Statewide County HI Archives News.....The British in Hawai'i  - Part 1 July 17, 2008
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 August 3, 2008, 7:06 pm

Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands July 17, 2008


Contibuted for use in
USGenWeb Archives
by Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374.
July 17, 2008.

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Historical Collections of Hawai'i
Keepers of the Culture
A Study in time, of the Hawai'ian Islands
The British in Hawai'i  - Part 1
by Darlene E. Kelley

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Part 1

The British in Hawai'i


The influence of Great Britain on the Hawai'ian is pervasive but easily
overlooked. English is the main language, the Hawai'ian flag displays
the British Union Jack, and local law is based in part, on old English
common law.

Britain's impact began the first day of Hawai'ian contact with the
western world, when sea Captain James Cook of northern England set foot
on the black sandy beach at the mouth of the Waimoa River on Kaua'i.
Cook and his crew aboard the ships, Discovery and Resolution, were
searching for a northest passage from the Pacific to Alantic on Cook's
third circumnavigation of the globe. Cook landed on Kaua'i on January
19, 1778, forever changing Hawai'i.

Many believe Hawai'ians greeted Cook as Lona, a god of harvest and
peace. He toured Kaua'i's Waimea and the valley behind, studying temple
sites and describing intensive agricultural practices. He was surprised
the find Hawai'ians speaking a language akin to Tahitian, which some of
his men spoke fluently.

Cook named Hawai'i the Sandwich Islands after the fourth Earl of
Sandwich, one of the sponsors of his expedition and the First Lord of
the British Admiralty. Cook returned to the Sandwich Islands the
folowing winter, sailing off Maui, then anchoring at Kealakekua Bay on
the Big Island, where he was greeted by thousands of Hawai'ians, who
line the shore and sailed up to him in canoes. Hikiau Heiau
at Kealakekua was dedicated to Lono, and historians believe that once
again Cook was honored as a god-like figure, as he had arrived at a
peaceful season when the Hawai'ian God, Lono, was in power.


Cook's stay at Kealakekua marked the first " Christian " burial of a
westerner in Hawai'i, when an old English tar named William Watman was
given a Christian service by Cook, followed with a Hawai'ian ritual by
the Kahuna of the Hikiau Heiau,who burned the flesh off his bones and
interred him.       

After filling his ship with food and water, Cook sailed away, but sprung
a mast, northwest of Kealakekua Bay. His return to Kealakelua to fix his
ship, was stressful to the Hawai'ians. They had already supplied
Cook with much of their harvest and they needed the rest to feed their
own people.
The season of Ku, a war god, had begun. This and other factors led to an
altercation on a smooth lava rock shoreline in front of the Hawai'ian
village Ka'awaloa, on the northern point of Kealakekua Bay. A young
Kamehamha, the future ruler of Hawai'i, was among those who struck down
Cook, who died.

By the mid-1780s, Cook's journels describing the location of the
Hawai'ian Islands had been published to acclaim in London. The drawings
by artist John Webber, a black sailor, who sailed with Cook, and Cook's
own vivid words would draw explorers and merchants to Hawai'i for the
next fifty years.

However, Cook's death at the hands of Hawai'ian warriors, initially gave
Hawai'i a reputation as a savage land and it was eight years before
another foreign ship arrived. English Captains to follow Cook included
Portlock and Dixon, Moores and Douglass. They explored O'ahu and other
islands and bartered peaceably with Hawai'ians on most of the main
islands.

The establishment of a strong relationship between Great Britain and
Hawai'i began with the visits of British explorer, Captain George
Vancouver in 1792. Vancouver had been with Cook, and he returned to
Hawai'i in 1793 and 1794. Vancouver was a friendly, peaceable man, who
made a deep impression on the Hawai'ian people through his wisdom and
warmth. He tried to make peace between warring Hawai'ian Islands and
refused to sell arms and ammunition to the ali'i ( chiefs ). His
recognition of Kamehameha as the leading ali'i increased the status of
the Big Island Warrior. Vancouver told Kamehameha of Great Britain's
govenment and religion, and offered to send teachers.

Kamehameha held a council of chiefs aboard Vancouver's ship. Discovery,
on February 21, 1794. The ali'i decided to place Hawai'i under the
protection of Great Britain, while retaining the right to rule Hawai'i
independently. The British flag was hoisted on shore four days later and
Lt. Puget took possession of all Hawai'i in the name of King George III
of Great Britain. George III was the same British King who led Britain
against the American colonies during the Revolutionary War.

Vancouver's journals recorded that a salute was fired and the Hawai'ians
exclaimed " We are men of Britain ."
Though the secession was never ratified by the rulers of Great Britain,
this event began a long and friendly relationship between the Hawai'ian
Islands and Great Britain.

