The Murder of Captain James Cook, 1779
Was Cook Killed as a Pagan Sacrifice?
Nov 16, 2009 Brenda Ralph Lewis
In 1779, Captain Cook, the renowned English navigator, was on his third voyage to the Pacific. On January 16 of that year, he arrived in Hawaii just as the islanders were celebrating the annual festival of makahiki in honor of their god Lono-i-ka-makahiki.
James Cook Mistaken for a God
This coincidence produced what turned out to be a fatal case of mistaken identity. To Cook’s astonishment, he was greeted by some three thousand five hundred canoes and ten thousand Hawaiians. They lavished gifts on him, performed ceremonies in his honor and in all other ways appeared to regard him as the divine Lono incarnate.
A pig was sacrificed and Cook was smeared with its fat. He was afterwards anointed with coconut oil, so confirming his divinity. Cook had always been meticulous about respecting native customs and responded by allowing the Hawaiians on board his vessel. For their benefit, he also staged a display of fireworks. This overawed his visitors but quite possibly also convinced them even more firmly that he was, indeed, their god.
Across the Pacific
After two weeks, Cook weighed anchor and left Hawaii to resume his Pacific explorations. For the Hawaiians, however, his departure tied in with the legend of Lono, an unhappy deity who wandered the Pacific after killing his wife in the mistaken belief that she had been unfaithful to him.
Lono built a triangular shaped canoe and departed, promising to return at some time in the future. It was easy enough for the Hawaiians to believe that an 18th century vessel in full sail was, in fact, this canoe, especially after Cook came back to Hawaii in February 1779.
Cook-Lono Loses Prestige
What the islanders did not expect, though, was that Lono’s canoe would return to Hawaii in such poor condition. Cook’s fleet had received a severe battering in the Arctic waters north of Canada, and the Hawaiians were puzzled that the great god Lono could have suffered such damage in his own realm.
Consequently, their attitude towards Cook became less reverential. They also turned more aggressive and proceeded to steal metals from his ships, together with a cutter. This was not the first time the islanders had thieved from Cook’s vessels but now he lost patience and on February 14 he went ashore with nine crewmen to demand the return of the cutter.
The Murder of Captain Cook
Although the Hawaiians prostrated themselves before him when he came ashore on Kealakekua Bay, a skirmish developed and Cook was clubbed, repeatedly knifed, half-drowned and battered about the head with a rock. He died, quite probably, when an iron dagger was sunk into his neck
Afterwards, with great displays of grief and remorse, the Hawaiians treated Cook’s body like a ritual sacrifice. The sacrifice was first offered by the island king, Kalani’opu’u. The body was dismembered and part of the flesh was roasted over a fire and eaten.
Cook’s Remains Become Trophies
All Cook’s grieving crewmen were able to retrieve was the flesh of one thigh and some bones. Cook’s head was given to the son-in-law of the High Priest. The leg, arm and lower jaw bones, complete with teeth, were given to King Kalani’opu’u. Another island King, Kehemameha I, received Cook’s hair. To the Hawaiians, all these trophies were permeated with divine power.
The Hawaiian circumstances of Cook’s violent end seem to have given it the appearance of a pagan blood sacrifice, but in England he was, of course, mourned as a lost hero foully done to death by savages.
Sources
Hough, Richard Alexander, Captain James Cook: A Biography (London UK: W.W. Norton & Co. 1997) ISBN-10: 0393315193/ISBN-13: 978-0393315196
Thomas, Nicholas, Cook : The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook (New York, NY, Walker & Company, 2004)ISBN-10: 0802714129/ ISBN-13: 978-0802714121
Website: Oceania - The Last Voyage of Captain James Cook
Death of Captain Cook
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