Peter T Young

December 15, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Longest Ruling Monarch

He was the Hawaiian Kingdom’s longest ruling monarch – 29 years; he died at the age of 41.

Kamehameha I – 1810 – May 8, 1819 (~10-years)
Kamehameha II – May 20, 1819 – July 14, 1824 (~5 years)
Kamehameha III – June 6, 1825 – December 15, 1854 (~29-years)
Kamehameha IV – January 11, 1855 – November 30, 1863 (~9-years)
Kamehameha V – November 30, 1863 – December 11, 1872 (~9-years)
Liholiho – January 8, 1873 – February 3, 1874 (~1-year)
Kalākaua – February 12, 1874 – January 20, 1891 (~17-years)
Lili‘uokalani – January 29, 1891 – January 17, 1893 (~2-years)

The younger brother of Liholiho, he served as Hawai‘i’s King from 1825 to 1854 – the longest ruling monarch over the Hawaiian Kingdom. Kauikeaouli was a pre-teen when he ascended to the throne; in the early years of his rule, he served under a regency with Kaʻahumanu, his father’s favorite queen, as joint ruler.

Kauikeaouli spent the first 5-years of his life with Chief Kaikioʻewa in the ‘O‘oma ahupuaʻa in Kona (the place where he first learned to be a king.)

Other early education the infant Prince received was at Kailua-Kona, from the Rev. Asa Thurston and Thomas Hopu, a native Hawaiian who had been educated on the continent and who came with the first missionaries to Hawaiʻi. In Honolulu, the Prince was the pupil of Rev. Hiram Bingham.

“That the existence of the King, chiefs and the natives, can only be preserved by having a government efficient for the administration of enlightened justice, both to natives and the subjects of foreign powers residing in the islands …”

“… and that chiefly through missionary efforts the natives have made such progress in education and knowledge, as to justify the belief that by further training, they may be rendered capable of conducting efficiently the affairs of government; but that they are not at present so far advanced.”

“That the best means of bringing them to that desired state, arc the careful study of proper books, and the practical knowledge of business, to be acquired by ascending through the different gradations of office, under foreign ministers.” (Polynesian, January 6, 1855)

“In private life, Kamehameha III was mild, kind, affable, generous and forgiving. He was never more happy than when free from the cares and trappings of state. He could enjoy himself sociably with his friends, who were much attached to him. Having associated much, while a boy, with foreigners, he continued to the last to be fond of their company.”

“Without his personal influence, the law to allow them to hold lands in fee simple could never have been enacted; neither could conflicting claims to land have been settled and registered by that most useful institution, the Board of Land Commissioners.”

“It is hardly possible to conceive any King more generally beloved than was Kamehameha III; more universally obeyed, or more completely sovereign in the essential respect of independent sovereignty, that of governing his subjects free from any influence or control coming from beyond the limits of his own jurisdiction.” (Polynesian, January 6, 1855)

Under his leadership, Hawaiʻi changed from an isolated island kingdom to a recognized member of the modem world. Many of the things he did as king still influence life in Hawaiʻi today. (Kamehameha Schools Press)

The following are only some of the many accomplishments of Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli:)

On June 6, 1825, Kauikeaouli was proclaimed king of Hawaiʻi. To the people he said, “Where are you, chiefs, guardians, commoners? I greet you. Hear what I say! My kingdom I give to God. The righteous chief shall be my chief, the children of the commoners who do you right shall be my people, my kingdom shall be one of letters.” (Kamakau – Kamehameha Schools Press)
June 7, 1839, he signed the Declaration of Rights (called Hawai‘i’s Magna Charta) that, in part, noted, “God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the earth, in unity and blessedness. God has also bestowed certain rights alike on all men and all chiefs, and all people of all lands.”
June 17, 1839 he issued the Edict of Toleration permitting religious freedom for Catholics in the same way as it had been granted to the Protestants.
June 28, 1839 he founded Chief’s Children’s School (The Royal School;) the main goal of this school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chiefs’ children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaiʻi’s Kingdom.
(Missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke were selected to teach the 16 royal children and run the school.)
October 8, 1840 (the King was about 27-years-old) he enacted the Constitution of 1840 that, in part, changed the government from one of an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. It provided for a separation of powers between three branches of government, with executive power in the hands of the king, the kuhina nui (similar to a prime minister) and four governors; a bicameral legislative body consisting of a house of nobles and a house of representatives, with the house of representatives elected by the people; and a judiciary system, including a supreme court.
April 27, 1846 he declared that “the forests and timber growing therein shall be considered government property, and under the special care of the Minister of the Interior …;” effectively starting the process of protecting our mauka watersheds.
January 27, 1848 through March 7, 1848 he participated in what we refer to as the “Great Māhele” that was a reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi and allowed private ownership
June 14, 1852 he enacted the Constitution of 1852 that expanded on the Declaration of Rights, granted universal (adult male) voting rights for the first time and changed the House of Nobles from a hereditary body to one where members served by appointment by the King. It also institutionalized the three branches of government and defined powers along the lines of the American Constitution.
Toward the end of Kauikeaouli’s reign there were 423 schools in Hawaiʻi with an enrollment of over twelve-thousand-students. Most of the schools were elementary schools using Hawaiian as the language of instruction.

Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) died December 15, 1854 (at the age of 41.)

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December 14, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Seeking Recognition

In 1842, the delegation of Ha‘alilio, William Richards and Sir George Simpson traveled to the US, France and Britain seeking recognition and diplomatic ties for Hawai‘i.

On December 14, 1842, Ha‘alilio and Richards delivered a letter to Daniel Webster, US Secretary of State, explaining the changes Hawai‘i had undergone and reasons for recognition of the Islands. The following is the content of that letter.

“Sir: The undersigned having been duly commissioned by His Majesty Kamehameha III, King of all the Hawaiian Islands, to represent his Government and promote its interests in the United States, wish to call the attention of your Government to the existing relations between the two countries.”

“In the year 1826 articles of agreement, in the form of a treaty, were entered into between His Majesty’s Government and Thomas ap Catesby Jones, commanding the United States sloop of war Peacock.”

“His Majesty has never received any notice of that treaty’s being ratified, nor intimation that it was approved by the Government of the United States. His Majesty has, nevertheless, during the last sixteen years, governed himself by the regulations of that treaty in all his intercourse with citizens of the United States.”

“Subsequently to the above similar forms of agreement have been entered into between His Majesty and officers commanding vessels of war of different nations of Europe; but, so far as is known to the undersigned, those agreements have never received the sanction of their several Governments.”

“These facts, viewed in connection with their attendant circumstances, have led His Majesty to feel considerable embarrassment in managing his foreign relations, and have awakened the very strong desire that his Kingdom shall be formally acknowledged by the civilized nations of the world as a sovereign and independent State.”

“His Majesty considers that this acknowledgment has already been tacitly but virtually made, both in the United States and Europe, by the appointment of consuls and commercial agents to reside in his dominions and by the formal manner in which the commanders of national vessels have transacted business with him, many of whom have professedly acted under the express instructions of their several Governments.”

“But he is nevertheless of opinion that the time has now arrived when both the interests and the honor of his Kingdom demand a more formal acknowledgment than has hitherto been made by any foreign government.”

“It is His Majesty’s request that the Government of the United States will take into consideration the nature, extent, and the rapidity of those changes which have taken place in his dominions during the last few years – changes which he has the happiness to believe are honorable both to his Government and to the people over whom it rules.”

“Twenty-three years ago the nation had no written language, and no character in which to write it. The language had never been systematized nor reduced to any kind of form. The people had no acquaintance with Christianity, nor with the valuable institutions or usages of civilized life.”

“The nation had no fixed form or regulations of Government, except as they were dictated by those who were in authority, or might by any means acquire power. The right of property was not acknowledged, and was therefore but partially enjoyed.

“There were no courts of justice, and the will of the chieftains was absolute. The property of foreigners had no protection, except in the kind disposition of individuals.”

“But, under the fostering influence, patronage, and care of his Majesty, and that of his predecessors, the language has been reduced to visible and systematized form, and is now written by a large and respectable proportion of the people.”

“Schools have been established throughout his dominions, and are supported principally by the Government; and there are but few, among the younger people who are unable to read.”

“They have now in their own language a library, embracing a considerable variety of books, on a variety of subjects, including the Holy Scriptures, works on natural history, civil history, church history, geography, political economy, mathematics, and statute law; besides a number of elementary books.”

“A regular monarchical Government has been organized, of a limited and representative character, a translation of the constitution of which we herewith transmit. A code of laws, both civil and criminal, has been enacted and published.”

“The legislature holds an annual meeting, for the purpose of adding to and amending this code. Courts of justice have been established and regular trials by jury required in all important cases.”

