Death of James Cook
.jpg?lang=en) Resolution and Discovery (detail) by John Cleveley the Younger | |
| Date | 14 February 1779 |
|---|---|
| Location | Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii |
| Cause | Stabbed while attempting to ransom the kidnapped Hawaiian chief for the return of a stolen boat. |
| Participants | Captain James Cook |
| Deaths | Dozens (including Cook) |
On 14 February 1779, British explorer Captain James Cook was killed as he attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief (aliʻi nui) of the island of Hawaii, after Hawaiians had stolen a cutter from Cook's expedition. 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 1788, during his third Pacific voyage, Cook had become the first known European to visit the islands of Hawaii. His expedition returned to the islands in January 1779 and anchored in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii. 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 the Hawaiians considered him to be 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's death in the following affray, his body was dismembered by the Hawaiians and distributed to their chiefs— a 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
[edit]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, his expedition, consisting of HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, became the first known Europeans to encounter the Islands of Hawaii.[1][2] They first sighted the island of Oahu on 18 January 1778 and in the following days Cook landed on Kauai then Ni'ihau.[1]
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On 2 February 1778, 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 the Big Island of Hawaii and trading with locals, then making anchor in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii on 17 January 1779.[3]
Cook and his crew were initially welcomed with great excitement, as news of the strange visitors had spread from the other islands and their arrival 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.[4][5][6] Cook was led ashore by a Hawaiian chief and a priest and was conducted to a shrine (heiau). A crowd repeatedly shouted "Lono" and prostrated themselves as the procession passed. The priest led Cook through an elaborate ceremony at the shrine before he was conducted back to his ship.[7]
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.[8] While scholars Gananath Obeyesekere,[9] Stephen Sumeda[10] and others argue that the Hawaiians did not consider Cook to be a deity, Anne Salmond and others argue that high chiefs were considered to be akua, descended from divine beings, and that both Cook and Kalaniʻōpuʻu were considered descendants of Lono.[11][a]
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.[13]
However, when the Makahiki season ended, tensions increased. 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.[14][15]
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.[16]
Return to Kealakekua Bay
[edit]
Increased conflict
[edit]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.[18] 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.[19]
This time there were no welcoming crowds as the priests had place a taboo (kapu) on the bay. The priests, however, gave the British permission to again set up a camp near the shrine. Kalaniʻōpuʻu questioned Cook about his return and was displeased with his answers. He was also displeased with the priests for allowing the British to set up a camp on the shore. Nevertheless, he lifted the kapu on the bay and trade with the ships resumed.[20][21]
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.[22][23]
Attempt to take Kalaniʻōpuʻu hostage
[edit]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 in order to capture any canoes attempting to leave. He then set off in the Resolution's pinnace to the settlement of Ka'awaloa where he intended to take Kalaniʻōpuʻu hostage in exchange for the return of the cutter. Cook landed at the beach near Ka'awaloa, accompanied by 10 marines. The Resolution's launch and cutter remained just offshore to enforce the blockade.[24]
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.[25][26] 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.[27][28] 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 two to three thousand Hawaiians had gathered and some began to don their protective war mats and to arm themselves with spears, daggers and stones.[29][25][30] 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 [Kalaniʻōpuʻu] to go on board without killing a number of people." [26]
Affray on beach and Cook's death
[edit]Accounts differ over the confused events that followed,[31] 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.[32] 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 knife but fended off his assailant with the butt of his musket, after which Cook fired ball at a Hawaiian, killing him. The Hawaiians launched a general attack and Cook ordered the marines to fire. The crew of the boats were also firing on the Hawaiians. 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, according to most accounts, he turned to order the boats to move closer to shore when he was clubbed on the back of the head and stabbed.[b] He was then surrounded by Hawaiians and beaten and stabbed to death.[c] Phillips and four other marines made it to the pinnace and the cutter which pulled away.[37][38][39] The launch had already pulled away after the firing had started, its commander, Lieutenant John Williamson, misinterpreting Cook's signal.[40] 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.[37][38] Seventeen Hawaiians were killed at Ka'awaloa and another eight were killed elsewhere around the bay on the same day.[41]
Aftermath
[edit]The bodies of Cook and the marines were taken by the Hawaiians to their chiefs.[42][d] Cook's body was dismembered, partly burnt, and distributed to the chiefs which was an honour given to enemies of high rank.[44] Lieutenant James King took a boat to the opposite side of the bay, and was approached by a priest who offered to intercede and ask for Cook's remains to be returned; King consented.[45] Some crewmen returned to the shore three days later to collect water, and skirmishes broke out. The British then burned down the priests' settlement at Kealakekua and killed five or six Hawaiians.[46][47] A few days later, some of Cook's remains were returned to the Resolution, including his legs, arms, skull, some charred flesh, and the hands with the skin still attached.[48][49][50] The crew buried his remains at sea,[48]and Captain Charles Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition.[51]
