The Death of Captain Cook
The Death of Captain Cook [This is related by Captain King.]
From: 1779 C.E. To: 1779 C.E.
Location: Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, United States
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“The Death of Captain Cook” by Captain King from The Life and Voyages of Captain James Cook by James Cook and Caleb George Cash, 1905.
The Death of Captain Cook
[This is related by Captain King.]
February 14th, 1779. I was informed that the cutter of the Discovery had been stolen during the night from the buoy where it was moored. It had been Captain Cook's usual practice, whenever anything of consequence was lost at any of the islands in this ocean, to get the king or some of the principal chiefs on board, and to keep them as hostages till it was restored. This method, which had been always attended with success, he meant to pursue on the present occasion; and, at the same time, had given orders to stop all the canoes that should attempt to leave the bay, with an intention of seizing and destroying them, if he could not recover the cutter by peaceable means.
It was between seven and eight o'clock when we quitted the ship together, Captain Cook in the pinnace, having Mr. Phillips and nine marines with him, and myself in the small boat. Captain Cook went toward Kowrowa where the king resided, and I went to the beach. Captain Cook immediately marched into the village, where he was received with the usual marks of respect, the people prostrating themselves before him, and bringing their accustomed offerings of small hogs. Finding that there was no suspicion of his design, his next step was to enquire for Terreeoboo, the king, and the two boys, his sons, who had been his constant guests on board the Resolution. In a short time the boys returned along with the natives who had been sent in search of them, and immediately Captain Cook to the house where the king had slept. They found the old man just awoke from sleep; and, after a short conversation about the loss of the cutter, from which Captain Cook was convinced that he was in no wise privy to it, he invited him to return in the boat and spend the day on board the Resolution. To this proposal the king readily consented, and immediately got up to accompany him.
Things were in this prosperous train, the two boys being already in the pinnace and the rest of the party having advanced near the water-side, when an elderly woman called Kanee-kabareea, the mother of the boys and one of the king’s favourite wives, came after him, and with many tears and entreaties besought him not to go on board. At the same time two chiefs, who came along with her, laid hold of him, and, insisting that he should go no farther, forced him to sit down.
The natives, who were collecting in prodigious numbers along the shore, and had probably been alarmed at the firing of the great guns at some escaping canoes, and the appearance of hostility in the bay, began to throng round Captain Cook and the king. In this situation the lieutenant of marines, observing that his men were huddled close together in the crowd and thus incapable of using their arms if any occasion should require it, proposed to the captain to draw them up along the rocks close to the water's edge; and, the crowd readily making way for them to pass, they were drawn up in a line, at the distance of about thirty yards from the place where the king was sitting.
All this time the old king remained on the ground, with the strongest marks of terror and dejection in his countenance. Captain Cook, not willing to abandon the object for which he had come on shore, continuing to urge him, in the most pressing manner, to proceed; whilst, on the other hand, whenever the king appeared inclined to follow him, the chiefs who stood round him interposed, at first with prayers and entreaties, but afterward having recourse to force and violence, and insisted on his staying where he was. Captain Cook therefore, finding that the alarm had spread too generally, and that it was in vain to think any longer of getting him off without bloodshed, at last gave up the point, observing to Mr. Phillips that it would be impossible to compel him to go on board without the risk of killing a great number of the inhabitants.
Though the enterprise that had carried Captain Cook on shore had failed and was abandoned, yet his person did not appear to have been in the least danger, till an accident happened which gave a fatal turn to the affair. The boats which had been stationed across the bay, having fired at some canoes that were attempting to get out, unfortunately had killed a chief of the first rank. The news of his death arrived at the village where Captain Cook was just as he had left the king and was walking slowly toward the shore.
The ferment it occasioned was very conspicuous; the women and children were immediately sent off; and the men put on their war-mats, and armed themselves with spears and stones. One of the natives, having in his hands a stone and a long iron spike, came up to the captain, flourishing his weapon by way of defiance, and threatening to throw the stone. The captain desired him to desist; but, the man persisting in his insolence, he was at length provoked to fire a load of small-shot. The man having his mat on, which the shot were not able to penetrate, this had no other effect than to irritate and encourage them.