“Foreigners of different nations have testified their confidence in these courts by bringing suits in cases where many thousands of dollars’ worth of property was involved, and that, too, in cases when, with but very short delay, they could have been carried before the courts of other countries.”

“It has, moreover, been the uniform practice of consuls and commercial agents, resident in His Majesty’s dominions, and also of all commanders of national vessels visiting those dominions, to demand all that protection, both of persons and property, which is demanded of sovereign and independent States, and this His Majesty believes has been duly and efficiently extended.”

“While, therefore, all is demanded of his Government, and all is rendered by it which is demanded of or rendered by the governments of sovereign and independent states, he feels that he has a right to expect his state to be acknowledged as such and thus be formally received into the general compact of sovereign nations.”

“In the request which His Majesty hereby makes to the Government of the United States, he has of course for his direct object the promotion of the interest of his own Kingdom, but he is also very fully convinced that the important interests of all the great commercial nations will also be materially subserved by his dominions remaining, as they have hitherto been, independent.”

“Their position is such that they constitute the great center of the whale fishery for most of the world. They are on the principal line of communication between the western continent of America and the eastern continent of Asia; and such are the prevailing winds on that ocean that all vessels requiring repairs or supplies …”

“… either of provisions or of water, naturally touch at those islands, whether the vessels sail from Columbia River on the north, or from the far distant ports of Mexico, Central America, or Peru, upon the south …”

“… and it should be further added, that there is no other place in all that part of the Pacific Ocean where repairs of vessels can be made to so good an advantage, or supplies be obtained in such abundance, and on so favorable terms.”

“His Majesty wishes also to remind the Government of the United States that the amount of property belonging to their citizens, which is either landed at or enters the various harbors or roadsteads of his dominions, and is consequently more or less dependent on the protection of his Government, can not be less than from five to seven millions of dollars annually.”

“This property lies in some 90 or 100 whaling ships and their cargoes, and in some 12 or 15 merchant vessels, besides also a considerable amount of other property belonging to American citizens on shore.”

“At some seasons there have been not less than three or four millions of dollars worth of American property, and some 1,400 American citizens at the same time, at the various ports of the islands, requiring constantly, in some degree, the protection of His Majesty …”

“… and he has the happiness of believing that efficient and satisfactory aid has always been extended to those who have required it.”

“In evidence corroborative of many of the facts herein stated, the undersigned do not hesitate to refer to documentary evidence, which they believe must be among the papers in your Department of State, recently furnished by masters of national vessels, but more especially by the United States commercial agent at Honolulu.”

“His Majesty is also desirous that there should be a definite arrangement for the settlement of any future difficulties which may unhappily arise and which, between sovereign and independent nations, would ordinarily be the subject of diplomatic correspondence.”

“To carry into effect these desirable objects the undersigned are authorized by His Majesty Kamehameha III to enter into negotiation with the authorities of the United States, by convention, treaty, or otherwise …”

“… whenever the latter shall acknowledge the sovereignty of the former; and as evidence that the undersigned are thus authorized, they are prepared to present official papers from His Majesty whenever the way is open for them to be received.”

“The undersigned will further state that they are directed to proceed from the United States to Europe for the purpose of obtaining from some of the principal governments there the same acknowledgments which it is the object of this letter to obtain from the Government of the United States.”

“Accept, sir, the assurances of the high consideration with which the undersigned have the honor to be your obedient servants,
Timoteo Haalilio, William Richards”

Webster replied December 19, 1842, stating, in part, “Gentlemen: I have received the letter which you did me the honor to address to me, under date of the 14th instant, stating that you had been commissioned to represent in the United States the Government of the Hawaiian Islands …”

“… inviting the attention of this Government to the relations between the two countries, and intimating a desire for a recognition of the Hawaiian Government by that of the United States. Your communication has been laid before the President, and by him considered.”

“The United States have regarded the existing authorities in the Sandwich Islands as a Government suited to the condition of the people, and resting on their own choice; and the President is of opinion that the interests of all the commercial nations require that that Government should not be interfered with by foreign powers.”

“The United States, therefore, are more interested in the fate of the islands, and of their Government, than any other nation can be; and this consideration induces the President to be quite willing to declare, as the sense of the Government of the United States …”

“… that the Government of the Sandwich Islands ought to be respected; that no power ought either to take possession of the islands as a conquest, or for the purpose of colonization, and that no power ought to seek for any undue control over the existing Government, or any exclusive privileges or preferences in matters of commerce.”

