Capt. Cook's Unfortunate Demise

The bay at Kealakekua is so translucent, so placid, that scores of novice snorkelers slip into the water daily, arriving by boats from Kailua-Kona, which anchor, bobbing peacefully, just beyond the obelisk that marks a far more violent episode in Hawaiian history. It was here that the great navigator Captain James Cook was killed on February 14, 1779.

 

Cook and his crew had sailed through the Hawaiian Islands little more than a year earlier when they anchored off Kaua'i to re-provision his flagship Resolution and a smaller vessel, Discovery. This was Cook's third Pacific voyage, but his first to explore the North Pacific. It was the voyage that earned him credit as the first westerner to discover the Hawaiian Islands.

 

When the British ships sailed past O'ahu to Kaua'i in January 1778, they were met by a fleet of canoes filled with Islanders prepared to do battle. Luckily, Cook and his men had learned a bit of Tahitian months earlier. Tahitian was close enough to the Hawaiian dialect so the two groups could communicate, and when Cook gave gifts, the Hawaiians realized he had come in peace. The boats had been anchored for three days at Waimea Bay, Kaua'i, where the crews had discovered that Hawaiian women gave freely of their sexual favors. While there, the High Chief Kaneoneo returned from across the island to board the Discovery and meet Captain Charles Clerke before the two English ships left Waimea, headed for Alaska and Canada. Cook had anchored off Kaua'i during the time of makahiki, a period of months set aside for the collection of taxes in the form of produce, crafts and other goods, while war was suspended and ceremonies and games were the order of the day. There are, however, no notations in Cook's logs that indicate he knew anything about the makahiki season or its peaceful traditions. Ten months later, he returned from the north, badly in need of provisions and a safe harbor to repair his ships. It was November; once again it was the makahiki season. Cook dropped anchor first off Maui, where a meeting with King Kahekili went well. The Hawaiians were pleased to obtain valuable iron nails to fashion into fishing hooks, as well as iron tools, in trade for food and water.

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