Alexander Adams (Hawaii)
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Captain Alexander Adams was a Scottish man who sailed under the British Flag just after the Great Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. He sailed on a British frigate called the Elizabeth. He arrived in Hawaii on a ship called the Albatross and upon arriving he made friends with King Kamehameha the Great. He served as the Honolulu Harbor Pilot for the King Kamehameha I in the early nineteenth century.[1]
Around 1811, he arrived in the Kingdom of Hawaii, where the king placed the small kingdom's navy under his charge. The king gave Adams Niu valley (a valley a few miles away from Waikiki) on the island of Oahu in gratitude for his services to the kingdom. It was approximately 2,500 acres. The mountain to the ocean. Adams lived the remainder of his life in the Hawaiian islands, where he married three times and left many descendants. One of his marriages was to King Kamehameha's great grand daughter, Oili Charlotte Harbottle. The daughter of Papapaupu (the adopted grand daughter of King Kamehameha) and John Harbottle.
Adams is traditionally credited with sailing the first vessel to sail under the flag of Hawaii[citation needed] to China to sell Sandelwood for the King. Some traditions also credit him with designing the flag, though this honor has also been claimed for King Kamehameha I himself or another British sailor of the time, George C. Beckley, or both.
Adams was born in 1780 in Arbroath, Forfarshire, Scotland and died in Niu, Oahu, Hawaii, in 1870. He was born to the Earl of Fyfe. He started sailing from the age of 12 years old.
According to Alexander Adams memoirs, he was mistaken for a man of war by a British high ranking officer who then put him in charge of a ship. He admits to the mistake. After he arrived on the ship the Albatross in Hawaii which flew the American flag, he later refused to sail under the American flag once war broke out between England and America in 1812. He stood on the shores of Hawaii with John Young when the first Missionaries anchored off shore. He helped convince the King to allow the missionaries to come ashore and speak to the King. He takes credit for creating the Hawaiian flag. His reasoning for adding the British jack into the flag was due to the power of the British empire at the time. He quotes "if we don't pledge allegance to Britain we may all perish". He was sent to Kauai by King Kamehemeha the Great to remove a Russian fort that had been set up. His words were "upon arriving they were soon dispatched". Upon gaining status in the Hawaiian Kingdom, whenever a ship visited from Britain's royalty, he received a visit from emissaries. He was given a gift by the Queen of England for each child that was born to him.
He had a home on Adams lane, a small lane in downtown Honolulu next to the Hawaiian Telephone company building, as well as in Niu Valley. He is buried next to his best friend William Auld in the Nuuanu Cemetery.
