James Cook – First European to Visit Hawaii
On January 18, 1778, Captain James Cook became the first European to reach the Hawaiian islands.
About 2,000 years ago, Polynesians journeyed to the Hawaiian Islands using giant sailing canoes. These expert seafarers traveled more than 3,500 miles through rough, open seas that later proved a serious challenge to much larger European sailing vessels. Incredibly, this migration was made without the use of navigational tools.
Although European or Japanese ships may have reached the Hawaiian Islands during the 1500s, Great Britain’s Captain James Cook was responsible for making them known to the rest of the world. One of the world’s greatest explorers, he commanded three Pacific Ocean voyages and sailed around the world twice. Cook began his third and final Pacific voyage in July 1776 with his ships the Resolution and the Discovery.
Cook made the first European landfall in Hawaii on January 18, 1778, and engaged in friendly trade. It’s estimated that about 300,000 people lived in Hawaii at that time. Cook’s arrival in Hawaii coincided with an important festival. Many historians speculate that the islanders believed Cook was fulfilling a Hawaiian legend – the return from their sea god, “Lono.” The Hawaiians believed Cook had divine powers and considered him a great chief. He named the islands in honor of the first lord of the British admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich. Cook left the Sandwich Islands after two weeks.
Cook then sailed north, crossed the Bering Strait and entering the Arctic Ocean. However, large walls of ice forced him to turn back. So he returned to Hawaii in November 1778. Despite their warm welcome, friction soon developed between the crew and the islanders. Perhaps feeding the crew of his two ships was too great a strain on the Hawaiians.
The poor condition of Cook’s ships prevented him from leaving. In February 1779, a Hawaiian stole a boat from the Discovery. While Cook was investigating the theft, a fight broke out between the Hawaiians and Cook’s crew. Cook was stabbed to death during the fight on February 14, 1779.
Cook was respected so greatly that, among many other honors, Russia named an island group near New Zealand after him (the Cook Islands). Perhaps the greatest praise came from Benjamin Franklin, though. As the American Colonies battled Great Britain for independence in the Revolutionary War, battles were often fought at sea. Any ship of the opposing nation was potential prey with one exception – Captain Cook’s ship.
In 1779, Franklin ordered that American ships should “…not consider (Cook’s ship) an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England…but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness…as common friends to mankind.” But at the time of the order, Cook had already been slain in a conflict with Hawaiian natives earlier in the year.
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Good historical information.
Witness THE VOYAGE OF THE HOKULE’A, a Nat Geo Special, aired on PBS in January 1977, that documents the struggles of the first voyage without instruments between Hawaii and Tahiti in more than 600 years. I am its producer. Dale Bell.
The Polynesians didn’t need “navigational tools”, they knew how to read the waves to find their direction. a skill never learned by the Europeans.
Perhaps, but what they had in navigational skills, they lacked in technology, medical care and communications.
Dave;
From another Dave; You’re only partially right about reading the waves. Columbus learned how to read waves on his first voyage while returning to Spain after his “discovery”. His use of the skill was basically ignored for years. Dave Manning
I am saving these email messages as they are very informative and add to my collection.
Mystic Stamp Company Employees–Keep up the good work!!! I am buying more stamps now which is keeping me involved with my stamp collecting hobby. Learning about history and the people who shaped our history is fun and inspiring. Thank you for bringing this history to us on a daily basis. Best Regards Dr. Doug
Animals seem to have excellent navigational “systems” that we have not learned. Birds, butterflies, dogs, elephants, and on and on. Ah, but now there is GPS right. Alas, it is subject to errors that can be significant during solar storms. All of us still have a lot to learn. Mystic is helping with that.
The native Hawaiians were smarter than they knew. They might have survived as a separate nation had they been able to keep the sugar companies out later if they had found a way to eliminate their owners the way the Hawaiians eliminated Cook. But the US was on a colonial hunt in the 1890’s and would probably have found a way to steal that territory the way they violated the rights of Native Americans in North America even without the sugar magnates.
Another one of the America is the problem crowd
Great information. Thanks, Mystic. History class has never been more fun to attend. 🙂
Don’t forget the pineapple corporations – Dole, for one, was very involved in getting Hawaii
to become a US colony. And yes, it was called, “manifest destiny” for the greatness of America and, alas, for the suppression of the native Hawaiians. This “war” continues to this day.
my name is steo
phen h cook capt james cook is my 6th great grandfather i live here in america yet he is indeed my relivtive my father john cook looks alike to james essepeillly the nose large and distint perhaps this is why i to am drawn to the water i always have to be nereit the waters i live on a lake in flordia and live only 2 and half miles from the gulf thanks for giving me this great grandfather james love you stephen
I believe all six of Capt James Cook’s children died without issue.