Wednesday, November 5, 1997
What ever happened to the original Kamehameha statue? Was it really lost at sea? Kamehameha
statue on Big IsleIt was lost at sea but recovered and eventually shipped to the Big Island, where it now stands in front of the former North Kohala Courthouse near the legendary birthplace of Kamehameha.
The 1878 Legislature had appropriated $10,000 to purchase and erect a Kamehameha statue.
Thomas R. Gould of Boston designed the work that was cast in Florence, Italy.
The ship transporting it to Hawaii sank in 1880 off the Falkland Islands east of Argentina.
Insurance money for the loss of this first statue was used to cast and ship a second to Honolulu.
A replacement statue eventually arrived and found a home in front of the Judiciary Building where it still stands.
Meanwhile, the original was salvaged from the wreckage off the Falklands and brought here by an enterprising sea captain who had purchased it from a Falklands salvage dock. The captain later sold the statue to Hawaii officialdom for $875. This first, or original, statue now in Kohala is identical to the Honolulu statue except for its different type of base.
The Honolulu monument was unveiled in February 1883 during the coronation of King Kalakaua.
The figure itself stands eight feet, six inches tall and is on a pedestal 10 feet high. The 1882 Legislature appropriated another $2,000 for the special pedestal.