Captain William Matson (1849 – 1917) founded Matson Navigation Company in 1882. Born in Sweden, Captain Matson arrived in San Francisco in 1867 at the age of 16. There he began sailing on many vessels in San Francisco Bay in northern California rivers. Captain Matson became acquainted with the Spreckles family and was asked to serve as skipper on the Spreckels yacht, Lurline. The Spreckles family later assisted Captain Matson in obtaining his first ship, the Emma Claudina.
Gliding into Hilo Bay in the early dawn of April 23, 1882 was the three-masted schooner Emma Claudina, 13 days out of San Francisco. This sailing launched the beginning of Matson's service. By 1886, with sugar production in Hawaii climbing to 100,000 ton crop annually, the Islands economy begins to grow. Captain Matson is assured eastbound hauls of sugar, with westbound voyages filled with machinery and building materials.
The bark Roderick Dhu is purchased in 1900. Captain Matson makes the vessel world famous when he equips it with a cold-storage plant and electric lights operated by a gasoline engine. Captain Matson's shipping business is incorporated in 1901 as Matson Navigation Company, a California corporation capitalized at $1.5 million, with Captain Matson as president.
In 1927, with Matson’s introduction of the S.S. Malolo, the largest and most palatial luxury cruise liner ever built in the United States at that time, and the opening of its Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Matson builds upon Hawaii’s tourism market. During this year, Matson initiates the custom of having passengers throw their leis into the Pacific, as a vessel steams by Diamond Head, signifying as the lei floated away that the passenger would one day return. By 1929, with the success of the Malolo and the Royal Hawaiian, annual tourist traffic nearly triples, from 8,000 in 1921 to 22,000 in 1929.
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