By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Old cannon at Bethel and Merchant.
An Ewa Beach reader is convinced that he sees cannons in the sidewalk at the corner of Merchant and Bethel streets, "kitty corner to the old Honolulu Police Station." Cannon barrels did
a bang-up barrier jobLooks like cannons to us. They're mounted vertically, with the barrel pointed straight up. A prototype anti-aircraft system that required the airplane to fly directly over the barrel, perhaps?
A quick check with the state's Historic Preservation Division revealed that they, too, think the objects in question are cannon barrels. A call to the University's historic-preservation department shows that yes -- they also believe the objects are cannon barrels.
OK, so they are cannon barrels.
But why are they there? This is where the experts draw the big Dunno.
There used to be a fort in the area -- from whence we get Fort Street -- and it's likely that these barrels came from there. The barrels are likely military surplus from the early days of the kingdom, and they were simply recycled. After all, made of strong iron and buried in the ground like that, they make fine horse hitchin' posts.
Buried cannon barrels aren't confined to Honolulu. They're a feature of many old military posts, and mark prominent locations, such as the Presidio in San Francisco.
"They were used to protect the corners of buildings from wagons," said John Martini, military curator for the National Park Service at the Presidio.
"The British also used cannons, buried muzzle-first, as bollards to tie ship to."
Martini also pointed out that Alcatraz Island, which used to be an Army fortress during the Civil War, sports gigantic cannon barrels at many of the island intersections. They point defiantly at the sky. It's probably a male thing.
Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin
