[News] On February 14, 1779 Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy was killed in Kealakekua Bay, on the Big Island of Hawaii

[Anti-Imperialist News]

"On February 14, 1779 Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy was 
killed by natives in Kealakekua Bay, on the Big Islandof Hawaii. Cook 
was a true savage, who sailed across the world bringing murder, rape, 
disease, and colonialism to native peoples all over the Pacific.

When he was killed, Cook was trying to kidnap the Hawaiian Aliʻi (tribal 
chief) Kalaniʻōpuʻu in response to an unknown person stealing a small 
boat. In the process, he had threatened to open fire on the islanders.

At this point, the Hawaiians decided they had enough of Cook’s bullshit, 
threatened with mass murder and the kidnapping of one of their tribal 
leaders, the Hawaiian islanders finally gave this piece of shit what he 
deserved: a beatdown on the beach, and a knife to the chest. This put an 
end to a lifetime of predatory behavior and conquest of lands in the 
service to the british empire.

So how about instead of celebrating a boring consumerist holiday like 
Valentine’s Day, we celebrate something awesome, like the death of 
Captain Cook …"


https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/02/14/how-foolish-rumour-hawaiians-ate-cook-began 



  How the foolish rumour that Hawaiians ate Cook began

By Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa 14 Feb 2019
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*Disclaimer: This article contains violent descriptors*

Rumour has it that Hawaiians worshipped Captain James Cook as a god whom 
we killed, and then ate, in 1779.

Now it is true that we very proudly killed Cook, who brought Venereal 
Disease (VD) and Tuberculosis to the Hawaiian people with his 
disease-ridden men. In fact, we Hawaiians still celebrate every 14 
February as Hauʻoli Lā Hoʻomake iā Kapena Kuke, of Happy Death of 
Captain Cook day!

But as we Hawaiians preferred to eat fresh fish over people (especially 
those who bathed only infrequently), we certainly did not eat Cook. So 
where did this story come from?

Cook had been well equipped with two ships, the H.M.S.Resolution for 
whom he was captain, and the H.M.S. Discovery whose captain was Charles 
Clerke, and their mission was to find the non-existent Northwest 
passage, across what is now Canada to the Atlantic ocean.

Cook and his ships first arrived in Hawaiʻi in January 1778 by accident, 
via. Tahiti on their way to Alaska. Sailing from the South Pacific they 
spotted the islands of Hawaiʻi, Māui and Oʻahu, but unlike Hawaiian 
double-hulled canoes which were made to stand the climate, waters and 
terrain of the archipelago, large European ships had trouble sailing 
into the wind, and they could not land on those islands.

However, they did manage to steer into the south sides of the northern 
islands of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau.

Both Captain Cook and Clerke knew that their men were riddled with 
gonorrhoea and syphilis, and many of the crew would die of Tuberculosis 
before they returned to England, yet they sent them ashore through the 
high winter surf to fill their near empty water kegs from the numerous 
rivers, allowing them to have contact with the natives.

When the surf rose too high to return to the ships, the men stayed the 
night ashore and slept with Hawaiian women who were curious to see what 
these white men had in their funny looking pants. Shortly after, Cook 
and his ships proceeded north to Alaska to share their germs there.

Thus both VD and Tuberculosis were introduced to the Hawaiian people, 
and later that year in November 1778 when Cook returned to Hawaiian 
archipelago offshore of Māui. Hawaiian men went aboard to show Cook and 
his crew the venereal sores on their genitals, and to ask for medicine 
for them. Our ancestors knew that the disease had come from Cookʻs crew, 
which ended up devastating our population. This is a key reason we 
celebrate his death.

Cook eventually came round to moor in the sheltered bay of Kealakekua 
[lit., the pathway of the gods] in January 1779, where coincidentally 
the god Lono, a god of peace, returned annually from Tahiti to bring 
fertility to the people.

There, Cook was met by the Lono priests who took him to Hikiau temple to 
honour him as the returning god Lono, whose emblem of crossed wood and 
long pieces of white kapa [barkcloth] looked very much like the sails of 
Cook’s ships.

Why would the Lono priests mistake Cook for a god? It was simple.

During Makahiki ceremonies for Lono (the four months of the new 
year) war is forbidden. Yet during this time, King Kalaniʻōpuʻu of 
Hawaiʻi island, was off on Māui making war. When Cook arrived in 
Kealakekua, the Lono priests called the King back to attend to the Lono 
rituals and to offer gifts of food and hospitality to Captain Cook.

However, Makahiki ceremonies usually end in January, and so after a 
while, the Hawaiians began wondering, and asking, Cook and his men when 
they were leaving. Finally, Cook left Kealakekua, but a day later, off 
the coast of Kawaihae, Cook encountered a storm that broke the mast of 
the Endeavor. He limped back to Kealakekua.

Lono was supposed to be able to control the winds — so what kind of god 
gets a broken mast? Folks soon began to wonder, was Cook really Lono? 
After all, he didn’t speak our language, and he didn’t bathe every day 
which is an absolute Hawaiian requirement. Was he an imposter?!

Then Cook lost his temper when some Hawaiians, doubting his divine 
designation, stole the small boat used to go ashore from one of Cook’s 
ships.

Immediately, Cook went to the rocky shores of Kaʻawaloa peninsula, 
adjacent to Kealakekua bay, to kidnap King Kalaniʻōpuʻu until the small 
boat should be returned. Cook did not know that the small boat had 
already been burned so that its prized iron nails could be retrieved.

In this arrogance, Cook went with only one man rowing his own small 
boat, and one guard to come ashore with him. When King Kalaniʻōpuʻu 
refused to go with Cook, the crowd surrounding the King quickly became 
angry. Cook’s guard ran off to the small boat, leaving Cook behind, and 
his two men quickly rowed back to the safety of their ship deserting 
their captain.

As Cook turned to make his way through the crowd, some enterprising 
fellow threw a rock at his back. When Cook groaned, the crowd shouted 
that he was not a god. The Hawaiians began to stab Cook to death. Many 
Hawaiian families still claim the honour today.

Captain Cook monument on the Big Island

While it turned out that Cook was not a god, it was evident that with 
two large ships, he was certainly a high chief of some sort. Tradition 
demanded that his body be dismembered, and the bones be put into a 
sennit casket. The Lono priests took Cookʻs hands and his buttocks, 
wrapped in ceremonial kapa cloth, to his ship. Cook’s men were horrified 
at the bloody bits and asked, “Oh my god, did you eat him?”

To which the Lono priests replied, “Why? Is that what you do? Do you eat 
your dead?”. Hence the foolish rumour began.

Our Māori cousins often taunt Hawaiians for being "too nice" to 
foreigners, to which we reply, “Donʻt forget that you Māori had your 
chance and you missed it. We Hawaiians killed Cook and rid the world of 
a very bad man.”

/Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, PhD is a historian and Professor at the 
Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, /University/of Hawaiʻi at 
Mānoa./

-- 
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