Kahana

Kahana
First	"The Constant"
Last	N/A
Owned	Charles Widmore
Status	Anchored ~40 nautical miles west of the Island

The Kahana is the 150-foot freighter dispatched to find and recapture the Island three months after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. It last ported in Suva, Fiji. ("Meet Kevin Johnson") At the time of Naomi's arrival on the Island, the ship was anchored approximately eighty nautical miles to the west. ("The Brig") As of Day 94, it had closed in to about forty miles off the coast (twenty minutes of flying). ("The Constant") The Kahana is owned by Charles Widmore. ("The Other Woman") Among the freighter's crew is Oceanic 815 survivor Michael Dawson under the alias "Kevin Johnson".

Description

The Kahana is a supply vessel common to offshore oil fields such as those in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and offshore Nigeria. This type of boat is used to ferry food, water, stores and drilling necessities like "liquid mud" to oil drilling platforms. This type of ship is generally built for speed and not duration, so the last port of call is likely close to the destination. However, it appears to have been modified for the specific task of finding the Island, and has two helipads on the deck where the boat would normally carry pallets of supplies. It was equipped with 2 helicopters, but one crashed in the ocean when Naomi parachuted to the Island.

Captain's stateroom

The captain's stateroom is the domain of the ship's captain, Captain Gault. The stateroom includes several bookshelves stocked with books and charts, a desk, a table, a number of padded chairs, a wall of photographs and posted notes of coastline (possibly the Island), a globe, an 18th century binnacle, a cabinet containing the black box said to have been retrieved from the staged wreckage, and, inside a file cabinet drawer, a safe with two keys—one Keamy's, one Gault's—containing the secondary protocol. A pair of bullhorns adorn the entrance door. ("Ji Yeon")  ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

Kevin Johnson's berth

Kevin Johnson (Michael Dawson) was assigned a berth with 2 bunks, a chair, a cabinet, and a single porthole. He kept the locked crate shipped to him by the Others inside. On the cabinet he kept, among other articles, a bottle of mouthwash and the picture of Michael with Walt as a toddler taken from his Manhattan studio apartment. ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

Sickbay

The sickbay is the domain of the ship's physician, Ray. It includes 2 bunks, a cot, an examination table, and stocks of medical supplies. A latch on the outside ensures that persons can be quarantined within. George Minkowski, and later Desmond and Sayid, were held there. ("The Constant")

Radio room

The radio room was the domain of the ship's communications officer, George Minkowski. All calls to and from the Island and the outside world came through him in the radio room, which was filled with communications equipment. A calendar was used to keep record of the passage of time. The ship's radio was illicitly disabled shortly after the ship anchored near the Island. The culprit is presumably Michael, whom Ben requested to damage the ship's communications equipment. ("The Constant")  ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

Armory

The armory was used for storage of weapons, ammunition and explosives used by the freighter's miltary team. It was located on the same deck as Kevin Johnson's berth, a few doors over at the end of the hallway. Omar assisted Keamy in strapping on a detonator in the armory prior to the military team's second trip to the Island.

Engine room

The engine room has two large engines and various other equipment. Shortly after the radio room was disabled, the engines were presumably sabotaged by Michael as well. ("Ji Yeon")  ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

Quieter part

The berth assigned to Desmond and Sayid was said to be on the "quieter part" of the freighter. The berth had two unstacked bunks, hosted cockroaches, and had a large blood stain on the wall. ("Ji Yeon")  ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

Ship's tender

The ship's tender is a small inflatable Zodiac brand raft. Minkowski and Brandon took the ship's tender in an abortive trip to the Island. Two other crew members later tried to steal the ship's tender to escape the freighter, but the attempted desertion was thwarted by Captain Gault. ("Meet Kevin Johnson") Gault later gave the ship's tender to Sayid so for him to make a journey to the Island and ferry other Flight 815 survivors back to the Kahana. ("Cabin Fever")

Mission

In port in Suva, Fiji

According to Naomi, who arrived on the Island by parachuting from a helicopter dispatched from the freighter, the crew formed part of a search and recovery team, hired by Penelope Widmore, but the freighter mission was actually set up by her father, Charles Widmore in order to find the Island. When the rest of Naomi's team arrived in a second helicopter, they were not looking for Oceanic Flight 815 or its survivors. Some of them thought that the plane was supposed to have been found off the coast of Bali, in an ocean trench four miles deep. Others were informed about the real plane crash, but didn't expect there to be survivors.
In total, there seem to have been four sets of orders on the Kahana:

• Captain Gault's mission to find the Island
• Naomi's team sent by Abaddon
• Keamy's freighter mercenaries acting on Widmore's orders to capture Benjamin Linus and eliminate all other inhabitants of the Island ("Meet Kevin Johnson")
• Michael's one-man saboteur crew, following Ben's orders and feeding him information ("Meet Kevin Johnson")

