In February 1888, the inter-island schooner “Nettie Merrill” was shipwrecked in rough seas and strong winds off Waimea, Kauai.
Its crew managed to escape the wreck by swimming ashore, but Captain Ezra Crane (1831-98), being unable to swim, remained trapped on board, clinging to the schooner’s useless helm.
On shore, a young Niihau woman named Pale Kapahee (1868-1925), seeing Crane’s distress, walked into the surf without hesitation, waded into deeper water, and swam to the floundering schooner to save him.
Upon reaching the then half-submerged vessel, Pale inched her way across the pitching deck, grabbed Crane and jumped overboard with him just moments before the mainmast fell.
Once ashore, he offered her some sort of token of thanks, which she refused and then walked away.
On Sunday morning, Aug. 30, 1931, the Yamamoto sisters, ages 9 and 5, of Hanapepe Valley, were walking across the Hanapepe Swinging Bridge, when the younger girl, Mitsuyo, fell off the bridge into the Hanapepe River.
Ten-year-old Suemi Serikawa (1921-2024), a little girl who was swimming nearby, saw the girl fall and immediately picked up an inflated car inner tube and ran along the river bank to a point opposite from where the girl had fallen.
She then plunged into the river and swam to the smaller girl, who was drowning in deep water.
When Suemi reached her, the girl was at the point of collapse from exhaustion.
Suemi took hold of her, put her inside the inner tube, and swam with her to shore, saving her life.
On Monday, April 1, 1946, two powerful tidal waves hit Kauai beginning about 6:30 a.m., and in their wake, 14 people died; three were missing, presumed dead; and seven were hospitalized for injuries.
At Wainiha, where many of the victims were gathered, Kilauea Dispensary public health nurse Miss Willa Shell (1922-2008) provided first aid, and after spending the night at Wainiha, went on to Haena on the back of a mule and volunteered to help search for missing children.
Altogether, she would spend 36 hours straight administering first aid and giving help to stricken people, the majority of whom were children.
