Death of James Cook
On 14 February 1779 British explorer Captain James Cook was killed as he attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief of the island of Hawaii, and hold him hostage for the return of a cutter which Hawaiians had stolen. As Cook and his men attempted to take the chief to his ship, they were confronted by a crowd of Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay seeking to prevent Kalaniʻōpuʻu leaving. In the ensuing confrontation, Cook, four British marines and 17 Hawaiians were killed.
In January 1778, during his third Pacific voyage, Cook had become the first known European to visit the Hawaiian Islands. His expedition returned to the islands in January 1779 and anchored in Kealakekua Bay. Relations between the British and Hawaiians were initially good, as Cook's expedition had arrived during the Makahiki season, a celebration of fertility and the god Lono. Although the Hawaiians called Cook "Lono" and treated him with reverence, scholars are divided on whether they considered him a deity.
Cook's expedition left the bay on 4 February but were forced to return a week later after one of its ships was damaged in a gale. However, the Makahiki season had ended and tensions between the British and Hawaiians increased. A series of thefts by Hawaiians and violent reprisals by the British culminated in the theft of the cutter and Cook's attempt to take Kalaniʻōpuʻu hostage for its return. After Cook was stabbed and beaten to death in the following affray, his body was dismembered by the Hawaiians and distributed to their chiefsa mark of respect for a high-ranking adversary. Following reprisals by the British in which several more Hawaiians were killed, Cook's remains were returned to the British and were buried at sea with full military honours.
Arrival in Hawaiian islands
First encounter
The British naval officer, James Cook, led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. During his third and final voyage, Cook commanded an expedition consisting of HMS Resolution, HMS Discovery and their crew. He and his crew became the first known Europeans to encounter the Hawaiian Islands when they sighted the island of Oahu on 18 January 1778. In the following days Cook landed on Kauai then Niʻihau.Return to islands and landing at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii
On 2 February Cook continued on to the coast of North America and Alaska, mapping and searching for a Northwest Passage to the Atlantic Ocean for approximately nine months. In November he returned to the island chain to resupply, initially exploring the coasts of Maui and Hawaii and trading with locals, then making anchor in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, on 17 January 1779.News of the strange visitors had spread throughout the islands, and Cook and his crew were initially welcomed with great excitement, a crowd of about 10,000 gathering on the shore or rowing to the ships in canoes. The arrival of the British coincided with the Makahiki season, a New Year festival in honour of the god Lono of the Hawaiian religion, and a celebration of fertility and the yearly harvest. Cook was led ashore by a Hawaiian chief and a priest who conducted him to the Lono shrine of Hikeau, at the southern end of the bay, where the priests had their main settlement. A crowd repeatedly shouted "Lono" and prostrated themselves as the procession passed. Priests led Cook through an elaborate ceremony at the shrine before he was conducted back to his ship.On 25 January the high chief of the island, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, met Cook near the shrine where they conducted a ceremonial exchange of names and the symbols of their authority. Both Cook and Kalaniʻōpuʻu were referred to as Lono, and Hawaiians prostrated themselves when they passed. The anthropologists Gananath Obeyesekere and Marshall Sahlins have debated whether Hawaiians considered Cook to be the god Lono. Anthropologist Anne Salmond has argued that high chiefs were considered to be akua, descended from divine beings, and that both Cook and Kalaniʻōpuʻu were considered descendants of Lono.
While Cook and many of his crew had some knowledge of Polynesian languages and cultures, they were unaware of the significance of these ceremonies and rituals. Nevertheless, relations between the British and Hawaiians were initially good. The priests based in the settlement of Hikiau permitted the British to set up an observatory and camp near the shrine. Trade with the ships flourished, the Hawaiians particularly valuing iron goods. The British reported fewer thefts and tensions than had been the case in the other Pacific islands.
Tensions increased, however, when the Makahiki season ended and the season of the war-god Kū began. A Hawaiian was flogged for theft and some of the British beat Hawaiians for trivial reasons. When the British needed firewood, the priests allowed them to buy the wooden fence surrounding the shrine. Some sailors also took carved images from the shrine and the priests asked for the return of the main image. Sources are divided on the extent to which the incident offended the Hawaiians. Soon after, the priests allowed the British to bury a recently deceased sailor on the grounds of the shrine.
In early February Kalaniʻōpuʻu and the priests anxiously asked Cook when he was going to leave. After a final round of ceremonial exchanges of gifts, and celebrations involving boxing, wrestling and a fireworks display, Cook's expedition sailed out of Kealakekua Bay on 4 February.
