Transit of Venus

December 9, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Paper Star Lei

“We therefore recommend again and again, to the curious investigators of the stars to whom, when our lives are over, these observations are entrusted, that they, mindful of our advice, apply themselves to the undertaking of these observations vigorously.”

“And for them we desire and pray for all good luck, especially that they be not deprived of this coveted spectacle by the unfortunate obscuration of cloudy heavens, and that the immensities of the celestial spheres, compelled to more precise boundaries, may at last yield to their glory and eternal fame.” (Sir Edmond Halley (1656-1742))

Venus orbits the Sun within Earth’s orbit, so it occasionally happens that as seen from Earth, the disk of Venus passes across the Sun. It appears as a diminutive black spot, barely 1/30th the diameter of the Sun. With the right atmospheric conditions to soften the intense sunlight, an unobstructed horizon, and enough advance warning, a keen eye can spot the transit at sunrise or sunset. (LOC)

There have been fifty-two transits of Venus across the face of the Sun since 2000 B.C., but until 1643 A.D., no human was known to have observed this astronomical rarity. (LOC)

“History says that Jeremiah Horrocks was the first human to ever witness a transit by Venus in 1639, but could other more ancient people have also seen it too?” (Odenwald)

In 1769 Benjamin Franklin published an article in the journal of the Royal Society of London presenting the transit of Venus observations of Messrs. Biddle and Bayley.

Some historians credit this account from pre-revolutionary America as the first occasion on which American science went on display before the international community. (LOC)

Astronomers quickly discovered that by measuring the transit, the distance from the Sun to Earth could be calculated.

In 1761, the exact value of this number was still unknown; estimates ranged from 5 million to over 150 million miles. Without its precise value, astronomers could not deduce the physical size of our solar system, or the dimensions of the universe beyond the solar system’s outer reaches. The size, mass, and radiant power of our Sun were also left ill-defined. (LOC)

In May 1768 James Cook was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and given command of the bark Endeavour. He was instructed to sail to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus and also to ascertain whether a continent existed in the southern latitudes of the Pacific Ocean. (National Library of Australia)

On June 3, 1769, Cook, naturalist Joseph Banks, astronomer Charles Green and naturalist Daniel Solander recorded the transit of Venus from the island of Tahiti.

Then, “Early in 1869, one hundred years after British transit of Venus observations were made by James Cook and Charles Green from Tahiti George B. Airy, the seventh astronomer royal at Greenwich, wrote to the secretary of the Admiralty: ‘It appears from the calculations of Astronomers that there will occur, on 1874 December 8 and 1882 December 6, Transits of the planet Venus over the Sun’s Disk.’” (Chauvin)

“Eight American expeditions were fitted out in 1874, organized by the Transit of Venus Commission, with Simon Newcomb (1835-1909) as the official Secretary of the Commission. The US Congress appropriated funds totaling an astounding $177,000 for the expeditions.” (Harbster, LOC)

On September 9, 1874, fewer than seven months after the ascension to the throne of Hawai‘i King David Kalakaua, a ship from England, H.M.S. Scout, arrived in Honolulu carrying an expedition of seven astronomers.

“They came, as Captain Cook had come almost 100 years earlier, as the beneficiaries and instruments of a rich astronomical heritage that had found its visible embodiment in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich …”

“… and it was from Greenwich that Western astronomy had reached out to touch Hawai‘i in 1778, and was to do so again in 1874.”

“The mission of the 1874 expedition was to observe a rare transit of the planet Venus across the sun for the purpose of better determining the true value of the Astronomical Unit”. (Chauvin)

“King Kalakaua manifested a personal interest in the transit of Venus operations in his kingdom. And although he was absent from the islands when the much-awaited event occurred, he visited the transit of Venus observatory, as did other members of Honolulu’s society, both before and after ‘Transit Day.’” (Chauvin)

The King allowed the British Royal Society’s expedition a suitable piece of open land for their viewing area; it was not far from Honolulu’s waterfront in a district called Apua (mauka of today’s Waterfront Plaza.)