People associated with the freighter

Below is a list of every person from the freighter introduced thus far.
Picture	Name	Role	Status	Overview
File:Daniel4x02 2.jpg	Daniel Faraday	Physicist	Alive	Since his arrival, Daniel Faraday has noted that light on the Island didn't seem to "scatter quite right". He performed an experiment where a rocket was sent from the freighter to the Island. He helped assist Desmond, experiencing time-transported consciousness, to find his "constant" and, thus, saved his life. He, with the assistance of Charlotte, disabled the poisonous gas at the Tempest.
	Miles Straume	Spiritualist	Alive	Miles Straume arrived on the Island looking for Ben Linus, whom he found thanks to Kate. He wanted $3.2 million dollars from Ben after which Miles would report Ben as dead. He also offered to "take care" of Charlotte who had seen Ben on the Island.
	Charlotte Lewis	Cultural anthropologist	Alive	Charlotte Lewis has talked about having work to do but so far has done anything beyond attempting to gather information about the Flight 815 survivors from Locke's group, and tested Daniel's ability to identify three face-down playing cards. She assisted Daniel in disabling the poisonous gas at the Tempest.
File:FrankLapidus.jpg	Frank Lapidus	Pilot	Alive	Frank Lapidus is a helicoper pilot whose role so far has been to move people between the freighter and the Island. He has memorized the entire passenger manifest of Flight 815. He said he was supposed to be Flight 815's pilot.
	Kevin Johnson	Deckhand	Alive	"Kevin Johnson" is Michael Dawson's alias while serving aboard the Kahana as a deckhand.
	Martin Keamy	Mercenary team leader	Alive	Keamy, from Las Vegas, is an ex-Marine mercenary who heads up the freighter's military team tasked with apprehending Ben Linus. Keamy survived an attack by the Monster.
	Omar	Mercenary	Alive	Omar, from Florida, assists Keamy as a member of the freighter's military team.
	Jeff	Mechanic	Alive	Jeff is a mechanic seen working with Michael to repair the engines.
	Hendricks	Freighter pilot	Alive	Hendricks is the freighter's pilot.
	Naomi Dorrit	Science team leader	Deceased, murdered by Locke	Naomi was hired to provide protection to the team from the freighter operating on the Island and to get the team back safely after they had completed their mission.
	George Minkowski	Communications officer	Deceased, from an apparent brain aneurysm	George Minkowski is the communications officer from the freighter who made first contact with Jack. After suffering flashes similar to Desmond's, he is kept strapped to a bed in the freighter's sick bay until freed by Sayid and Desmond. He later dies of an apparent brain aneurysm.
	Brandon	Crew member	Deceased, presumably from a brain aneurysm	After suffering symptoms of time-transported consciousness following his abortive trip to the Island with George Minkowski, Brandon died.
	Regina	Radio contact	Deceased, committed suicide.	The Kahana's contact with the Island, after Minkowski falls ill. She launched and tracked the rocket for Daniel's experiment. She killed herself by jumping off the Kahana wrapped in heavy chains.
	Ray	Doctor	Deceased, throat slit by Keamy.	He administered a sedative to Minkowski. He activated the alarm when Sayid brought Daniel, on the satellite phone, to Desmond.
	Mayhew	Mercenary	Deceased, died on the freighter after being badly injured by the Monster.	Accompanied Keamy to the Island.
	Captain Gault	Captain	Deceased, shot by Keamy	Keamy takes Frank to talk to see Gault after he returns from the Island. Gault reveals himself to Sayid and Desmond following Regina's suicide and informs them that Charles Widmore owns the freighter. He also implies Ben Linus in the staged plane wreckage and 324 dead bodies inside. It is mentioned that Gault has a bad temper.

Cabin fever

Some of the crew had been dealing with "what might best be described as a heightened case of cabin fever." Captain Gault supposed it had something to do with the close proximity of the island. He didn't interfere with Regina's suicide, because he didn't want any more people to get afflicted. ("Ji Yeon"). He suspected that Keamy was infected as well. ("Cabin Fever").

Trivia

• The name Kahana was first seen on the ship's starboard side when the helicopter approached it in "The Constant".
  • "Kahana," according to a Hawaiian Dictionary, means "n. Cutting, drawing of a line; turning point. Cf. kaha 1, 3. Eia maʻaneʻi ke kahana alanui e iho ai i kahakai, here's the turn of the road to go down to the beach." There are many places in the Hawaiian islands called "Kahana," and "Kahana" is also a proper name for men or women. In addition, if spelled "ka hana", this could mean "the work" in the context of a larger sentence.
  • Additionally, "Kahana" is the aramaic form of the word Cohen in Hebrew, which means Priest but also Leader. All Jewish priests came from the family of Levi, who was the son of Jacob.
  • Also, "Kahana" in Hindi language is the name of “Lord Krishna” from Hindu religious mythology. This can be inferred to Religion – Hinduism/Hindi references made earlier in the show. Example:"Dharma", "Dharmacakra", ”Namaste”, "Swan/Hansa", and "Opal". It may also be noted that Lord Krishna is believed to be the primary source of definition of the word Karma and Dharma in a Hindu mythological epic Mahabharata.
• Scenes with the Kahana were filmed at sea a few miles off the coast of Oahu. The ship docked at Barbers Point just west of Pearl Harbor. The actual ship is used to transport supplies to islands and science research stations within the Hawaiian Archipelago. ("The Constant-Enhanced")

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Kahana/Theories

• How did they find the Island?
• What is causing the "severe case of cabin fever" that caused Regina to kill herself?
• Whose blood is on the wall of Sayid and Desmond's new room?
• Why did Kearny allow the science team to go to the island before his mercenaries?

References

• 1. Lostcast Podcast #60: Beginning of the End, Sivan Cotel.

• 2. The Hollywood Reporter, "Davies gets 'Lost'".

• 3. E! Online.