records show that Captain Dowsett served in the British Colonial Navy, although his various ranks have not been definitely established, but it is believed he joined the Colonial service in the capacity of a chief officer or mate. His history in Australia subsequent to his first trip to Hawaii on the “Mermaid,” shows that he was made a captain before leaving the service and that he purchased the “Wellington” in 1827 or thereabouts from Mr. Joseph Underwood of Sydney.
Upon his resignation from the British service, Captain Dowsett, commanding the “Wellington,” sailed from Sydney, April 8, 1828, for the “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu, July 27, 1828. With him came his wife, Mary (Bishop) Dowsett, and infant daughter, Deborah Melville Dowsett (Mrs. Howland), who was born at Melville Island. Captain Dowsett was a native of Rochester, Kent, England, born Dec. 11, 1794, the eldest of twenty-one brothers and one of twenty-three children. His wife also was of English birth.
Established in Honolulu, Captain Dowsett engaged in trading. When he embarked on his tragic voyage his family had grown to four children, James Isaac, Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. M. C. Monsarrat), and Samuel Henry Dowsett having been born in Honolulu. James Isaac Dowsett, the sea captain’s eldest son and the principal subject of this sketch, had a long and eventful career in his native city.
Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist
Alarmed by his absence, the Hawaiian government, in 1835, sent the brig “Waverly’ on a search for the missing captain. But the “Waverly,” also, was fated never to return. The brig was seized by natives at Strong’s Island, captain and crew were murdered and the ship burned. No trace was ever found of Captain Dowsett.
Such was the final tragic chapter in the life of the British seafarer, first of his line in Hawaii, and although his stay in Honolulu was brief, his descendants have remained here for a century of progress in the islands.
Of the arrival of Captain Dowsett in Hawaii, little has been recorded. Research by members of the present generation of the Dowsett family has established the fact that Captain Dowsett first saw the islands in 1822, when, as first officer of the “Mermaid,” his vessel accompanied the “Prince Regent,” a gift-ship from King George IV of England to King Kamehameha, and he returned with the crew of the “Prince Regent” to Sydney, N.S.W., his colonial station.
Available records show that Captain Dowsett served in the British Colonial Navy, although his various ranks have not been definitely established, but it is believed he joined the Colonial service in the capacity of a chief officer or mate. His history in Australia subsequent to his first trip to Hawaii on the “Mermaid,” shows that he was made a captain before leaving the service and that he purchased the “Wellington” in 1827 or thereabouts from Mr. Joseph Underwood of Sydney.
Upon his resignation from the British service, Captain Dowsett, commanding the “Wellington,” sailed from Sydney, April 8, 1828, for the “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu, July 27, 1828. With him came his wife, Mary (Bishop) Dowsett, and infant daughter, Deborah Melville Dowsett (Mrs. Howland), who was born at Melville Island. Captain Dowsett was a native of Rochester, Kent, England, born Dec. 11, 1794, the eldest of twenty-one brothers and one of twenty-three children. His wife also was of English birth.
Established in Honolulu, Captain Dowsett engaged in trading. When he embarked on his tragic voyage his family had grown to four children, James Isaac, Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. M. C. Monsarrat), and Samuel Henry Dowsett having been born in Honolulu. James Isaac Dowsett, the sea captain’s eldest son and the principal subject of this sketch, had a long and eventful career in his native city.
Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist
On June 1, 1834, the ship “Victoria,” commanded by Captain Samuel James Dowsett who, six years before, had settled in Hawaii, sailed from Honolulu on a pearl fishing expedition to the Pescadores Islands. A year passed and the mariner had not returned to his wife and four small children, left alone with comparative strangers in the “Sandwich Islands.”
Alarmed by his absence, the Hawaiian government, in 1835, sent the brig “Waverly’ on a search for the missing captain. But the “Waverly,” also, was fated never to return. The brig was seized by natives at Strong’s Island, captain and crew were murdered and the ship burned. No trace was ever found of Captain Dowsett.
