Statewide County HI Archives Biographies.....Atkinson, Robert Witlam March 11, 1877 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
J. Orr orr@hawaii.com October 21, 2009, 7:32 pm

Source: the Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Published by the Honolulu Star Bulletin, Territory of Hawaii, 1925
Author: Edited by George F. Nellist

ROBERT WITLAM ATKINSON, Contractor. Associated with the Hawaiian Dredging Co., 
Ltd., since its organization, Robert W. Atkinson for more than twenty years 
has supervised the important operations of this rapidly expanding concern. He 
is secretary and manager of the corporation.
  Virtually all of the harbor improvements and reclamation projects undertaken 
in Hawaii during this period have been carried to completion by the Hawaiian 
Dredging Co., work which has added millions of dollars to the wealth of the 
Territory as represented by improved real estate. 
  It is not too much to say that the physical appearance of Honolulu has been 
transformed by operations of the Hawaiian Dredging Co. One of its first big 
undertakings was to fill in swamps at the foot of Nuuanu street, making the 
land where the railway station and Aala Park now stand. In the past few years 
hundreds of acres have been added to the residential district of the city by 
the completion of the Waikiki reclamation project. Other noteworthy 
achievements have been the Pearl Harbor drydock, completed in 1919; 
construction of the first deep water channel into Pearl Harbor, and the marine 
coaling station of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co. on the west side of 
the harbor. Fort De Rusey, Honolulu, was built on reclaimed ground, converted 
by the dredging company from marsh lands.
  When the deep water channel into Pearl Harbor was completed, Wm. M. Smith, 
acting chief of the Bureau of Construction, U.S. Navy Department, wrote the 
following letter to the Hawaiian Dredging Co. under date of Feb. 3, 1912: 
  “This project is the largest ever undertaken by the Navy Department and its 
successful completion practically within the time allowed by the contract 
reflects great credit upon the company. The Bureau, therefore, desires to 
express its appreciation of the manner in which the work was handled and of 
the results obtained.”
  The salvaging of wrecked ships, under the personal supervision of Mr. 
Atkinson has been an interesting branch of the Hawaiian Dredging Co.’s work in 
recent years. The company operates the salvage vessel “Gaylord,” one of the 
finest and most modern craft of the kind afloat. A few of the company’s 
successful salvage operations which attracted wide attention were the recovery 
of the dipper dredge “G. P. Denison,” which turned turtle and foundered in 75 
feet of water off Pearl Harbor in 1914; the floating, under naval supervision, 
of the United States submarine F-4 from a depth of 300 feet, off Honolulu in 
1915, and the salvaging of the 8,000-ton Italian steamship “Cuzco,” 1919, and 
the 10,000-ton British steamship “Valdura,” in 1922, which had gone on reefs 
off Honolulu and between Pearl Harbor and Honolulu, respectively.
  In 1893, shortly before the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, Mr. Atkinson 
entered the survey department of the Kingdom of Hawaii. In 1898 he joined the 
Hawaiian Trust Co., Ltd., resigning to enter Harvard to take up a special 
course and returning to Hawaii in 1900, when he became affiliated with the B. 
F. Dillingham Co., Ltd. It was through his connection with this company that 
Mr. Atkinson and others, under the leadership of Walter F. Dillingham, 
organized the Hawaiian Dredging Company, Ltd., in 1902.
  Born in Honolulu, March 11, 1877, Mr. Atkinson is the son of Alatau T. and 
Annie Elizabeth (Humble) Atkinson. His father was one of Hawaii’s prominent 
educators of a half century ago, a noted teacher, writer and esteemed citizen 
of Hawaii.
  Mr. Atkinson received his early education at the Fort Street School, 
conducted by his father in Honolulu.
  He married Helen Gertrude Kitchen at Murray Hill, N.J., Jan. 9, 1907. The 
first Mrs. Atkinson died on Sept. 6, 1917. Mr. Atkinson and Alice Makee 
Schultz were married in San Francisco, Sept. 29, 1919.
  He is a member of the Hawaii Polo & Racing Association, University and Oahu 
Country Clubs.


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