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KF5JRV > TODAY 14.02.23 12:00l 18 Lines 3577 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 46303_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 14
Path: IW8PGT<LU4ECL<LU9DCE<W0ARP<KF5JRV
Sent: 230214/0935Z 46303@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.23
On the morning of 14 February 1779, Cook and his men launched from Resolution along with a company of armed marines. They went directly to the ruling chief's enclosure where Kalani?opu?u was still sleeping. They woke him and directed him, urgently but without threat, to come with them. As Cook and his men marched the ruler out of the royal enclosure, Cook himself held the hands of the elder chief as they walked away from the town toward the beach. Kalani?opu?u's favorite wife, Kanekapolei, saw them as they were leaving and yelled after her husband but he ignored her and did not stop. She called to the other chiefs and the townspeople to alert them to the departure of her husband. Two chiefs, Kana?ina (Kalaimanokaho?owaha), the young son of the former ruler, Keawe?opala, and Nuaa, the king's personal attendant, followed the group to the beach with the king's wife behind them pleading along the way for the ali?i nui to stop and come back.
By the time they got to the beach, Kalani?opu?u's two youngest sons, who had been following their father believing they were being invited to visit the ship again with the ruler, began to climb into the boats waiting at the shore. Kanekapolei shouted to them to get out of the boat and pleaded with her husband to stop. The ruler then realized that Cook and his men were not asking him to visit the ship, but were attempting to abduct him. At this point he stopped and sat down.
Cook's men were confronted on the beach by an elderly kahuna who approached them holding a coconut and chanting. They yelled at the priest to go away, but he kept approaching them while singing the mele. When Cook and his men looked away from the old kahuna, they saw that the beach was now filled with thousands of Native Hawaiians. Cook told Kalani?opu?u to get up but the ruler refused. As the townspeople began to gather around them, Cook and his men began to back away from the hostile crowd and raise their guns. The two chiefs and Kanekapolei shielded the ali?i nui as Cook tried to get him to his feet.
Kana?ina angrily approached Cook, who reacted by striking the chief with the broad (flat) side of his sword. Kana?ina jumped at Cook and grabbed him. Some accounts state that Kana?ina did not intend to hit Cook while other descriptions say the chief deliberately struck the navigator across the head with his leiomano. Either way, Kana?ina pushed Cook, who fell to the sand. As Cook attempted to get up, Nuaa lunged at him and fatally stabbed him in the chest with a metal dagger, obtained by trade from Cook's ship during the same visit. Cook fell with his face in the water. This caused a violent, close-quarters melee between the Hawaiians and Cook's men.
Four of the Royal Marines (Corporal James Thomas and Privates Theophilus Hinks, Thomas Fachett, and John Allen) were killed and two were wounded. The remaining sailors and marines, heavily outnumbered, continued to fire as they retreated to their small boat and rowed back to their ship, killing several of the angered people on the beach, including possibly High Chief Kana?ina. Cook's ships did not leave Kealakekua Bay until 22 February; they had remained for another week to continue repair of the mast and collect better-quality drinking water.
A young William Bligh, the future captain of HMS Bounty, later claimed to have been watching with a spyglass from Resolution as Cook's body was dragged up the hill to the town by the Native Hawaiians, where it was torn to pieces by them.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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