“Entertaining these sentiments, the President does not see any present necessity for the negotiation of a formal treaty, or the appointment or reception of diplomatic characters. A consul or agent from this Government will continue to reside in the islands.” (Webster to Ha‘alilo and Richards, December 19, 1842) (More on all this, later.)

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December 13, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mills Institute

Mills School for Boys was started as a small downtown school in 1892, by Mr. and Mrs. Francis W Damon (descendant of missionary Rev Samuel C Damon), who took into their home a number of Chinese boys with the aim of giving them a Christian education.

Frank Damon, who was born in Hawai‘i, toured the world with Henry Carter, and married Mary Happer, a missionary’s daughter, who had been born and reared in Kuangzhou, China, and spoke fluent Cantonese. Frank Damon was appointed by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association as the superintendent of Chinese work in 1881. (Fan)

Damon (fluent in Chinese) recognized the need for special educational opportunities for the young Chinese, who were barred from public schools because of their inability to speak English.

“Frank Damon, the superintendent of the Chinese Mission, who was the most serious and tireless worker, traveled all over the Islands, wherever there were Chinese. His footsteps reached to Hilo, Ka‘ū, Kona, Hāmākua, Kohala, Wailuku, Pa‘ia, Makawao, Lahaina, Kula, Waimea, Hanapepe, and Kekaha.” (Fan)

Then, “six Chinese youths fired with the passion for knowledge, knocked at the door of the Damon home in Honolulu and asked to be taken in and taught. A room was found, instruction began, the six multiplied slowly until they have become more than four hundred who have found Mills a blessed home of light and truth.”

“The influence of this school upon our Territory can never be told. Its graduates are found in all walks of life, occupying positions of influence here, on the Pacific coast and in China.” (The Friend, October 1905)

This new school was named Mills Institute (named after Samuel J Mills, a founder of the American Board of Foreign Missions.) Among the Chinese, it was known as Chum Chun Shu Shat (The Searching after Truth Institute.)

Later, because of growing enrollment by Japanese and Korean boys, courses in Japanese and Korean were added to the curriculum.

“Mills School came into being through the efforts of Mr. Damon, who was then Superintendent of Chinese work for the Hawaiian Board, to make it possible for worthy Chinese boys from the country districts to find both a school and a home.” (John Hopwood, Mid-Pacific President, April 1923)

“At the time we were boys, we thought the rules and regulations promulgated by our beloved teachers rather strict, but as we grow older, after having tasted bitter lessons in life, we value the ideas of Mr. Damon more and more.’”

“‘I do not know a single Chinese who has not a good word for the valuable work which Mr. Damon and you have done in uplifting the standards not only in the living, but also in the morals of all those who have come into contact with both of you.”

“Ever since I left Mills Institute, it was my ambition to commemorate Mr. Damon with some kind of fitting remembrance for his entire unselfish life spent for the benefit of the Chinese of Honolulu, or rather of Hawaii …”

“… and I am happy to inform you that some of the old Mills Institute boys here in Shanghai have pledged themselves with me to raise a subscription for a memorial to Mr. Damon.” (Former Students; The Friend)

Mills School and the Kawaiaha‘o Female Seminary had much in common – they were home schools; founded by missionary descendant couples; and had boarding of students.

With these commonalities, in 1905, a merger of the two was suggested, forming a co-educational institution in the same facility.

In order to accommodate a combined school, the Hawaiian Board of Foreign Missions purchased the Kidwell estate, about 35-acres of land in Mānoa valley.

“The site forms an ideal location within one block of the Rapid Transit line. The ground commands a beautiful view of mountain and sea, and there is ample room for the agricultural features which have been planned.”

“The land contains a fine spring of water yielding some 100,000 gallons a day, and is further supplied with the use of an auwai for part of the time.” (Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society)

Through gifts by GN Wilcox, JB Atherton and others, on May 31, 1906, a ceremony was held in Mānoa Valley for the new school campus – just above what is now the University of Hawaiʻi (the UH campus was not started in the Mānoa location until 1912.)

By 1908, the first building was completed, consisting of Kawaiahaʻo School for Girls and Damon School for Boys, and began to be known as Mid-Pacific Institute.

Finally, in the fall of 1922, a new coeducational plan went into effect – likewise, ‘Mills’ and ‘Kawaiahaʻo’ were dropped, and by June 1923, Mid-Pacific became the common, shared name.

