Barbers Point Beach memorializes tyrannical captain's miscalculation
Barbers Point Beach Park is a seven-acre parcel on Ola'i Street in Campbell Industrial Park near the Barbers Point Light. Its shore, a low limestone shelf bordered by a narrow strip of white sand, is frequented primarily by picnickers and fishers.
Henry Barber, an English sea captain, was in and around these Islands from about 1794 to 1807, according to the historian Judge F.W. Howay. He was wrecked off the point 142 years ago. At 6 p.m. on Oct. 31, 1796, Barber sailed the Arthur out of Honolulu Harbor for Kaua'i to get a supply of yams. Two hours later, the brig hit shallows about an acre in extent with 12 feet of water over them, and close to the breakers. The shoal was probably a little westward of Pearl Harbor. The waves broke over the ship and drove it over the reef toward shore. Six men of the crew of 22 were drowned. Barber and the survivors managed to get ashore near the point.
— The Honolulu Advertiser,
July 2, 1939
Beach profile: 91-121 Ola'i St., Campbell Industrial Park.
Water activities: pole-fishing, net-throwing.
What's there: parking, restrooms, showers.
Ocean conditions: Potentially dangerous currents and surf from October through March.
History: Capt. Henry Barber stopped in Hawai'i aboard the Arthur in October 1796 on his way to China. He bought supplies and provisions at Waikiki and then sailed for Kaua'i. Soon after he passed the entrance to Pearl Harbor, the Arthur went aground on a reef west of the harbor's entrance. Barber and his crew of 22 took to small boats. Six men drowned, but the rest safely reached the shore at Kalaeloa, ("the long point"), the southwest point of O'ahu. The Arthur was destroyed, and the incident was commemorated by renaming Kalaeloa for the captain.
In 1802, Barber again passed through Hawai'i on the way to China. While resupplying his ship, he learned that King Kamehameha had a battery of cannons for the defense of a newly built fort in Lahaina, Maui, and that the guns had come from his wrecked ship. Barber sought out the king and demanded the return of his cannons. The guns, however, had been salvaged at great effort by Hawaiian divers. Kamehameha refused Barber's demand to return them and demanded that Barber pay for his supplies not in gold but in gunpowder. From all accounts, Barber was a tyrannical, unscrupulous and determined trader, but Kamehameha kept the guns and was given the powder.
Nearby: Barbers Point Light was established in 1888 at Puhilele ("leaping eel"), Kalaeloa. The 73-foot concrete tower was built in 1933 and the light was automated in 1964. Germaine's Luau, a favorite evening entertainment spot for tourists, is next to the beach park.
Where to eat: Take a picnic and enjoy the solitude of a remote beach where coconuts wash up and freighters pass in the distance.
Source: "Beaches of O'ahu" and "Hawai'i Place Names: Shores, Beaches and Surf Sites," both by John Clark
