Kealakekua Bay - Turmoil

Turmoil

When Kalaniʻōpuʻu died in 1782, his oldest son Kiwalaʻo officially inherited the kingdom, but his nephew Kamehameha I had an important military post, guardian of the god Kūkaʻilimoku. A younger son, Keōua Kuahuʻula, was not happy about this and provoked Kamehameha. The forces met just south of the bay at the battle of Mokuʻōhai. Kamehameha won control of the west and north sides of the island, but Keōua escaped. It would take over a decade to consolidate his control.

In 1786, merchant ships of the King George's Sound Company under command of the maritime fur traders Nathaniel Portlock and Captain George Dixon anchored in the harbor, but avoided coming ashore since they had been on Cook's voyage he met his demise. In December 1788, the Iphigenia under William Douglas arrived with Chief Kaʻiana, who had already traveled to China. The first American ship was probably the Lady Washington around this time under Captain John Kendrick. Two sailors, Parson Howel and James Boyd, left the ship (in 1790 or when it returned in 1793) and lived on the island.

In March 1790, the American ship Eleanora arrived at Kealakekua Bay and sent a British sailor ashore named John Young, to determine if the sister ship, the schooner Fair American, had arrived for its planned rendezvous. Young was detained by Kamehameha's men, in order to prevent the Eleanora's Captain Simon Metcalfe from hearing the news of the demise of the Fair American, including the death of Metcalfe's son, after the massacre at Olowalu. Young and Isaac Davis, the lone survivor of the Fair American, slowly adjusted to the island lifestyle. They instructed Hawaiians in the use of the captured cannon and muskets, becoming respected advisors to Kamehameha. In 1791 Spanish explorer Manuel Quimper visited on the ship Princess Royal. For an unusual account about the circumstances surrounding Cook's death see Val Wake's article Who Killed Captain Cook AQ journal of contemporary analysis Vol 75 issue 3 May–June 2003. In his article Wake claims that Cook was the victim of a Polynesian political plot by Kamehameha. Wake believes that Cook's death was organised by Kamehameha to discredit the priests and strengthen his claim to the Hawaiian throne. In other words Cook's death was a political assassination and not the random killing by an unruly native mob. Wake's quotes a number of sources for his theory including J.C. Beaglehole who has written the definitive guide to Cook's life and voyages.