Cook Names the Sandwich Islands but Meets His Maker There, Too.
- J. James Wheeling
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Here’s the straight skinny on the naming of the Sandwich Islands. Captain James Cook
named them after the Earl of Sandwich when he “discovered” them in 1778 while on his third (and final) exploratory voyage searching for the mythical Northwest Passage on behalf of Great Britain. The Polynesian people living there referred to the islands as, “Hawaii” as the accepted name for their home. Gradually, the name Sandwich Islands faded from usage, but it was still in use by Americans in 1849.
But here’s what happens when a history geek goes digging… she finds a rabbit hole! I knew Captain Cook died on the Hawaiian Islands, but I did not know the circumstances until I read Hampton Sides’ book, “The Wide, Wide Sea.” It is a great book of narrative non-fiction, and I wholeheartedly encourage you all to read it. It is beautifully written and, as is Mr. Sides’ style, gloriously researched.
Here we go down the very summarized rabbit hole of what caused Captain James Cook’s demise on the Hawaiian Islands.
By the time Captain Cook happened upon Hawaii, he had already sailed from England to Australia, New Zealand, crossed the Antarctic Circle (without reaching the continent of Antarctica), fifteen Polynesian Islands now named after him, claiming them all for Great Britain on two earlier voyages of discovery. When he came across the Hawaiian paradise, he quickly claimed the islands for Great Britain.
The islanders were in awe of his ships and the sailors’ white skin, thinking them all to be returning gods and Cook being the god they called Lono. The sailors enjoyed their stay, especially the generosity of the islanders and being treated like supernatural beings. Eventually, they stocked up on provisions to continue their exploratory trip to the Bering Strait.
Cook headed north and charted the west coast of America while searching for the passage until he was thwarted by treacherously icy conditions that halted the voyage. His crew was miserably cold and had such a fond memory of the Sandwich Islands that they implored him to return for the winter.
Upon their arrival to the island of Kaui, the islands’ chief, Kalani‘ōpu‘u, welcomed Captain Cook, the god Lono, with beautiful capes of bird feathers and other gifts. In turn, Cook gave him a chest of metal tools, just as exotic. They became friends, visiting each other’s very different domiciles and sharing information.
According to the islanders’ beliefs, there is a calendar for when gods arrive and when they leave. “Lono” had overstayed his scheduled time, something a god would know not to but Captain Cook was oblivious. Additionally, the British presence was taxing the islanders’ generosity for food and entertainment. Finally, Kalani‘ōpu‘u asked when Captain Cook, and his 180 men, planned on leaving.
As it happened, Cook was ready to get back to exploring now that the crew had recovered their health, they had fresh provisions, and the ships had been repaired. Everything could have been just fine if they had left but a couple of incidents delayed them, and in both cases, the islanders began to question the god status of these beings.
When the Discovery and the Resolution finally weighed anchor, the islanders heaved a sigh of relief while they cheered and waved goodbye. Sailing north, the two ships were at sea for two days, until a squall grew into a gale. A mast on the Resolution was split by a ferocious wind and they had to turn back to, what Cook believed, a safe harbor for repairs.
The Resolution and the Discovery had been in the Kaui’s bay for four days, but the islanders were surly and suspicious of their presence. They likely reasoned, if Lono was a god, he wouldn’t have a broken ship, would he?
Kalani‘ōpu‘u reluctantly allowed the broken mast to be brought ashore, and the sailors went about the business of repairing. But tensions were high. At dawn of the tenth day, a sailor on the Discovery noticed that the cutter, a large transport boat used to go to ashore, was gone, its thick rope hacked through. When Cook learned of its disappearance, he flew into one of his, now frequent, rages, certain it had been taken for the miscellaneous metal on and within it, something he had taught the islanders to value.
Employing two strategies that he had used in past situations, Cook quickly sent several of the smaller boats to the other side of the island to form a blockade against the islanders leaving their island and he set about a plan to kidnap and ransom Kalani‘ōpu‘u for the return of the cutter.
I just want to stop here and take a deep breath. This is such monumental arrogance. And yet, he felt like he could pull this off. Like the islanders didn’t have the skills to overwhelm him and his pitiful number of men? Yikes.
His men were under orders that if a canoe of islanders tried to slip through the blockade, the sailors were to chase it down and arrest the occupants. If there was any resistance, the sailors had his approval to fire upon those resisting.
Cook planned to go, along with ten heavily armed marines, to Kalani‘ōpu‘u’s residence and invite the king to a friendly meal aboard the Resolution just like he had many times before. Once on the ship, the king would be arrested and not released until the stolen cutter was returned. He told no one of this plan or surely his officers would have tried to talk him out of it. Kalani‘ōpu‘u was a god in his peoples’ eyes and had an army of seasoned and very capable warriors.
Cook’s presence was not unusual except for being armed. He was cordial to those who greeted him and made it directly to the king’s simple residence without being stopped. Kalani‘ōpu‘u was not in any hurry to greet Cook but seemed pleased when Cook made his invitation. The king accepted and in casual conversation, Cook mentioned the missing cutter. Kalani‘ōpu‘u showed no knowledge of anything having to do with its absence which Cook seemed to accept.
What no one knew was that only a half hour earlier, a lieutenant had fired his musket at a canoe full of islanders breaking through the blockade. An important chief had been killed, and the islanders had had enough.
For the rest of this story, I’ll refer you to “The Wide, Wide Sea.” Hampton Sides tells the story so much better than I can summarize it. Suffice to say, the islanders ran the British off their island, killing four and smashing the body of Captain Cook to smithereens. There were several factors that led to his demise, pride and arrogance leading the list.
What I find to be so interesting about this story event is that it is one of just a few where the indigenous peoples stood their ground and prevailed. After Cook’s men sailed back to Britain, arriving in 1780, George Vancouver visited the Hawaiian Islands from 1792-1794, and somehow persuaded the island chiefs to give Great Britain ownership of their land in writing. He also brought domesticated livestock to the islands.
From then on, the islands became a frequent stopover for explorers, traders and whalers from all over the world. Everyone enjoyed the winters in Hawaii. The arrival of Boston’s American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on March 30, 1820, signaled deeper American involvement in the islanders’ culture.
The Hawaiians benefited from all this contact especially in military technology and weapons along with iron tools. The Kingdom of Hawaii was established by Kamehameha I in 1795 when he used European firearms to conquer the other islands and unite them.
But, as is the case with all European and American arrival into indigenous cultures, diseases decimated the native population due to their lack of immunity. By the time of Kismet, there had been devastating diseases like whooping cough, cholera and smallpox that had reduced the indigenous population significantly. The missionaries were part of helping to nurse those who survived back to health.
Ultimately, Hawaii became a U.S. Territory through a joint Congressional resolution called the Newlands Resolution and was signed on July 7, 1898, by President William McKinley. This came after the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown by a joint effort of American and European business owners, particularly the sugar magnates, in 1893. Due to WWII, statehood was interrupted, and Hawaii finally became the 50th state on August 21, 1959.