The painting shows Honolulu Harbor as it appeared in 1826 with the USS DOLPHIN setting sail under Captain “Mad Jack” Percival. The Dolphin was an 88 foot, 12 gun schooner and the first U.S. Navy ship to visit the Hawaiian Islands.
She had been sent to the South Pacific to bring mutineers of a whaling ship to justice. After securing these mutineers, she put into Honolulu for a refit and “rest and recreation” for the crew. At this time the dowager Queen Kaahumanhu ruled the islands. The Queen had come under the influence of the missionary, Hiram Bingham, and together they had established a theocracy under the ten commandments. This was very bad news for the freebooting whalers in port and especially so for the crew of the Dolphin. For the missionaries had persuaded Queen Kaahumanhu to ban the practice of allowing Hawaiian girls to swim out to foreign ships. After several weeks in port, Percival’s crew were ready to join the whalers in a riot. They formed a mob and went after Hiram Bingham, who ran for his life and barely escaped . "Mad Jack" quelled the riot using his whalebone cane on his own men and putting several in irons. All this was too much for Queen Kaahumanhu; she relented and allowed the women to go their own way
. In the painting ,the USS Dolphin is getting underway. She is being given an assistance in the light airs by a tow from a double canoe so as to more easily pass through the channel through the reef. At this time the Dolphin is beginning her salute to the Fort while at her stern many wahines are waving farewell to the sailors of the Dolphin. Honolulu at this time was far more arid than at the present time. Blinding dust storms were not uncommon with the winds that swept down from the "Punch Bowl" behind the fort.