Death of James Cook 1779

About the battle

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, and hold him hostage for the return of a cutter which Hawaiians had stolen. 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 1778, during his third Pacific voyage, Cook had become the first known European to visit the Hawaiian Islands. His expedition returned to the islands in January 1779 and anchored in Kealakekua Bay. 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 they considered him 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.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Death of James Cook (revision 1380622483), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

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Further reading

• Wikipedia: Death of James Cook
• Wikidata Q4871405