Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kona’s Royal Centers

The ‘Peopling of the Pacific’ began about 40,000 years ago with movement from Asia; by BC 1250, people were settling in the eastern Pacific. Using stratigraphic archaeology and refinements in radiocarbon dating, studies suggest it was about 900-1000 AD that “Polynesian explorers first made their remarkable voyage from central Eastern Polynesia Islands, across the doldrums and into the North Pacific, to discover Hawai‘i.”

Royal Centers were where the aliʻi resided; aliʻi often moved between several residences throughout the year. The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored. In the centuries prior to 1778, seven large and densely-populated Royal Centers were located along the shoreline between Kailua and Hōnaunau.

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Palea and the Pinnace

Captain Cook anchored in Kealakekua Bay January 17, 1779 – Palea and Kanaʻina kept order among the people. Some of Palea’s retainers stole a pair of tongs and a chisel, leaped into their canoe. Several muskets were fired after them in vain, and a boat was sent in chase. Palea, who was on board, offered to recover the stolen articles, and followed in another canoe. The thieves reached the shore first, beached their canoe, and fled inland.

A scuffle ensued and a sailor knocked Palea down by a heavy blow to the head. Palea, however, soon recovered from the blow, dispersed the mob, called back the sailors, and restored the missing articles as far as he could. “This was the same Palea who from the first had been the constant, kind, and obliging friend of Captain Cook and all the foreigners”. Then, during the night of February 13, the cutter of the ‘Discovery’ was stolen. On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed.

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Broken Mast

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands. Leaving, and after cruising the West Coast, Alaska and Bering Strait, on October 24, 1778, he headed back to the islands.

Then, shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke. “On the 8th (of February 1779) at day-break, we found, that the foremast had again given way … and the parts so very defective, as to make it absolutely necessary to replace them, and, of course, to (remove) the mast.” He returned to Kealakekua. On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed.

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Kahikolu Church

Kahikolu means three in one, or the trinity. As is common in many Hawaiian words, this one carries two meaning. The one refers to the traditional Christian connotation of the father, son and holy ghost trinity, which the other relates to the fact that this was the congregation’s third house of worship. (PS) In February […]

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James Hay Wodehouse

James Hay Wodehouse was born on April 23, 1824. He was the second son of Charles Nourse Wodehouse (Archdeacon of Norwich) and Lady Dulcibella Jane Hay. He married Annette Fanny Massey, daughter of William Massey, on January 19, 1861. Wodehouse was private secretary to George Grey (Governor of New Zealand) in 1851; on November 5, […]