Vacation Rental in Princeville Kauai
and Kauai Travel Guide
©B.Pruitt 2009
History of Kauai and Hawaii
Strangers From a Strange Land
Captain Cook departed Plymouth, England in 1776. His mission was to find the long-
Cook commanded the 100-
The first Hawaiian island that Cook sighted was Oahu. Calm winds held his ships offshore during the night while he drifted west until he was in view of Kauai. As the ships worked their way closer to Kauai’s shore, natives paddled canoes out to meet them. The intrepid Englishmen were given a friendly although timid reception. Cook found a suitable place to drop anchor at Waimea Bay.
Cook went ashore with a guard of armed marines. He was surprised that his presence caused the natives to fall face down to the ground as they would before the highest ali‘i, rising only with his encouragement. Captain Cook didn’t understand that the islanders prostrating themselves in his presence and his reverential treatment resulted from the propitious timing of his arrival. Every year during the winter months a festival called makahiki was held throughout the islands. It was a period of rejoicing and festivity dedicated to honoring Lono, the fertility god of the earth. The islanders celebrated by feasting, dancing, playing games and freely exchanging sex partners. According to legend, Lono was to someday arrive on moving islands. Cook’s appearance, commanding ships larger, and like no other the natives had seen, was interpreted as the coming of a god.
The kahuna wanted to test the force of this apparition. A real god, they believed,
had no want of women; men did. With the approval of the Hawaiian men, throngs of
women swarmed the ships to offer their bodies to please Lono and his attendants;
whereby the sailors quickly failed their test of divinity. Cook gave strict orders
prohibiting sexual relations with the Hawaiians. Of the 112 members of Cook’s expedition,
66 showed symptoms of venereal disease. The infected crew members were not allowed
ashore. The attempt to keep the native population free of this disease, to which
they had never been exposed, proved futile. Despite the exhibition of ungodlike
behavior from his crew, Cook did not associate with any of the women. Whether this
interloper was a deity, was something the Hawaiians could ponder in his absence.
The stores of the Resolution and the Discovery were replenished and on January 23, 1778, five days after first sighting a Hawaiian island, Cook left Kauai–the Northwest Passage once again the object of his quest. In honor of his patron in the British Admiralty, Cook christened the islands he came upon by chance, the Sandwich Islands.
The next leg of Cook’s journey took him through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean. In the middle of summer, at a latitude of N 70° 44', an impenetrable wall of pack ice halted Cook’s progress. Disappointed, he decided to return to the warmth of the Sandwich Islands.
On the return trip, winds carried Cook to the east of Kauai. At daybreak on November 26, 1778, Cook sighted the island of Maui. Maui’s principal chief, Kahekili, paid a visit to Charles Clerke, who captained the Discovery, and brought a red feather cloak as a gift. A chief from the island of Hawaii, Kalaniopu‘u, who was battling in the Hana district of Maui, brought some of his people to stay overnight on the Resolution. Some of those who stayed aboard had venereal sores and were given medicine. In less than a year, the infection brought by the English sailors had spread throughout the islands.
The rocky and exposed north coast of Maui offered no safe anchorage. The English continued sailing to the last and largest island of the chain. For a month Cook sailed along the northern and eastern shores of the island the natives called Hawaii. He was frustrated in his search for a safe anchorage until he rounded South Point and sailed into the shelter of Kealakekua Bay on January 17, 1779. The two ships anchored in the bay and were received by 10,000 Hawaiians who lined the shore and filled a flotilla of 3,000 canoes.
By an even greater coincidence, Cook's second visit to the Hawaiian Islands was again during makahiki and he chose Kealakekua Bay. According to Hawaiian legend, Kealakekua Bay was considered Lono’s private, sacred harbor. Natives from around the island came to pay homage to what they were sure was a returning god.
Congenial relations prevailed for the next two weeks. But the English overstayed their welcome when restocking supplies for another voyage north nearly exhausted the resources of the islanders. On the morning of February 4, the English set sail along the coast to the north followed by a canoe entourage. After the ships cleared the north point of the island, a violent winter storm broke the foremast of the Resolution. Cook’s flagship limped back to Kealakekua Bay so that the carpenters could make repairs.
Cook found that the time of the makahiki had expired when he returned. The Hawaiians began to share their doubts that a true god would return after the makahiki. While repairs to the mast were being made, some natives stole a cutter from the Discovery. An infuriated Cook went ashore with Lt. James King and nine marines with the intent of taking Kalaniopu‘u hostage in exchange for return of the boat. As Cook and his party searched for the chief, a large crowd of natives gathered around them. When Cook decided to leave, a skirmish erupted at the water’s edge. A native menaced Cook with a stone and a long iron spike. Cook fired at the native, but the shot could not penetrate the heavy straw mat that he wore as armor. The native turned triumphantly to the crowd to show them he was unharmed. Emboldened, the crowd of Hawaiians threw stones at the marines who were lined up against the water. When the crowd surged forward, Cook turned toward his boat and was stabbed in the neck by a native with a dagger. He fell face down in the shallow water where several natives stabbed and clubbed him to death. Four marines were killed as they struggled back to their boat. As the six survivors rowed to safety, they saw their captain’s bludgeoned body being dragged away by the Hawaiians.
Charles Clerke succeeded to command the expedition. He made another futile attempt at finding the Northwest Passage, dying of tuberculosis before he reached home. The return of the Resolution and the Discovery to England caused little fanfare in a nation whose attention was focused on the war with the American colonies. Maps and accounts of their voyages did spawn European and American expeditions of discovery and trade.
George Vancouver returned to Waimea, Kauai in 1792, this time in command of his own
expedition. He reported in his journal that the Hawaiians met him with "distant
civility." The prince of Kauai came to Waimea to meet Vancouver, who agreed to two
of his crewmen being exchanged as hostages while the prince came aboard the English
flagship. The young prince was Kaumuali‘i. Vancouver considered the 12-