At daybreak, on November 24, 1816, the ship Rurick faced the coast of Hawai‘i. Captain von Kotzebue had previously been advised of a strong anti-Russian feeling ‘in the air’, as a result of the awkwardly aggressive maneuvers of the Russian (Georg Anton Schäffer) against Kamehameha’s political primacy. (Charlot)
In 1815, Schäffer had been sent to Hawai‘i to retrieve cargo and the sailors’ possessions of the Russian ship ‘Bering’ that were confiscated by Kaua‘i’s ruler, Kaumuali‘i. Schäffer arrived in Honolulu and Kamehameha granted him permission to build a storehouse near Honolulu Harbor; instead, they built a fort.
“(Q)uarrels ensued between the Russians and the natives, in which the latter (by the account of the narrator,) appeared in a very advantageous position …”
“… the ships, on leaving the Sandwich Islands, threatened to return soon with a strong reinforcement, mentioning particularly a man-of-war, that would likewise oppose the inhabitants.” (Voyage of Discovery, Otto von Kotzebue)
So, now, the Russians were back in Hawai‘i – “the king (Kamehameha) had actually expected a hostile man-of-war, and had already given orders to line the whole coast with soldiers; who, to the number of 400, armed with muskets, stood already prepared.” (Otto von Kotzebue)
“On the shore, countess people were under arms. The old king, in front of whose house we landed, was sitting upon a raised terrace, surrounded by his wives, and dressed in his native costume, the red malo and the black tapa, the wide beautiful folded cape .… Tammeamea (Kamehameha) received us frigidly.” (De Chamisso; Charlot)
However, peace prevailed, “The king sent me word that he regretted that he could not come to me onboard, since the jealousy of his people would not permit it; that he, himself had a better opinion of us, after his naja had acquainted him with the object of our voyage …”
“… and, as a token of his friendly sentiments, he, invited me to his camp, where he promised to treat me with a pig, baked on the ground.” (Otto von Kotzebue)
Louis Choris, the official artist on the Rurick, “asked Tammeamea permission to do his portrait; this project seemed to please him very much, but he asked me to leave him alone an instant, so he could dress.”
“Imagine my surprise on seeing this monarch display himself in the costume of a sailor; he wore blue trousers, a red waistcoat, a clean white shirt and a necktie of yellow silk. I begged him to change his dress; he refused absolutely and insisted on being painted as he was.” (Charlot)
“Mr. Choris succeeded admirably well in taking his likeness, although Tammeamea, to make it more difficult, would not set still for a moment, but was making grimaces all the time. At five o’clock in the afternoon we took leave of the king.”
“An attendant not having yet arrived, I promised to wait for him near the land. A well-made quiet horse, which he had obtained from an American ship, he kept as a curiosity, and suffered it to run about free. A number of little boys near the shore had hardened the sand by stamping on it, and drew on it, with ability, the Rurick under sail.” (Otto von Kotzebue)
Initially, Choris “had side by side with the king’s picture the drawing of a woman of the middle class.” Added Adelbert de Chamisso, the botanist of the expedition, “Mr Young, to whom this page was shown, expressed his doubts of the propriety of such a combination.”
“He advised our friend (Choris) either to separate the two pictures or not to show them at all. Therefore the page was cut in two before the King was shown to other Hawaiians.” (Charlot)
From Hawaii, the Rurick went to Oahu for provisioning and repairs, anchoring at Honolulu. An event of its stay was the visit aboard of Kamehameha’s vice-regent for the island, Kalanimoku, and his retinue. (Charlot)
“They immediately recognized Tammeamea’s portrait, and when it became known that we had Tammeamea on paper, we daily received a crowd of visitors who wished to see him.” (Otto von Kotzebue)
Kamehameha obviously preferred western dress, whereas Choris wished to present him in the traditional kapa attire; however, knowing that the western world would be the audience for the artist’s depiction, Kamehameha presented himself as a civilized ruler in western wear. (Mission Houses)
His drawings of the king were so admired in Hawaii that some soon found their way abroad. One had apparently reached Manila long before the artist himself did two years later; and when Choris finally arrived there aboard the Rurick in December of 1818, he found his portrait being copied en masse.
von Chamisso wrote in Manila that “American merchants had already gained possession of (Choris’s) picture and had had many copies made for commerce in the Chinese painting factories.” (Boston Athenaeum)
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