Return to the Islands

Freeth returned to Hawai‘i a hero. The Honolulu press tracked him from Los Angeles to San Francisco, mentioning the gold medal and the gold watch that he carried with him. The papers covered his arrival in Honolulu with headlines like “Freeth Comes Home with Laurels for Life Saving.”¹ He was declared “the champion life saver of the United States,” who had saved scores of lives in California and been honored by the United States government. “He looks like an iron man,” reported the Honolulu Advertiser, “who could puncture the ocean to any depth, and has a pair of shoulders that