Vancouver refused Kamehameha request for firearms and gun powder, but
promised Kamehameha delivery of a war ship with cannon as a gift from
King George. John Young was a British sailor from Liverpool, England,
although born in Scotland, who would play a leading role in the early
post-western contact development of Hawai'i. Young was left behind on
the Big Island by Thomas Metcalf, Captain of the ship Elenora, and
became an advisor and friend of Kamehameha, who made Young a high chief.
Young brought the knowledge of the western world; including navel and
land battle strategies, to Kamehameha, and a sober, just voice on
affairs of state for the Hawai'ian Kingdom. He organized the
construction of the fort at Honolulu Harbor.

Young built a compound at Kaweihea on the Big Island adjacent the
Pu'ukohala Heiau. There he and his Hawai'ian wife raised a family and
entertained both Hawai'ian and western visitors. Young's grand-daugther
Emma would become the wife of Kamehameha IV.

Kamehameha flew the British flag over his compound and on his war canoes
and ships until 1816, when the Hawai'ian flag was hoisted with its Union
Jack and eight red, white, and blue stripes. The Union Jack was most
likely chosen to reflect Kamehameha's desire for British protection; the
stripes represent each of the main Hawai'ian Islands. The Hawai'ian flag
was first designed in about 1809 by either Captain Alexander Adams or
Captain George Beckley, both friends and advisors to Kamehameha. Some
say the original flag had nine stripes.

In 1816, Kamehameha's ship Ka'ahumanu sailed to China with a cargo of
sandlewood, but was turned away from the port when it was flying the
Hawai'ian flag. Under the advice of an Englishman aboard, the British
flag was hoisted. The ship was allowed in the harbor, but Captain
Alexander Adams had to pay a $3,000 duty. When Kamehameha found out, he
instituted port fees in Hawai'i and greatly added to the treasury of his
Hawai'ian Kingdom.

Whaling, an industry that along with sandalwood carried the economy of
Hawai'i from 1819 to the Civil War, begun in the Pacific Ocean in 1789
with the arrival of the British Whaler Emilia. The British whaleships
joined the Yankees from Nantucket and other New England ports in
replenishing their ships in Hawai'ian ports. 

Before Kamehameha's death in 1819, Tahitians began arriving at the Port
of Honolulu, often aboard British ships. Many of these Tahitans were
interrmarried with their freed slaves from africa. Some of these
Tahitians had been christianized by the London Missionary Society and
brought word of the new teachings to the Royal Court.

British Protestant missionaries worked in Hawai'i only under the
leadership of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
They had agreed to establish missionary stations only south of the
equator in the Pacific Islands, leaving most of the central and the
north Pacific to the Americans. The American missionaries were still
serving in Hawai'i on a trial basis on May 1,1822, when the ship
promised by Vancouvr to Kamehameha arrived, sailing from Australia. The
Captain of the Prince Regent told Kamehameha's son and successor
Liholiho and his court that the British supported the work of the
American missionaries in Hawai'i, saving the day for the fledgling
mission station in Honolulu and ensuring its future in the Islands.

In thanks for the ship, Liholiho further cemented relationships with
Great Britain by sending a letter to King George IV saying." The whole
of these islands having been conquered by my father, I have scceeded to
the government of them, and beg leave to place them all under the
protection of your most excellent Majesty, wishing to observe peace with
all nations."

Liholiho, apparently afraid of American and Russian influences, wished
to make sure that the British governemnt would protect him in time of
danger. In the fall of 1823, he announced he would visit England.
Liholiho left Hawai'i in the English whale ship L'Aigle, with an
entourage including Queen Kamamalu, Gov. Boki of O'ahu and his wife
Liliha, and John Young's son James. They sailed from Honolulu on
Novemeber 22, 1824 and arrived at Portsmouth, England on May 22, 1824.

In London, Liholiho and his party created a sensation. They were
lavishly entertained, visiting Westminister Abbey and occupying the
royal box at Covenant Garden theater to see the play " Pazarro."

Unfortunately, in mid-June the royal party was stricken with a violent
form of measles. After being attended to by the physicians of King
George IV, all recovered except for Liholiho and Kamamalu. Kamamalu died
on July 8, and grief-stricken Liholiho died six days later. The
survivors met with the Britsih King who promised to protect the
Hawai'ian Islands but said the Hawai'ian monarchy should rule the
islands. The bodies of Liholiho and Kamamalu were placed in lavish
coffins and shipped back to Honolulu aboard the 46-gun British frigate
Blonde, commanded by Captain the Right Honorable Lord Byron. cousin of
the poet Byron.

Upon the arrival of the Blonde at Lahaina on May 4, 1823, Lord Byron
addressed the Hawai'ian ali'i and firmed up the principle of hereditary
succession of monarchy. The British Lord sailed to Hilo, surveyed the
harbor there and renamed it Byron's Bay. He also toured Kilauea Volcano
and erected the first monument to Captain Cook at Kealakaua Bay. A plot
of land where Cook's monument now stands belongs to Great Britain and is
maintained by Hawai'ians and by the crews of British ships that come to
the bay periodically.

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to be continued in Part 2.


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