MALOLO—TAPU

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 836, 3 December 1929, Page 1

MALOLO—TAPU

Hawaiians Say Name

is Hoodoo

SERIES OF MISFORTUNES Does misfortune stalk anything bearing the name Malolo? According lo' Hawaiian superstition, it does, for Malolo is tapu, and anything bearing that name will meet with ill-luck. Malolo is the Hawaiian equivalent for flying fish, and the name certainly suits the speedy Matson liner which is now in Auckland. But when Hawaiians heard Malolo was the name chosen they shook dubious heads and prophesied that the big ship would meet with misfortune. She was built at Philadelphia and while still ip the shipbuilders’ hands caught fire and was badly damaged. She was reconstructed, launched and steamed up toward New York on her trial voyage. Entering the harbour she collided with another vessel and loss of life and considerable damage resulted. Then, to cap her misfortunes, she ran aground. When she finally made her maiden voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu. many months behind schedule. Commander McComb. commander of the United States Navy air station at Pearl Harbour, flew in a seaplane to greet her. As it circled around the ship the wings of the plane suddenly crumpled and McComb and his two companions were flung to their deaths in the deep waters outside the reef. As a motor ambulance was rushing through the streets of Honolulu to take away the bodies of the flyers it struck a Hawaiian woman and killed her. A friend of Commander McComb, who heard of the accident, dashed to the docks in his motor-car and went straight over the dock Into the harbour. His body was not recovered until the next day. Pievious to the arrival of the liner a commercial plane named Malolo. making a flight near Honolulu, crashed in flames and its four passengers were burned to death. A private yacht in Honolulu named Malolo met with a series of misfortunes about the islands before it finally capsized and drowned its owner and a friend.

The Hawaiians in Honolulu refused to take part in the official welcome to the big liner.