Conflict and death
Return to Kealakekua Bay
The expedition soon encountered a hard gale which wrenched the mainmast of the Resolution. On 11 February they returned to Kealakekua Bay to make repairs. Marine Corporal John Ledyard later wrote:Our return to this bay was as disagreeable to us as it was to the inhabitants, for we were reciprocally tired of each other. They had been oppressed and were weary of our prostituted alliance...It was also equally evident from the looks of the natives as well as every other appearance that our friendship was now at an end, and that we had nothing to do but to hasten our departure to some different island where our vices were not known, and where our intrinsic virtues might gain us another short space of being wondered at.
The return of Cook during the season of Kū was contrary to Hawaiian beliefs and caused tension between the priests of Lono and the chiefs who were associated with Kū. This time there were no welcoming crowds as the priests had placed a taboo on the bay. The priests, however, gave the British permission to again set up a camp near the shrine so the Resolution
The British soon noticed an increase in thefts and a more defiant attitude from the Hawaiians. A Hawaiian chief took the armourer's tongs from the Discovery and was punished with 40 lashes. The tongs were taken again but were returned the same day. When a British landing party tried to take a Hawaiian canoe in retaliation, a dispute followed in which a prominent chief named Palea was hit with an oar, and an angry crowd of about 300 Hawaiians responded by hurling stones and beating the landing party. On the same day a party gathering water for the ships was dispersed by Hawaiians, and a marine was pelted with stones. Following these disturbances Cook ordered his marines to load their muskets with ball rather than small shot, and ordered all Hawaiians off the ships.Image:John Webber - 'Kealakekua Bay and the village Kowroaa', 1779, ink, ink wash and watercolor.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Kaawaloa in 1779 by John Webber
Attempt to take Kalaniʻōpuʻu hostage
On the morning of 14 February Cook heard that the Discovery's large cutter had been stolen. He ordered boats to be stationed at both ends of the bay to capture any canoes attempting to leave. He then set off in the Resolution's pinnace to the chiefs' settlement of Kaʻawaloa, at the northern end of the bay, where he intended to take Kalaniʻōpuʻu hostage until the cutter was returned. Cook had previously held Tongan and Tahitian high chiefs hostage for the return of stolen items and this had almost led to violence because Polynesians considered their high chiefs sacred.Cook landed at the beach near Kaʻawaloa, accompanied by 10 marines. The Resolution's launch and cutter remained just offshore to enforce the blockade. Two young sons of Kalaniʻōpuʻu led Cook's party to their father who had been sleeping. Cook spoke to Kalaniʻōpuʻu and was convinced that he knew nothing about the theft of the cutter. When Cook asked him to go with him to the Resolution he agreed, and his two young sons ran ahead to the boat. However, as Cook and Kalaniʻōpuʻu were walking hand in hand to the boat, one of Kalaniʻōpuʻu 's wives, Kānekapōlei, pleaded with him not to go. She was joined by two chiefs who sat Kalaniʻōpuʻu down. A man began chanting and made an offering of a coconut to Cook and Kalaniʻōpuʻu. A crowd of 2,000 to 3,000 Hawaiians had gathered and some began to don their protective war mats and to arm themselves with spears, daggers and stones. Cook ordered the marines to form a line along the rocks near the shore and told the Lieutenant of Marines, Molesworth Phillips, "We can never think of compelling him to go on board without killing a number of people."
Affray on beach and Cook's death
Accounts differ over the confused events that followed, but at some point the Hawaiians learned that a chief named Kalimu had been shot on the other side of the bay, which further angered the crowd. When a warrior threatened Cook with a dagger and a stone, Cook fired small shot at him, but it had little effect because the warrior was wearing his war mat. The crowd began throwing stones, knocking down a marine. Phillips was attacked with a dagger, but fended off his assailant with the butt of his musket, after which Cook fired ball at a Hawaiian, killing him. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's sons was already in the pinnace, but returned to shore when the firing started. The Hawaiians launched a general attack, and the marines and boat crews opened fire.The marines fired one round, but did not have time to reload before the warriors overwhelmed them. Cook ordered the marines to take to the boats then turned to signal the boats to move closer to shore. It is unclear, however, whether he was also ordering them to cease fire. During the evacuation to the boats, Cook was clubbed on the back of the head and stabbed. He was then surrounded by Hawaiians who beat and stabbed him to death.
Phillips and four other marines made it to the pinnace and the cutter, which pulled away. The launch had already pulled away after the firing had started, its commander, Lieutenant John Williamson, misinterpreting Cook's signal. The Resolution opened fire with cannon, and most of the Hawaiians retreated. Four marines were also killed in the affray, and the British left the five bodies onshore. Seventeen Hawaiians were killed at Kaʻawaloa, and another eight were killed elsewhere around the bay on the same day.