Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kaleleakeʻanae

The battle was the last stand of Kalanikūpule and 9,000-warriors of O‘ahu against Kamehameha and his invading army of 12,000-warriors from Hawai‘i. Kamehameha’s fleet landed at Waikiki where it covered the beaches from Waiʻalae to Waikiki. Kalanikūpule and his chiefs were stationed at strategic points in Nuʻuanu at Kanoneakapueo, Kahapaʻakai, Luakaha, Kawananakoa, Kaukahoku, Kapaʻeli, Kaumuʻohena, and Puʻiwa (where the fighting began.)

Kamehameha’s cannon’s rained fire down on Kalanikūpule’s forces, which disorganized under the assault. From that point on, it was a running fight, a desperate rear-guard action as Oʻahu’s defenders were herded up Nuʻuanu Valley. The name of the Battle of Nuʻuanu is also referred to as Kaleleakeʻanae, which means “the leaping of the mullet fish.” With their backs to the sheer cliff of the Nuʻuanu Pali, many chose to fall to their deaths than submit to Kamehameha.

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Hawai‘i Cession to Britain

“On the evening of Sunday the 23d (February, 1794), agreeably to my promise, I accompanied Tamaahmaah to the morai, and submitted to all the forms, regulations, and restriction of the taboo. “I was not on this, as on the former occasion, purely an idle spectator; but was in some degree one of the actors. Whilst in the morning the principal ceremonies and prayers were performing, I was called upon to give my opinion on several matters that were agitated at one time by the king, and at others by the principal priests.” (Vancouver)

“Amongst these was the propriety of their remaining at peace, or making war against the other islands? The session of the island; and if, by that voluntary measure, they would be considered as the of Great Britain?” “With these, and some, other questions of less importance, I was very seriously interrogated; and I made such answers to each as was consistent with my own situation, and, as I considered, were most likely to tend in future to their happiness and tranquillity. …” “‘On the 25th of February, 1794, Tamaahmaah (Kamehameha) king of Owhyhee (Hawai‘i), in council with the principal chiefs of the island, assembled on board his Britannie Majesty’s sIoop Discovery in Karakakooa (Kealakekua) bay, and in the presence of George Vancouver, commander of the said sloop …’” (“The cession, however, was never accepted or ratified by the English Government”.)

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Reading, ‘Riting & ‘Rithmetic

The famous expression – “the three Rs—reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic”- is credited to Sir William Curtis (born January 25, 1752,) son of a British baker; the family made ships’ biscuits. He proposed it as a toast at a dinner given by the Board of Education in the days when folks were pleading for increased educational advantages for the poor. It was received with great applause and drunk amid much merriment.

Curtis was one of the principal financiers for the ‘Butterworth Squadron,’ a British commercial fleet of three vessels, the Butterworth, the Jackal, and the Prince Lee Boo. The Butterworth squadron first wintered at the Hawaiian Islands in February 1793; it was during this period that the Butterworth squadron became the first European vessels that entered the inner Honolulu Harbor.

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Kalākua

Kalākua (also Kaheiheimālie) (c. 1778–1842) was daughter of Keʻeaumoku, a chief from Hawaiʻi Island and Namahana, from the royal family on Maui. She was described as physically being ‘tall and gigantic,’ like her siblings. Her siblings included Queen Kaʻahumanu, Hawaiʻi Island Governor John Adams Kuakini, Maui Governor George Cox Kahekili Keʻeaumoku II and Lydia Namahana Piʻia. She first married Kalaʻimamahu, the younger brother of Kamehameha I. Her first daughter, Kekāuluohi, became Kamehameha’s youngest wife.

Kekāuluohi later married Charles Kanaʻina. By Kanaʻina, had a son William Charles Lunalilo (future king of the Islands.) Kalākua married Kamehameha I and had four children: their two sons died as infants; the oldest daughter, Kamāmalu, became wife of Liholiho (Kamehameha II,) and the youngest daughter, Kīnaʻu, later became Kuhina Nui. Kīnaʻu later married Mataio Kekūanāoʻa; they had several children, including Lot Kapuāiwa (Kamehameha V,) Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV) and Victoria. She later married Hoapili. Kalākua was mother of two Queen consorts and grandmother of three future Kings.

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Poisoned

It seems, in January 1808, Kamehameha made arrangements with Captain Caleb Brintnall, Master of the Triumph out of New Haven, to take his 12-year old son and heir apparent, Liholiho, to New England for his education. However, Kaʻahumanu saw Kamehameha’s plan for the boy as a threat to her influence and political hold. So she sent an outrigger canoe with a mullet dinner out to Brintnall’s ship in Honolulu Harbor – a gift for the Captain and his officers.

In the Hawaiian tradition of ‘apu koheoheo (the poison cup) the fish had been basted with the deadly toxins of the keke (puffer fish.) However, Brintnall and most of his officers were on shore at Honolulu. Mix was the only officer on board who had dinner and then died from the poisoning. This may have changed the course of history in the Islands. Following this, Brintnall sailed on to Kealakekua and met ʻŌpūkahaʻia. He boarded Brintnall’s ‘Triumph’ in Kealakekua Bay and set sail for New York. ʻŌpūkahaʻia later inspired American Protestant missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to Hawaiʻi.