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Most often heard story of Captain Cook’s Arrival
Many historians have written about the fateful arrival of Captain Cook. The most
common account of Cook’s arrival has his boat coming over the horizon at the very
moment the Hawaiian’s were celebrating a festival to their God Lono. Lono is the
Hawaiian God of agriculture, fertility, peace and natural phenomena. In honoring
Lono the Hawaiian’s traditionally raised a white cloth high on a pole. As Cook’s
ship sailed into Kealakekua Bay, its tall masts with white sails resembled the Hawaiian
tribute and the Hawaiian’s took this to mean Captain Cook was Lono. He was honored
at the time and received great gifts from King Kalaniopuu. Cook and his crew stayed
and enjoyed the hospitality of his host for about a week before setting sail out
of Kealakekua Bay. This would be the last time he would be received so well by Hawaiians.
A little over a week later Captain Cook and his ship returned to Kealakekua Bay
with storm damaged sails. The Hawaiians were rightfully puzzled how a God could
suffer such a set back, and when after an argument Cook further displayed a moment
of weakness, they concluded correctly that he could not possibly be the God Lono.
Seeing an imposter, the Hawaiians attacked and Cook was killed on the beach.
Alternative account of Captain Cook’s arrival in Kealakekua Bay
Equally supported by recent scholars is the narative of Cook’s landing in Hawaii
in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall
at Kealakekua Bay, on what is now the 'Big Island' of Hawaii. Cook's arrival coincided
with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival dedicated to the Polynesian god of
agriculture, Lono. It is celebrated from November to February and is a time when
the kapu (law) of the land was lifted and commoners and royalty were allowed to
comingle. Indeed the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the
mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artifacts that
formed part of the season of worship. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall
Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent,
his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation
of Lono (as was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, although the idea
that any Hawaiians took Cook to be Lono and the evidence presented in support of
it was strongly challenged in 1992 by Ganananath Obeyesekere. Gananath Obeyesekere,
has strongly disputed ethnographer Marshall Sahlins' thesis that the Hawaiian natives
believed that Captain James Cook was a god in what has developed into the most hotly
contested debate in anthropology of recent times. In his 1992 book, “The Apotheosis
of Captain Cook,” Obeyesekere denied the thesis of Sahlins that the natives of Hawaii
in 1779 had regarded Captain James Cook as their returned god Lono. Obeyesekere
claimed that the Hawaiians had too much "practical rationality" to mistake an Englishman,
who wore strange clothes, spoke no Hawaiian, and knew nothing of their religious
beliefs or practices, for one of their gods.
Hawaiian’s in the village have known for generations, through oral history from
their ancestors, that Captain James Cook was never thought to be the god Lono, but
rather an important foreign dignitary.
After a month's stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the
Northern Pacific. However, shortly after leaving the Big Island, the foremast of
the Resolution broke and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs. It has
been hypothesized that the return to the islands by Cook's expedition was not just
unexpected by the Hawaiians but unwelcome because the season of Lono had recently
ended; in any case, tensions rose and a number of quarrels broke out between the
Europeans and Hawaiians. On February 14 at Kealakekua Bay, some Hawaiians took one
of Cook's small boats. Normally, as thefts were quite common in Tahiti and the other
islands, Cook would have taken hostages until the stolen articles were returned.
Indeed, he attempted to take hostage the Chief of Hawaii, Kalaniopu'u. While approaching
the water’s edge with Cook, Kalaniopu’u, was strongly encouraged by his chiefs not
to go aboard the Resolution with Cook. At that moment a messenger arrived informing
Kalaniopu’u that a chief in a canoe was shot and killed by William Bleigh. Upon
hearing this news, the women and children in the crowd retreated while the warriors
came forward. William Bleigh, realizing there were problems on shore, ordered his
men to fire their muskets in the air to demonstrate their fire power which only
served to agitate the warriors. In an attempt to signal Bleigh to stop the men from
firing, he ran towards the water’s edge to get around the crowd when he was stabbed
in the back by one of the warrior chiefs.
He was then repeatedly clubbed and stabbed to death in plain view of a small boat
of English who failed to help him due to the cowardice of the man in command, Lieutenant
John Williamson. The Hawaiians dragged his body away. Four of the Marines with Cook
were also killed and two wounded in the confrontation.
After the death of Cook the English exacted much revenge with cannon fire, burning
of the village, and other cruel punishment in an attempt to get the natives to return
the bodies.
Some scholars suggest that Cook's return to Hawaii outside the season of worship
for Lono, which was synonymous with 'peace', and thus in the season of 'war' (being
dedicated to Kū, god of war) may have upset the equilibrium and fostered an atmosphere
of resentment and aggression from the local population. Coupled with a jaded grasp
of native diplomacy and a burgeoning but limited understanding of local politics,
Cook may have inadvertently contributed to the tensions that ultimately conspired
in his demise.
The esteem in which he was nevertheless held by the Hawaiians resulted in his body
being retained by their chiefs and elders and the flesh cut and roasted from his
bones (an honor given great Hawaiian warriors lost in battle). Some of Cook's remains,
disclosing some corroborating evidence to this effect, were eventually returned
to the British for a formal burial at sea following an appeal by the crew.
Today there is a monument to Captain Cook on the shore of Kaawaloa Kealakekua Bay
that is a short kayak paddle from Kealakekua Hale; this little patch of land is
the only British soil in America that is not an embassy. Each year a British Royal
Navy warship visits to clean and preserve the monument and honor the memory of Captain
Cook.
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