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Editor’s note: Honolulu’s visitors have told fascinating stories over the years. Civil Beat looked through vintage news clippings to give today’s APEC visitors a sense of the history of visits to this place. Look for a historical tidbit every day through Nov. 13. With thanks to Pake Zane and Julie Lauster of Antique Alley.

It’s likely that many visitors to Honolulu for APEC will enjoy a drink or two — perhaps even at a reception put on by the president of the United States.

But it wasn’t always so simple to quaff an alcoholic beverage here.

The now-defunct Honolulu Star-Bulletin carried a series of articles on Hawaii history in 1931. One reported on the scene in 1846.

“In 1846 there arrived the first steamer ever seen in Honolulu. It was H.B.M. Cormorant, 45 days from Callao, from which I suppose it came most of the way under sail. Shortly afterward, the (ship) came into the harbor and 500 men of the crew came on shore on a Sunday. Finding all the liquor houses closed, they broke open the door of one of them and appointed one of their member bartender to dispense the drinks and take pay for the same. He took care that the owner received the money.

“Outside of Honolulu no liquor licenses were granted but there was much smuggling. Liquor was smuggled in barrels consigned as beef or flour…

“On one occasion the ship Charles was unloading barrels supposedly of beef and salmon. After 199 barrels had been landed the next fell from the sling disclosing the fact as it broke that it contained liquor. At another time, 100 barrels of ‘flour’ were seized, all full of liquor. These were not destroyed but were sold for the benefit of the treasury of the kingdom. The firms to which these consignments were made were not fined. This smuggling was to evade the payment of $5 a gallon duty.”

It may sound hard to believe, but the clipping says that when brandy ran into the gutter after barrels were destroyed, “there were some men who went down on their knees to get a drink.”