The Steamship Monarch arrived in Honolulu 9 Jun 1882. It arrived with 16 more passengers than it started with due to babies born during the voyage.
Steamship Monarch Was a First
Bringing passengers from the Azores and Madeira were costly. The Monarch was the first steamship employed to take this voyage. What made this voyage different from the others? It was the first time that a direct trip was made without stopping in Chile.
This was hailed as a game changer by those who proposed the idea. It only took 57 days as opposed to the 100+ days of the Barks. Travel had almost been cut in half.
Source: Letter No. 80- March 20, General Matters. Pacific Commercial Advertiser, 22 April 1882, page 2.
Immigration Halted Temporarily after the Monarch
What was supposed to the start of a new era in transporting Portuguese contract laborers to Hawaii ended up backfiring.
The bill ended up being much larger than they had originally been told. Forces within Hawaii put on the breaks blocking anymore Portuguese immigrants from coming to the islands.
The Hansa followed the Monarch very closely in September of 1882, so I assume that voyage had already been contracted and paid for. But, it wasn’t until May of 1883 that the Abergeldie arrived.
We know that many ships followed the Monarch, so the opposition must have been mollified.
News of the Week: The S.S. Monarch Arrives 9 June 1882
The British steamship Monarch, 57 days from St. Michaels, with 859 Portuguese immigrants on board, arrived in port yesterday afternoon.
She was boarded in the channel by the port physician. Dr. Trousseau, who found, on inspection, and from the report of the doctor who accompanies the ship, that no contagious disease had broken out amongst
the passengers during the voyage. Eleven deaths occurred during the voyage, mostly children tinder
four years of age, from pulmonary causes; there are eight now sick of minor complaint ; one adult female is not expected to live long, her trouble being consumption. There were six births since leaving St. Michaels, and a lot more expected very shortly.
The immigrants are reported by the officers of the ship as being a very orderly lot. Ten of the immigrants are stow-away, and will be taken care of by their Consul here.
Of the total number 203 are adult males, 19S adult females, 81 minors over 12 years of age, and the rest (371)
children under 12 years of age. Application for the whole number have been made to the secretarv, J. S. Smithies, and they will be selected and placed as soon as possible.
They will be landed to-dav at the Immigration Depot, near the Marine Railway Station, Fisherman’s Point.
(Source: 10 Jun 1882 issue of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, page 3, column 6))
[Note: Some source have this ship arriving on the 8th or 9th of June, some not until July]
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