Sophia Cracroft, an adventurous and well-connected upper-class Londoner, visited Hawaii for two months in 1861 and wrote about her experiences in a book of letters titled The Victorian Visitors. While there, Cracroft and her traveling partner, Lady Jane Franklin, were guests of King Kamehameha IV. The scene below takes place in Kailua, on the Big…
1861: “THEY CAN SPRING UPRIGHT ON THE SURFBOARD AND COME IN ERECT!” AN EXCERPT FROM “THE VICTORIAN VISITORS,” BY SOPHIA CRACROFT
Blog
- DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS: WE SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH “SHARKBOARDS”!
- 1861: “THEY CAN SPRING UPRIGHT ON THE SURFBOARD AND COME IN ERECT!” AN EXCERPT FROM “THE VICTORIAN VISITORS,” BY SOPHIA CRACROFT
- 1769: CANOE SURFING IN TAHITI, BY JOSEPH BANKS. “THEY WERE DRIVEN TOWARD SHORE WITH INCREDIBLE RAPIDITY”
- 1777: CANOE SURFING IN TAHITI, BY WILLIAM ANDERSON. “I COULD NOT HELP CONCLUDING THAT THIS MAN FELT THE MOST SUPREME PLEASURE”
- 1866–1870: EXCERPT FROM “FRAGMENTS OF HAWAIIAN HISTORY,” BY JOHN PAPA ‘Ī‘Ī
- 1778: EXPLORER CHARLES CLERKE: WAIMEA, KAUAI: “MEN AND WOMEN ARE SO PERFECTLY MASTERS OF THEMSELVES IN THE WATER THAT IT APPEARS THEIR ELEMENT”
- 1778: EXPLORER WILLIAM ELLIS, WAIMEA, KAUAI: “THEY HAVE ANOTHER MODE OF CONVEYING THEMSELVES, WHICH WE CALL SHARKBOARDS”
- 1779: EXPLORER DAVID SAMWELL, KEALAKEKUA BAY, HAWAII: “THE MOTION IS SO RAPID THAT THEY SEEM TO FLY ON THE WATER”
- 1779: EXPLORER GEORGE GILBERT, KEALAKEKUA BAY, HAWAII. BLIMEY, HOW D’YE PADDLE THESE THINGS?
- 1779: EXPLORER JAMES KING, KEALAKEKUA BAY, HAWAII: “THE BOLDNESS AND ADDRESS IS SCARCELY TO BE CREDITED”
- 1779: EXPLORER JAMES KING, KEALAKEKUA BAY, HAWAII: “THEY SEEM TO FEEL A GREAT PLEASURE IN THE MOTION WHICH THIS EXERCISE GIVES”
- 1788: CAPTAIN WILLIAM BLIGH, MATAVAI BAY, TAHITI: “THE DELIGHT THEY TAKE IN THIS AMUSEMENT IS BEYOND ANYTHING”
- 1788: EXPLORER JAMES MORRISON, MATAVAI BAY, TAHITI: “AT THIS DIVERSION BOTH SEXES ARE EXCELLENT”
- 1794: EXPLORER PETER PUGET, KEALAKEKUA BAY, HAWAII: “I WAS IN MOMENTARY EXPECTATION OF SEEING SOME DASHED TO PIECES”
- 1817–22: POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES, BY WILLIAM ELLIS
- 1917: “O, THE WILD JOY OF IT!” BY M. LEOLA CRAWFORD
- 1917: “THEY HAILED ME AS THE REVIVER OF THE LOST ART,” BY GEORGE FREETH
- “WORK WAS OFTEN NEGLECTED FOR THE PROSECUTION OF THIS SPORT”: AN EXCERPT FROM THRUM’S ANNUAL, 1896
- 1823: MISSIONARY WILLIAM ELLIS, WAIMANU, HAWAII: “THE ONLY CIRCUMSTANCE THAT EVER MARS THEIR PLEASURE IS THE APPROACH OF A SHARK”
- 1836: “PEOPLE, TO ENJOY LIFE, WANT AMUSEUMENT.” A MISSIONARY CRITIQUE BY WILLIAM RUSCHENBERGER
- 1841: NAVY MAN CHARLES WILKES: SURFING TOO CLOSE TO “LASCIVIOUS THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS”
- 1849: “RARE SPORT AT OHONOO,” BY HERMAN MELVILLE
- 1865: “SUCH RIDING OF MAN AND WOMAN ON THE SAME WAVE RESULTS IN SEXUAL INDULGENCE,” J. WAIAMAU
- 1867: “A GREAT SEA CAUGHT ME,” BY JAMES CHALMERS
- 1868: TSUNAMI DESTROYS BIG ISLAND TOWNS, CREATES BIG-WAVE LEGEND
- 1873: “THE MORE DARING RIDERS STOOD ON THEIR SURF-BOARDS, WAVING THEIR ARMS AND UTTERING EXULTANT CRIES,” BY ISABELLA BIRD
- 1890: “I WAS INITIATED IN THE MYSTERIES OF SURF-RIDING,” HENRY CARRINGTON BOLTON, FAMOUS CHEMIST, REPORTS FROM NIIHAU
- 1849: “TRUELY A FAMOUS AND ANIMATING DIVERSION,” EXCERPT FROM “TRAVELS IN THE SANDWICH AND SOCIETY ISLANDS,” BY SAMUEL S. HILL
- 1846: “THO’ THE MOTION IS SWIFT, IT IS VERY PLEASANT,” BOOK EXCERPT FROM CHESTER LYMAN
- 1843, HENRY T. CHEEVER: “THE SPORT IS SO ATTRACTIVE AND FULL OF WILD EXCITEMENT”
- THE LEGEND OF KELEA: “JOYFUL AT THE THOUGHT OF SURFING”
- “FAITHLESS LOVER TURNED TO STONE,” ANCIENT HAWAIIAN LOVE-GONE-BAD SURFING LEGEND
- 1913: “MAMALA, THE SURF-RIDER,” BY WILLIAM WESTERVELT
- “SOUNDS FROM THE SEA – THE GREATEST GIRL BATHER,” SURF HISTORY DISCOVERY (1888)