KAILUA-KONA — One hundred ninety-seven years after American Christian missionaries arrived in Kailua aboard the brig Thaddeus, the pastor of Mokuaikaua Church blessed a restored model of the ship at the church on Tuesday. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — One hundred ninety-seven
KAILUA-KONA — One hundred ninety-seven years after American Christian missionaries arrived in Kailua aboard the brig Thaddeus, the pastor of Mokuaikaua Church blessed a restored model of the ship at the church on Tuesday.
The restoration was the work of sailor and boat builder David Coy of Honaunau.
“This ship here tells us a story,” said Pastor David De Carvalho during the blessing. “Everyone that comes here and looks at this, somehow they can envision how 164 days went on that ship.”
On April 4, 1820, the brig Thaddeus arrived in Kailua, carrying aboard it the Rev. Asa Thurston, his wife Lucy, and six other couples on a mission to convert the local population to Christianity, according to the National Register of Historic Places.
Several years ago, Coy, who started sailing in the 1950s and has built full-size boats, visited the church. Inside, he found the model of the Thaddeus.
The model, he said, was in a “kind of run-down condition” at the time.
It was a project he said he wanted to take on, saying he had enjoyed making models in the past for his nephews.
“And I’ve heard there aren’t too many people who know how a rig like this works,” he said in an interview at the church. “And I would like to see more people learn about it or at least get to see one.”
Brigs like the Thaddeus, Coy added, were, in their time, “the most evolved engineering piece we had.”
The vessel left Long Wharf in Boston on October 23, 1819 and arrived in Kailua 164 days later on April 4, 1820, according to a placard at the church.
“That was like going on a space ship in our time,” Coy said. “That was high technology of 1880.”
Coy’s efforts to restore the model involved replacing every inch of the vessel’s rigging and all the sails. He and his helpers also did a bit of painting to spruce up the rails and cabins as well as varnish the decks, masts and yards.
Work on the less-than-life-size model brought with it some unique challenges.
While working on the ratlines—the lines tied to form ladders on the rigging—someone asked him whether it would be harder on a full-size ship.
“And I said, ‘No, if I was doing it full-size, I’d have a crew of two dozen people and we’d be done in a hurry,” he said, laughing.
Mike Beatty, a retired youth pastor at the church and who’s also in charge of the church’s “Aloha greeters,” said the Thaddeus holds deep significance for the church.
“It’s just like Pastor David said, everybody has a different feeling when they see the ship,” he said.
When children visit, for example, he tries to get them to connect with the Chamberlain family, who traveled on the ship with five children aged 2 to 12.
“So I try to get them to imagine what it would be like to be on a small boat in the middle of the sea,” he said, explaining that the vessel had to sail around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. “And there were many seasick days on that ship.”
But, he said, they all had a common drive.
“They all loved God,” he said. “That was their love for God.”