They built a wooden fence enclosure and soon a well-equipped nineteenth-century astronomical observatory took shape, including a transit instrument, a photoheliograph, a number of telescopes and several temporary structures including wooden observatories.

Subsequently, auxiliary stations – though not so elaborate as the main station in Honolulu – were established in two other island locations: one at Kailua-Kona and the other at Waimea, Kauai.

In addition, Hawai‘i was not the only site to observe the transit; under the British program, observations were also made in Egypt, Island of Rodriquez, Kerguelen Island and New Zealand. (Other countries also conducted Transit observations.)

On Dec. 8, 1874, the transit was observed by the British scientists; however, the observation at Kailua-Kona was marred by clouds. But the Honolulu and Waimea sites were considered perfect throughout the event, which lasted a little over half a day.

After the Transit of Venus observations, Kalākaua showed continued interest in astronomy, and in a letter to Captain RS Floyd on November 22, 1880, he expressed a desire to see an observatory established in Hawai‘i. He later visited Lick Observatory in San Jose.

An outcome of the Transit event in Hawai‘i was the ‘Transit of Venus lei’ … “Old residents may recall the white paper star lei that was in vogue here in the ’70s, commemorating the Transit of Venus of 1874.”

“They were appropriately called Hoku (star), and were made of stiff, white paper, forming many points, to convey the idea of scintillation. They were fashionable for some time, for hair or hat decoration, and were known to foreigners as Venus leis.” (Thrum HAA, 1922)

They came under other names, as well … “We have seen men, women, and children greatly engrossed in decorating their hats with this kind of lei. These are the names we have heard, “the hooulu lahui lei of Kalakaua,” “the Astronomer lei,” and “paper star lei.” (Ka Lahui Hawaii, Buke I, Helu 1, Aoao 1. Ianuari 1, 1875)

(International expeditions and observers soon refined this astronomical unit (an “astronomical unit” is the scientific term for a unit of measure equal to the average distance from Earth to the Sun) to 95 million miles by 1769, and then to 92.79 million miles by 1891.)

(During the twentieth century, the same radar technology that astronomers use to map the face of Mercury, or study the rings of Saturn, has yielded a precise value for the distance between the Sun and Earth of 92.9558203 million miles, with a margin of error of less than a few miles.) (LOC)

November 13, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Charles Lambert

Kalākaua had a great interest in science and he saw it as a way to foster Hawai‘i’s prestige, internationally.

The opportunity to demonstrate this interest and support for astronomy was made available with the astronomical phenomenon called the “Transit of Venus,” which was visible in Hawai‘i in 1874.

“The coming transit of Venus will be observed from about 75 stations, at many of which there will be a large number of instruments. … Wherever knowledge can be gained it is worth being gained … these expeditions will lead to most valuable results.” (George Forbes, Chief Astronomer)

The King allowed the British Royal Society’s expedition to set up three sites in the Islands, Honolulu’s waterfront in a district called Apua (mauka of today’s Waterfront Plaza,) Kailua-Kona at Huliheʻe Palace and Waimea, Kauai.

The mission of the British expedition was to observe a rare transit of Venus across the Sun for the purpose of better determining the value of the Astronomical Unit – the Earth-to-Sun distance – and from it, the absolute scale of the solar system.

Professor George Forbes was the Chief Astronomer for the British expedition. He befriended Charles Lambert, eldest son of an English gentleman residing at Coqnimbo in Chile. (Lambert, not one of the astronomers, had been invited by his friend Captain Ralph P Cator, (Commander of the ‘Scout’) to accompany him in his cruise to the Hawaiian Islands.)

“(Lambert) had come out for his health on the ‘Scout,’ from Valparaiso, his father being one of the richest copper-mine owners in Chile. He intended to stay here a short time with the Venus Transit party (Prof. Forbes and Barnacle.) (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 5, 1874)

Then, the fateful day … not December 8, 1874 (the date of the Transit of Venus) – rather, November 13, 1874 when tragedy struck.