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December 12, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Samurai

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge. The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

The first to arrive were the Chinese (1852.) The sugar industry grew, so did the Chinese population in Hawaiʻi. Concerned that the Chinese were taking too strong a representation in the labor market the government passed laws reducing Chinese immigration. Further government regulations, introduced 1886-1892, virtually ended Chinese contract labor immigration.

In 1868, an American businessman, Eugene M Van Reed, sent a group of approximately 150-Japanese to Hawaiʻi to work on sugar plantations and another 40 to Guam.

This unauthorized recruitment and shipment of laborers, known as the gannenmono (‘first year men’,) marked the beginning of Japanese labor migration overseas. (JANM)

One early arrival was Sentaro Ishii. “He had been a samurai warrior in the service of a lord opposing the emperor. Unemployed, he was approached by a young man in Tokyo who told him there was a chance to go to Hawaii and ‘earn some money.’”

“Obtaining traveling money from his highly placed sister he walked to Yokohama. In order to enter Yokohama, he had to discard his samurai sword to avoid arrest, a highly symbolic act which, in effect, cut him from his past.”

“At Yokohama we went on board a sailing vessel in the evening, as we had not passports from the government.” (Beechert)

“He left Tokio in a Spanish sailing vessel, commanded, he says, by an American captain, but he had no idea where he was bound for. When the vessel reached port he got shore leave, and he overstayed leave.”

“He forgot the way back to the ship, and as he couldn’t find anyone to talk his language was not able to ask the way and was left behind.”

“He finally found the landing from which he was supposed to reach his ship but the ship was gone. He was stranded in a country he did not know and where there were practically no persons who knew his language. The port was Lahaina, Maui.” (Maui News, July 21, 1916)

“He was assigned to the McKee Ulupalakua Plantation. After the initial contract pay of four dollars per month, they received nine dollars per month on re-signing.” (Beechert)

Later, when his contract expired, Ishii declined to return to Japan, “as I did wrong while in Japan. I left my lord, my wife, and a child who was two years old at the time.” (Beechert)

“In 1880 he went to Kipahulu. He married a Hawaiian woman (Philomena (born Kahele)), by whom he had four children.” (Maui News, December 3, 1915)

In 1916 Ishii was determined to be the oldest Japanese living in the Territory and therefore entitled to the gift of the Mikado’s coronation cup, a medal from Emperor Yoshihito in commemoration of his coronation.

“One Japanese in all Hawaii was found who was eighty years old and qualified, therefore to receive a medal from Emperor Yoshihito in commemoration of his coronation. He is Sentaro Ishii of Kipahulu, Maui, eighty-two years old.”

“He announced himself when he arrived from Maui yesterday morning, and Acting Consul-General Arita forwarded his name to Tokio in the Shinyo Maru’s mail yesterday afternoon.”

“Ishii was the only one who reached, eighty years, but there was a seventy-eight-year-old woman here, a seventy-nine-year-old man at Moiliili, and another seventy-seven years old at Ola‘a, Hawai‘i.” (Maui News, December 3, 1915)

“In 1935, Ishii Sentaro, the last surviving member of the gannenmono, told an interviewer that he joined the group because working for four dollars per month was a ‘splendid offer,’ though he did not know what sugar cane was or where Hawaii was located.” (Van Sant)

“The last of the original group, Sentaro Ishii, died on September 18, 1936, at the age of one hundred two.” (Okihiro)

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December 9, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Exploration in the Pacific

“After Magellan’s daring voyage round South America and across to the Philippines (1519-1521), the magnet of Pacific exploration was Terra Australis Incognita, the great southern continent supposed to lie between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan.”

“Alvaro de Mendana, the Spanish voyager, sailed from Callao in Peru in 1567 and reached the Solomon Islands. It was not until 1595 that he went back, with Pedro Fernanadez de Quiros, found the Marquesas and got as far as the Santa Cruz Islands.”

“Quiros went out from Callao in 1605 with the Portuguese Luiz de Vaez de Torres and believed he had found the continent when they reached Vanuatu (the New Hebrides), which Quiros called ‘Austrialia del Espiritu Santo’ – managing a compliment to Philip III of Spain who was Archduke of Austria.”

“Quiros and Torres now split: Quiros went north-east to California, while Torres went north-west through the strait named after him, discovering that New Guinea was an island, but failing to see Australia.”