Such was the final tragic chapter in the life of the British seafarer, first of his line in Hawaii, and although his stay in Honolulu was brief, his descendants have remained here for a century of progress in the islands.
Of the arrival of Captain Dowsett in Hawaii, little has been recorded. Research by members of the present generation of the Dowsett family has established the fact that Captain Dowsett first saw the islands in 1822, when, as first officer of the “Mermaid,” his vessel accompanied the “Prince Regent,” a gift-ship from King George IV of England to King Kamehameha, and he returned with the crew of the “Prince Regent” to Sydney, N.S.W., his colonial station.
Available records show that Captain Dowsett served in the British Colonial Navy, although his various ranks have not been definitely established, but it is believed he joined the Colonial service in the capacity of a chief officer or mate. His history in Australia subsequent to his first trip to Hawaii on the “Mermaid,” shows that he was made a captain before leaving the service and that he purchased the “Wellington” in 1827 or thereabouts from Mr. Joseph Underwood of Sydney.
Upon his resignation from the British service, Captain Dowsett, commanding the “Wellington,” sailed from Sydney, April 8, 1828, for the “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu, July 27, 1828. With him came his wife, Mary (Bishop) Dowsett, and infant daughter, Deborah Melville Dowsett (Mrs. Howland), who was born at Melville Island. Captain Dowsett was a native of Rochester, Kent, England, born Dec. 11, 1794, the eldest of twenty-one brothers and one of twenty-three children. His wife also was of English birth.
Established in Honolulu, Captain Dowsett engaged in trading. When he embarked on his tragic voyage his family had grown to four children, James Isaac, Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. M. C. Monsarrat), and Samuel Henry Dowsett having been born in Honolulu. James Isaac Dowsett, the sea captain’s eldest son and the principal subject of this sketch, had a long and eventful career in his native city.
Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist
Alarmed by his absence, the Hawaiian government, in 1835, sent the brig “Waverly’ on a search for the missing captain. But the “Waverly,” also, was fated never to return. The brig was seized by natives at Strong’s Island, captain and crew were murdered and the ship burned. No trace was ever found of Captain Dowsett.
Such was the final tragic chapter in the life of the British seafarer, first of his line in Hawaii, and although his stay in Honolulu was brief, his descendants have remained here for a century of progress in the islands.
Of the arrival of Captain Dowsett in Hawaii, little has been recorded. Research by members of the present generation of the Dowsett family has established the fact that Captain Dowsett first saw the islands in 1822, when, as first officer of the “Mermaid,” his vessel accompanied the “Prince Regent,” a gift-ship from King George IV of England to King Kamehameha, and he returned with the crew of the “Prince Regent” to Sydney, N.S.W., his colonial station.
Available records show that Captain Dowsett served in the British Colonial Navy, although his various ranks have not been definitely established, but it is believed he joined the Colonial service in the capacity of a chief officer or mate. His history in Australia subsequent to his first trip to Hawaii on the “Mermaid,” shows that he was made a captain before leaving the service and that he purchased the “Wellington” in 1827 or thereabouts from Mr. Joseph Underwood of Sydney.
Upon his resignation from the British service, Captain Dowsett, commanding the “Wellington,” sailed from Sydney, April 8, 1828, for the “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu, July 27, 1828. With him came his wife, Mary (Bishop) Dowsett, and infant daughter, Deborah Melville Dowsett (Mrs. Howland), who was born at Melville Island. Captain Dowsett was a native of Rochester, Kent, England, born Dec. 11, 1794, the eldest of twenty-one brothers and one of twenty-three children. His wife also was of English birth.
Established in Honolulu, Captain Dowsett engaged in trading. When he embarked on his tragic voyage his family had grown to four children, James Isaac, Elizabeth Jane (Mrs. M. C. Monsarrat), and Samuel Henry Dowsett having been born in Honolulu. James Isaac Dowsett, the sea captain’s eldest son and the principal subject of this sketch, had a long and eventful career in his native city.
Source: The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by Honolulu Star Bulletin, Ltd., Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist
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