“During three days previously a Kona had been blowing into the bay, and having on Thursday seen the natives using the surf-board, Mr Forbes and his friend (Lambert) thought of trying their hands at it.”

“They were furnished by the Hon. Simon Kaʻai, Sheriff and Representative of the District, with surf-boards, he not considering that there was any danger in so doing.”

“Professor Forbes entered the water first. When it was up to his chest, being about thirty yards from the shore, he began to look out for a good wave to try to ride in upon.”

“Not having been successful and happening to look round he found that he was a hundred and fifty yards from the shore, having been carried out by the under current. He did not however at that time apprehend any danger.”

“A small native boy, an adopted son or Simon Kaai, now shouted to him, gesticulating and pointing to Mr Lambert, who was about fifty yards nearer to the shore than himself. He saw that Mr Lambert had let go of his surf-board, and was in difficulty.”

Forbes reached Lambert and tried to bring them both in to shore. “He made however no head way, but was drifted farther out, and it then occurred to him that there was no prospect of either of them being saved, and he resolved to hold up his friend until they should both go down together.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 2, 1874)

Folks on shore were able to bring a canoe out through the surf. Henry Weeks, a carpenter putting up the astronomical buildings, and a local swam “out to their assistance, but (Weeks) was soon exhausted and was just able to reach the canoe.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 5, 1874)

“The surf was at this time dashing against the rocks at their side so that landing seemed impossible. … Ten minutes after Professor Forbes became absolutely exhausted; his arms lost their power, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he was able to hold on to Mr Lambert, every wave engulphing them both.”

Lambert drowned.

“The Professor with the dead body of his friend was put into (the canoe,) and reached the shore in safety.”

“Great credit is due to Simon Kaʻai for his attempts to aid Professor Forbes and his friend, he (Simon Kaʻai) stated that he was much flurried, and that was why he did not think of a canoe sooner.”

“Thanks also are due to Mr Bergman, a German resident here, for coming off in the canoe, and likewise to the stepmother of Simon Kaʻai for the same service.”

“Mr Lambert met his end, as all who knew him must have felt that he would, with fortitude and resignation, it is believed that he died without pain; and the calmness of his expression showed that he died in peace.”

“The conduct of Professor Forbes, in whose arms Mr Lambert drew his last breath, and who, with unequalled courage and devotion, risked and would have sacrificed his life to save that of his friend, is beyond all praise.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 2, 1874)

Lambert “was buried the next day, twelve natives carrying the coffin to the English Episcopal Church in South Kona. The case is all the sadder from the circumstance that Lambert was actually improving here with a good prospect of completely recovering his health.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 5, 1874)

On December 8, 1874, the transit was observed by the British scientists; however, the observation at Kailua-Kona was interrupted by occasional clouds. The Honolulu and Waimea sites were considered perfect throughout the event, which lasted a little over half a day.

Ironically, on December 8, 1874 the big day, the king was absent, being in Washington to promote Hawaiian interests in a new trade agreement with the United States.

When American astronomer Simon Newcomb combined the 18th century data with those from the 1874/1882 Venus transits, he derived an Earth-sun distance of 149.59 +/- 0.31 million kilometers (about 93-million miles), very close to the results found with modern space technology in the 20th century.

After the Transit of Venus observations, Kalākaua showed continued interest in astronomy, and in a letter to Captain RS Floyd on November 22, 1880, he expressed a desire to see an observatory established in Hawai‘i. He later visited Lick Observatory in San Jose.

Perhaps as a result of the King’s interest, a telescope was purchased from England in 1883 for Punahou School. The five-inch refractor was later installed in a dome constructed above Pauahi Hall on the school’s campus.

