Requiem for the Hi’ialakai

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Photo by Newport News Times, Newport, Oregon

It was heartbreaking to see a photo of another one of my old ships, the Hi’ialakai, languishing in Newport, Oregon. Like the Sette, I worked on her before she became the “Hi’ialakai.” I missed being a plankowner of this ship too! We were still putting the bridge together when we got word from the ET who was to be permanently assigned to the ship that we’ve been dismissed from the project. It made no sense to us because we were the only personnel available.  Without putting up any resistance, my co-worker and I agreed and left the ship for the duration she was in Seattle. Whatever caused us to be “dismissed” was a mystery but we still kept our jobs and sailed our respective ships.

I witnessed Hi’ialakai’s debut in Honolulu as she arrived from Seattle in 2004. It was between sailing times for the Ka'imimoana during the days when we had at least two weekends in port before heading out to sea again. The Sette was in port also and for the first time the three Hawaii home-ported ships were there at Sand Island. Though I never recalled three ships simultaneously at Sand Island ever happening again. It did so quite a bit after we moved to Ford Island three years later. It was reunion time for me, and four of my counterparts. The old exercise of drinking beer pierside and then heading out to town was the norm during the old days (not so old really) when fun was legal and morale was high. 

I sailed on the Hi’ialakai in 2004 after finishing my season on the Ka’imimoana. I was taking the ship to Portland, Oregon for some work to be concluded. My skipper from the Ka’imimoana was the acting CO. The captain was from New England and naturally a Red Sox fan. I found an Armed Forces Radio short wave frequency that broadcast the Red-Sox vs. Cardinals World Series. Skipper wanted to hear the Red Sox break the “curse of the Bambino” and unlike 1986, the Red Sox just may do it! It was the seventh game of the World Series and tied at three games apiece! When the Red Sox recorded the final out and won the series, skipper made an announcement over the PA that his Red Sox had finally won a World Series in 86 years!

I didn’t officially join the Hi’ialakai until three years later in 2007. I was informed of my transfer to the Hi’ialakai from the Ka’imimoana via e-mail. I was on my way to Bellingham, Washington from Hawaii taking the Ka'imimoana to dry-dock. Personnel were to rotate every four or five years from one ship to another but I was the only one who did! That program was doomed to fail from the start. No two ships were alike and there was a learning curve to be had. Standard procedures and configurations were nil. What was done on one ship, was not on the other!

I enjoyed my first season on the Hi’ialakai but as time went, I knew I was in the role of “second banana.” I would joke with some of the crew members I sailed with from other ships that I felt like “a player to be named later” in an atrocious baseball trade. Fans would boo when it was my turn at bat because I was a relic from an unpopular trade. I was replacing an admired ET who was very social and well liked by the crew. As for me, there was less than handful of people who knew anything about me. 

Much like the Ka’imimoana there were a lot of good memories from the Hi’ialakai. I know these “tin cans” are a hunk of steel but somehow ships are different. Sailor’s lore is galore when it comes to ships. The bell is the soul of the ship; birds at sea are lost souls of sailors who never came home and never leave on a Friday! Of the five NOAA ships I sailed, the “HI” as we referred her as, was the second ship that had liberty while underway from ports besides the Rainier. Not the drinking kind but playing tourist at places likes Palmyra Atoll, Midway, and Wake Island. Activities include snorkeling with manta rays, and visiting famous World War Two sites.  

My status from a "player to be named later" changed seven years later, when I was assigned to the Hi’ialakai as “the ET!” With retirements and turnover, there was no one to fill in the ET billet. So I was back on the Hi’ialakai and many of the old crew members cordially welcomed me. I am a firm believer in karma and there was a reason why I was transferred to the Hi’ialakai a decade before though I did not know it at the time!

Our purported trip to American Samoa kept getting delayed due to new discoveries of concurring problems. Delays by days turned to weeks then multiple weeks. We finally left for American Samoa at the end of May. Who would have ever thought that this would be my last cruise forever on the "HI." This was the cruise that took me to my final routes to complete the navigable courses NOAA had established in the Pacific. I can say I’ve sailed every one of those and it took me only 18 seasons to accomplish it!

It was fun while it lasted. Fair winds and following seas ol' girl, you're alive in my memories and thanks for being a part of my life.