“The English circumnavigations by Drake (1577-1580) and Cavendish (1586-1588) were not rich in discoveries. The Dutch merchant Isaac Ie Maire, with Willem Corneliszoon Schouten, reached the Pacific in 1615 via Cape Horn (which they named) but had no luck with the missing continent before reaching Batavia in 1616.”

“Sailing from there, the Dutch had made several sightings of the coast of Australia, north, west and south, in the early seventeenth century, and Anthony van Diemen, governor-general of the Dutch East Indies from 1631 to 1645, was responsible for a number of expeditions, of which the most important was that of Abel Janszoon Tasman with Frans Jacobszoon Visscher, which left Batavia in August 1642.”

“Tasmania was reached (Van Diemen’s Land), then the south island of New Zealand where four men were killed, followed by the Tonga group and Fiji.”

“Much later, another Dutch expedition, under Jacob Roggeveen, left the Netherlands in 1721 in search of the southern continent. Roggeveen went through the Strait of Le Maire and found Easter Island and Samoa before reaching Batavia after a year’s voyage.

“The English had now come strongly on the scene, with the expeditions of Narborough up the South American coast (1669-1671), a mixed assembly of buccaneers, adventurers and privateers, including Dampier, Wafer, Cowley, Ringrose, Woodes, Rogers and Shelvocke, followed by the grand naval expedition of 1740-1744 under Anson.”

“As far as discoveries go, the most important of these men was the remarkable amateur William Dampier, whose painfully assembled New Voyage Round the World (1697) set alight the imagination of eighteenth-century England.”

“On this first voyage Dampier had touched on Australia (New Holland), ‘a very large Tract of Land’, and had thought the inhabitants ‘the miserablest People in the World’.”

“He returned on his second voyage but was only able to make a cursory investigation of the north-western and northern coasts.”

“The major period of English exploration in the Pacific followed the ending of the Seven Years War with France in 1763. The Earl of Egmont, First Lord of the Admiralty from 1763 until 1766, sent out John Byron in the Dolphin in 1764, and on its return from a speedy circumnavigation in 1766, sent the ship out again under Samuel Wallis, with Philip Carteret in the Swallow as consort.”

“Wallis and Carteret were separated. Wallis went on to find Tahiti, unknown to Europeans. He named it King Georrge’s Island and his five-week visit had an importance for Europeans and Polynesians that is hard to measure.”

“Carteret struggled on alone, and made many important discoveries, including Pitcairn. At this very time the French expedition in La Boudeuse and L’Etoile, under the great Louis-Antoine de Bougainville was making its way through the Pacific, reaching Tahiti, fa nouvelle Cythere, hard on Wallis’s heels.”

“However important these voyages were for geographical knowledge and the advancement of science – and Bougainville with his naturalist Commerson were deeply concerned with the advancement of science …”

“… all these expeditions by the competing European powers of Spain, France and Britain were undertaken for the control of new territory for commercial exploitation and strategic use.”

“The scientific element was very much to the fore, however, in the next British expedition. The Royal Society, which in the hundred years of its existence had always regarded voyages to distant lands as a vital source of scientific information, was making plans for a voyage to the Pacific to observe the transit of Venus across the sun in 1769.”

“The observations were needed to help establish the distance of the earth from the sun, and it was necessary for observers to be stationed at different points on the earth’s surface. The planet had crossed the sun in 1761, but the observations world-wide were unsatisfactory. The phenomenon would not occur again for over a hundred years.”

“In 1767 the Royal Society recommended Alexander Dalrymple to lead the expedition. He was an energetic and imaginative thirty year old who had spent much time in Madras and was a keen advocate of English commercial expansion, as well as a firm believer in the possibilities of the great southern continent.”

“He was a skilled navigator but had comparatively little experience of command at sea. His idea was that he should command the expedition and that he should have a master to sail the ship. This was Bougainville’s position, and the practice was common in England in Tudor times.”

“But the Royal Society knew that it depended on the Royal Navy to transport its observers to the Pacific and the Navy was totally opposed to a divided command.”

“James Cook, thirty-nine years of age, a master in the Navy engaged on the survey of Newfoundland, was proposed by the Navy, and during April and May 1768 it was agreed that he should become leader of the expedition.” (The Journal; Edwards)

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 (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)

Hawaiian lives changed with sudden and lasting impact, when western contact changed the course of history for Hawai‘i.

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