Campfire Chat - General DiscussionsThis is a forum for posting discussion topics, questions, current events, and anything else you'd like to chat about. Please post serious Civil War History threads in appropriate History Forums.
On January 18, 1778, the English explorer Captain James Cook becomes the first
European to discover the Hawaiian Islands when he sails past the island of Oahu.
Two days later, he landed at Waimea on the island of Kauai and named the island
group the Sandwich Islands, in honor of John Montague, who was the earl of
Sandwich and one his patrons.In 1768, Cook, a surveyor in the Royal Navy, was
commissioned a lieutenant in command of the H.M.S. Endeavor and led an
expedition that took scientists to Tahiti to chart the course of the planet
Venus. In 1771, he returned to England, having explored the coast of New Zealand
and Australia and circumnavigated the globe. Beginning in 1772, he commanded a
major mission to the South Pacific and during the next three years explored the
Antarctic region, charted the New Hebrides, and discovered New Caledonia. In
1776, he sailed from England again as commander of the H.M.S. Resolution and
Discovery and in 1778 made his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands.Cook and his
crew were welcomed by the Hawaiians, who were fascinated by the Europeans' ships
and their use of iron. Cook provisioned his ships by trading the metal, and his
sailors traded iron nails for sex. The ships then made a brief stop at Ni'ihau
and headed north to look for the western end of a northwest passage from the
North Atlantic to the Pacific. Almost one year later, Cook's two ships returned
to the Hawaiian Islands and found a safe harbor in Hawaii's Kealakekua Bay.It is
suspected that the Hawaiians attached religious significance to the first stay
of the Europeans on their islands. In Cook's second visit, there was no question
of this phenomenon. Kealakekua Bay was considered the sacred harbor of Lono, the
fertility god of the Hawaiians, and at the time of Cook's arrival the locals
were engaged in a festival dedicated to Lono. Cook and his compatriots were
welcomed as gods and for the next month exploited the Hawaiians' good will.
After one of the crewmembers died, exposing the Europeans as mere mortals,
relations became strained. On February 4, 1779, the British ships sailed from
Kealakekua Bay, but rough seas damaged the foremast of the Resolution, and after
only a week at sea the expedition was forced to return to Hawaii.The Hawaiians
greeted Cook and his men by hurling rocks; they then stole a small cutter vessel
from the Discovery. Negotiations with King Kalaniopuu for the return of the
cutter collapsed after a lesser Hawaiian chief was shot to death and a mob of
Hawaiians descended on Cook's party. The captain and his men fired on the angry
Hawaiians, but they were soon overwhelmed, and only a few managed to escape to
the safety of the Resolution. Captain Cook himself was killed by the mob. A few
days later, the Englishmen retaliated by firing their cannons and muskets at the
shore, killing some 30 Hawaiians. The Resolution and Discovery eventually
returned to England.
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
CivilWarTalk.com -
A free and friendly Civil War community. 
JAN. 18th in History 
Linear Mode
