第9章
The Violent End of Captain Cook
The fortnight following Cook's arrival at Kealakekua Bay was a period of remarkable tranquility and mutual goodwill. The Hawaiian people welcomed the visitors with extraordinary hospitality, providing abundant food and allowing the expedition's work to proceed without interference. Lieutenant Rickman noted, "Every article that wanted either to be reviewed or repaired was sent on shore, and not the least interruption was given."
After weeks of hearing about the powerful ruler Kalani'opu'u, on January 26, 1779, the king's impressive fleet of over 150 war canoes finally arrived at Kealakekua Bay. Cook's men were surprised to discover that this feared monarch was actually scrawny, elderly, and in poor health-"an old man and very feeble" with inflamed eyes and scurfy skin from kava consumption. Despite his frail appearance, Kalani'opu'u possessed unmistakable charisma and "a countenance very expressive of conscious dignity and merit."
As Cook prepared to depart, he made a request that offended Hawaiian sensibilities. He asked to purchase the wooden fence surrounding the heiau for kindling, not recognizing its sacred significance. While the priest Koa allowed him to take the fence without payment, Cook's men also removed wooden statues of gods from the temple. Though some were returned when Koa requested them, this act was seen as sacrilegious by the Hawaiians, who watched in dismay as strangers dismantled their sacred space.
On February 4, the ships finally weighed anchor, with thousands of Hawaiians cheering their departure. The visit had been extraordinary but had clearly reached its natural conclusion. Cook planned to continue exploring the Hawaiian Islands before heading to Alaska, but fate intervened. On February 8, during a violent squall in the 'Alenuihaha Channel, the Resolution's foremast split. Cook had no choice but to return to the only safe anchorage he knew-Kealakekua Bay.
When the Resolution and Discovery returned to Kealakekua Bay on February 14, 1779, the Hawaiians were hostile and suspicious. After discovering the cutter had been stolen, Cook devised a plan to blockade the shore and kidnap King Kalani'opu'u as hostage.
As Cook and Lieutenant Phillips escorted the cooperative king toward the shore, hundreds of angry Hawaiians gathered, their fury triggered by Lieutenant Rickman killing an important chief. The king's wife begged him not to board, and two chiefs prevented him from proceeding.
Cook finally realized he couldn't force the king aboard "without killing a number of these people," but stubbornly refused to retreat. When attacked, Cook fired his flintlock, killing a Hawaiian-the first person he had ever killed. As more warriors advanced, Cook ordered the marines to open fire.
During a brief lull, Cook yelled "Take to the boats!" but inexplicably remained standing his ground. Lieutenant Phillips was struck by a stone and stabbed before shooting his attacker. Phillips managed to swim to the pinnace despite being struck in the head and rescued Private Jackson, who had been speared in the face.
Cook finally turned toward the pinnace, walking with a stately gait rather than running. At the water's edge, a Hawaiian struck him with a club to test if he was truly a god. When Cook groaned in pain, the crowd shouted, "He is no god. Let us kill him. He is only a man." Nu'a, the king's attendant, drove a pahoa dagger deep into Cook's neck. Cook collapsed into a tide pool where others held his face down while Nu'a repeatedly stabbed him.
Cook raised his head one last time, trying to yell to his men when "a fellow gave him a blow with a large club and he was seen alive no more." The scene was one of unbelievable slaughter-Cook, four marines, and as many as twenty Hawaiian warriors lay dead. The Hawaiians fell upon Cook's corpse in a frenzy, stabbing him repeatedly and dashing his head against the lava flats.
Hawaiian elders insisted that no part of Captain Cook was eaten, that cannibalism was abhorrent to their society, and that Cook's remains were treated with the same respect accorded to their most revered chiefs. In Hawaiian funereal traditions, bodies of important figures were burned and dismembered, with flesh scraped from the bones where the spiritual force (mana) resided. These bones would be distributed among high chiefs as powerful relics.
On February 21, Cook's funeral was held aboard the Resolution. With ships at half-mast and yards crossed, Clerke read from the Bible before the weighted coffin was lowered into the deep waters of Kealakekua Bay, followed by ten cannon shots. The expedition, now under Clerke's command, would continue to search for the Northwest Passage before finally returning to England in October 1780-completing what was then believed to be the longest exploratory voyage ever undertaken at 1,548 days.
Cook's legacy remains complex. For decades after Cook's death, Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay wondered when Lono would return. Some of Cook's remains were kept in the local heiau, while others were "divided amongst the chiefs." Kamehameha the Great reportedly paraded a coffin containing Cook's bones during the annual Makahiki procession, as many believed they contained powerful mana.
When American missionaries arrived in the 1820s, they discouraged worship of traditional deities and portrayed Cook as a heretic. In the 1870s, the British erected a white obelisk near where Cook died, on land deeded to England by Princess Likelike for one dollar. The monument, which remains British soil maintained by the Royal Navy, has frequently been vandalized-when the author visited, it had been splashed with red paint and marked with the words "YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND."
Cook's extraordinary achievements-mapping the Pacific, disproving the southern continent theory, discovering countless islands, and pioneering scurvy prevention-are now balanced against his role in initiating colonial processes that would devastate indigenous populations. His complex legacy continues to evolve, neither purely heroic nor villainous, but rather emblematic of the profound cultural collisions that would reshape the Pacific world forever.