Several stones were thrown at the marines; and one of the chiefs attempted to stab Mr. Phillips with his spear, but failed in the attempt, and received from him a blow with the butt end of his musket. Captain Cook now fired his second barrel, loaded with ball, and killed one of the foremost of the natives. A general attack with stones immediately followed, which was answered by a discharge of musketry from the marines and the people in the boats. The islanders, contrary to the expectations of everyone, stood the fire with great firmness, and before the marines had time to reload, they broke upon them with dreadful shouts and yells. What followed was a scene of the utmost horror and confusion.
Four of the marines were cut off amongst the rocks in the retreat, and fell a sacrifice to the fury of the enemy; three more were dangerously wounded; and the lieutenant, who had received a stab between the shoulders with a spear, having fortunately reserved his fire, shot the man who had wounded him just as he was going to repeat his blow. Our unfortunate commander, the last time he was seen distinctly, was standing at the water’s edge, and calling out to the boats to cease firing and to pull in. If it be true, as some of those who were present have imagined, that the marines and boatmen had fired without his orders, and that he was desirous of preventing any further bloodshed, it is not improbable that his humanity on this occasion proved fatal to him. For it was remarked that whilst he faced the multitude none of them offered him any violence, but that, having turned about to give his orders to the boats, he was stabbed in the back, and fell with his face into the water. On seeing him fall, the islanders set up a great shout, and his body was immediately dragged on shore and surrounded by the enemy, who, snatching the dagger out of each other's hands, showed a savage eagerness to have a share in his destruction.
Thus fell our great and excellent commander. After a life of so much distinguished and successful enterprise, his death, as far as regards himself, cannot be reckoned premature, since he lived to finish the great work for which he seems to have been designed; and was rather removed from the enjoyment, than cut off from the acquisition, of glory. How sincerely his loss was felt and lamented by those who had so long found their general security in his skill and conduct, and every consolation, under their hardships, in his tenderness and humanity, it is neither necessary nor possible for me to describe; much less shall I attempt to paint the horror with which we were struck, and the universal dejection and dismay which followed so dreadful and unexpected a calamity. The reader will not be displeased to turn from so sad a scene to the contemplation of his character and virtues, whilst I am paying my last tribute to the memory of a dear and honoured friend.
The earliest habits of his life, the course of his services, and the constant application of his mind, all conspired to fit him for the prosecution of discoveries in the less known parts of the sea, and gave him a degree of professional knowledge which can fall to the lot of very few. The constitution of his body was robust, inured to labour, and capable of undergoing the severest hardships. His stomach bore, without difficulty, the coarsest and most ungrateful food. Indeed, temperance in him was scarcely a virtue, so great was the indifference with which he submitted to every kind of self-denial.
The qualities of his mind were of the same hardy, vigorous kind with those of his body. His understanding was strong and perspicacious. His judgment, in whatever related to the services he was engaged in, quick and sure. His designs were bold and manly; and, both in the conception and in the mode of execution, bore evident marks of a great original genius. His courage was cool and determined, and accompanied with an admirable presence of mind in the moment of danger. His manners were plain and unaffected. His temper might perhaps have been justly blamed as subject to hastiness and passion, had not these been disarmed by a disposition the most benevolent and humane.
Such were the outlines of Captain Cook's character; but its most distinguishing feature was that unremitting perseverance in the pursuit of his object, which was not only superior to the opposition of dangers and the pressure of hardships, but even exempt from the want of ordinary relaxation. During the long and tedious voyages in which he was engaged, his eagerness and activity were never in the least abated. No incidental temptation could detain him for a moment; even those intervals of recreation, which sometimes unavoidably occurred, and were looked for by us with a longing that persons who have experienced the fatigues of service will readily excuse, were submitted to by him with a certain impatience, whenever they could not be employed in making further provision for the more effectual prosecution of his designs.
Perhaps no science ever received greater additions from the labours of a single man than geography has done from those of Captain Cook. As a navigator his services were not perhaps less splendid, certainly not less important and meritorious. The method which he discovered and so successfully pursued of preserving the health of seamen forms a new era in navigation, and will transmit his name to future ages amongst the friends and benefactors of mankind.
Cook, James, and Caleb George Cash. The Life and Voyages of Captain James Cook: Selections with Introductions and Notes by C.G. Cash. Blackie & Son, 1905.
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