The ships left the bay on 23 February 1779, and spent five weeks charting the coasts of the islands – in accordance with a plan set out by Cook before his death. They travelled through the archipelago, stopping at Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai.[48] They then sailed north to again try to locate the Northwest Passage. Clerke stopped in Kamchatka and entrusted Cook's journal, with a cover letter describing Cook's death, to the local military commander, Magnus von Behm. Behm had the package delivered, overland, from Siberia to England.[52][53] The Admiralty, and all of England, learned of Cook's death when the package arrived in London – eleven months after he died; the package had arrived in England before the surviving crew.[54]
See also
[edit]- Death of Cook, several paintings
- List of kidnappings
Notes
[edit]- ^ Academic Nicholas Thomas, however, states that the Hawaiians considered Cook an incarnation of Lono, and Kalaniʻōpuʻu as an incarnation of the war god Ku.[12]
- ^ Numerous Hawaiians are reported to have been Cook's killers. David Samwell, the ships surgeon on Discovery, states that a chief named Karimonocraha first struck Cook with the club and another chief Nu'a first stabbed him.[33] Academic Glyn Williams states that others identified as Cook's killer include the chief Palea, a minor chief named "Typowooah", a man named Pihere, an old chief who was immediately shot, "a carpenter" and "a commoner from another part of the island".[34]
- ^ Richard Hough, in his biography of Cook, states that the contemporaneous account of ship surgeon David Samwell is "the most literate and comprehensive" account.[35] Samwell was not on the shore at the time of the confrontation but questioned those who were. His journal reads: "Captain Cook was now the only man on the rock, he was seen walking down towards the pinnace, holding his left hand against the back of his head to guard it from stones and carrying his musket under the other arm. An Indian came running behind him, stopping once or twice as he advanced, as if he was afraid that he should turn around and then, taking him unaware, he sprung at him, knocked him on the back of the head with a large club and instantly fled with the greatest precipitation. The blow made Captain Cook stagger two or three paces. He then fell on his hand and one knee and dropped his musket. As he was rising, another Indian came running to him and before he could recover himself from the fall drew out an iron dagger he concealed under his feathered cloak and stuck it with all his force into the back of his neck, which made Captain Cook tumble into the water." [36]
- ^ The four marines killed in the confrontation were: Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen.[43]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Hough (1997), pp. 311–315
- ^ Ryan (2004), p. 69
- ^ Hough (1997), pp. 330–333
- ^ Sahlins, Marshall (1 October 1996). How "Natives" Think: About Captain Cook, For Example. University of Chicago Press. p. 3–. ISBN 978-0-226-73369-2.
- ^ Tabrah, Ruth M. (17 December 1984). Hawaii: A History. W. W. Norton. pp. 19–22. ISBN 978-0-393-24369-7.
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 394–395
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 395–397
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 402–403
- ^ Obeyesekere (1992), pp. 197–250.
- ^ Sumida, Stephen H. (May 2013). And the View from the Shore. University of Washington Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-295-80345-6.
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 403–404
- ^ Thomas (2003), p. 384
- ^ Ryan (2004), p. 70
- ^ Thomas (2003), pp. 386–388
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 404–406
- ^ Salmond (2004), p. 407
- ^ William Hauptman, "Webber before Cook: two water-colours after Sterne," The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 136, No. 1903 (April 1994), p. 237.
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 408–409
- ^ Sparks, Jared (1847). Life of John Ledyard, American Traveller. C. C. Little and J. Brown. pp. 136–139. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ Salmond (2004), p. 409
- ^ Thomas (2003), p. 389
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 410–411
- ^ Thomas (2003), pp. 389–391
- ^ Salmond (2004), p. 412
- ^ a b Beaglehole (1974), p. 670
- ^ a b Salmond (2004), pp. 412–413
- ^ Withey, Lynne (January 1989). Voyages of Discovery: Captain Cook and the Exploration of the Pacific. University of California Press. p. 387. ISBN 978-0-520-06564-2.
- ^ Thomas (2003), p. 392
- ^ Thomas (2003), p. 392
- ^ Williams (2008), p. 36
- ^ Beaglehole (1974), p. 671
- ^ Thomas (2003), pp. 398–399
- ^ Samwell (1893), p. 463
- ^ Williams (2008), p. 101-106
- ^ Hough (1997), p. 352
- ^ Hough (1997), p. 354
- ^ a b Beaglehole (1974), pp. 671–672
- ^ a b Ryan (2004), p. 72
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 413–414
- ^ Beaglehole (1974), p. 672
- ^ Williams (2008), p. 41
- ^ Salmond (2004), p. 414
- ^ Samwell (1893), p. 460
- ^ Williams (2008), p. 41
- ^ Thomas (2003), pp. 399–400
- ^ Thomas (2003), pp. 400–401
- ^ Salmond (2004), pp. 421–422
- ^ a b c Thomas (2003), p. 401
- ^ Samwell (1893), p. 476
- ^ Salmond (2004), p. 423
- ^ Beaglehole (1974), p. 675
- ^ Beaglehole (1974), pp. 679–680
- ^ Thomas (2003), p. 402
- ^ Williams (2008), pp. 11–16
Sources
[edit]- Beaglehole, John (1974). The Life of Captain James Cook. London: A. and C. Black Ltd. ISBN 0713613823.
- Hough, Richard (1997). Captain James Cook: a biography. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-31519-6.
- Obeyesekere, Gananath (1992). The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05680-7. Retrieved 22 May 2025. Originally published in 1992, with a new Afterword (pp. 197–250) called "De-Sahlinization" added in the 1997 reprint, which discusses the Sahlins controversy.
- Ryan, Tom (2004). "Cook as god and Cook's death". In Robson, John (ed.). The Captain Cook Encyclopaedia. Sydney: Random House. ISBN 0759310114.
- Salmond, Anne (2004). The Trial of the Cannibal Dog: Captain Cook in the South Seas. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0141010037.
- Samwell, David (1893) [1779]. "An Account of Cook's Death (Some Account of a Voyage to South Seas in 1776, 1777, 1778 Written by David Samwell, Surgeon of the Discover)". In Bladen, Frank (ed.). Historical Records of New South Wales: pt.1. Cook, 1762-1780. C. Potter, Government Printer. pp. 450–478. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- Thomas, Nicholas (2003). Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook. Allen Lane. ISBN 0713995572.
- Williams, Glyndwr (2008). The Death of Captain Cook: A Hero Made and Unmade. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674031944. Retrieved 3 June 2025.