June 24, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Cook’s Voyages to and from Hawai‘i

Between 1768 and 1778 England’s maritime explorer, James Cook, made three expeditions to the Pacific. Astronomy played a vital role in navigation and coastal cartography, and consequently there were astronomers on all three Pacific expeditions.

Cook’s third (and final) voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery. (State Library, New South Wales)

They left Portsmouth, England in the late evening of July 12, 1776 – almost exactly four years after leaving on the previous successful voyage – a coincidence that some viewed as a favorable omen.

The commander of the second ship, Discovery, was Lieutenant Charles Clerke (1741–1779), who had sailed with Cook on both circumnavigations but was currently in prison for his brother’s debts; he was not released until the end of July, unwittingly having contracted tuberculosis.

Among Cook’s officers were George Vancouver, who would later lead a four-year survey of the northwest coast of America, and William Bligh, destined to be made famous by the storied mutiny on the Bounty. Also on board were Nathaniel Portlock and George Dixon.

After a year among the islands of the South Pacific, many of which he was the first European to make contact, on December 8, 1777, they were in Bora-Bora.

Proceeding north, they discovered the Pacific’s largest atoll, Kiritimati (what Cook called Christmas Island (where they celebrated Christmas)) and Cook observed an eclipse of the sun. After stocking up on over a ton of green turtles, the ships departed on January 2, 1778. (Smithsonian)

Then, “We continued to see birds every day … sometimes in greater numbers than others; and between the latitude of 10° and 11° we saw several turtle. All these are looked upon as signs of the vicinity of land.”

“However, we discovered none till day-break, in the morning of the 18th, when an island made its appearance, bearing northeast by east; and, soon after, we saw more land bearing north, and entirely detached from the former.” (Cook’s Journal)

Cook’s crew first sighted the Hawaiian Islands in the dawn hours of January 18, 1778. His two ships were kept at bay by the weather until the next day when they approached Kauai’s southeast coast.

On the afternoon of January 19, native Hawaiians in canoes paddled out to meet Cook’s ships, and so began Hawai’i’s contact with Westerners. The first Hawaiians to greet Cook were from the Kōloa south shore.

The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes.

The Islands “were named by Captain Cook the Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich, under whose administration he had enriched geography with so many splendid and important discoveries.” (Captain King’s Journal; Kerr)

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

Throughout their stay, the ships were supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.

After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. The maritime sea-fur industry of the northwestern Pacific coast was almost accidentally begun when in 1778 Captain Cook brought back from the Nootka Sound region a few pelts whose great value was learned in China.

The maritime fur trade in skins of the sea otter (and beaver, seal, etc) was the stimulus for the unofficial earliest explorations of the coast and islands of what is now British Columbia and southern Alaska.

Although seven years passed before Cook was followed by another European vessel, the year 1785 opened a lively period of trade. Within a few years the flags of seven nations were flown in these waters by merchant vessels seeking their booty on uncharted coasts. (US Naval Institute)

After being in the Northwest, Alaska, they headed back to Hawaii to provision (November 1778). “Dec2d …We got to windward of Mowee & this Morning came to another large Island called by the Natives Ou-why’ee (Hawai‘i:) in the afternoon we stood close in shore & lay to trading with the Natives, who brought us a large quantity of Breadfruit & roots & a few Hogs.”

“We saw many Houses on the low land & Thousands of people collected together to look at the Ships. This Island has a pleasant Appearance, the Land from the Waterside sloping gently upwards to the foot of the Hills. The top of one of the highest mountains is covered with Snow…” (Journal of Captain Cook)

“Jan.16th [1779] … This morning seeing the appearance of a Bay a Boat from each ship was sent to examine it. We have had more Canoes about us to day than in any place this Voyage; …”

“… we counted 150 large sailing Canoes many of which contained thirty & forty men – we reckoned that all together there could not be less about the 2 Ships than 1000 canoes & 10,000 Indians…” (Journal of Captain James Cook)

“Jan.17th … We entered with both ships, and anchored in the middle of the bay having on one side a town containing about 300 hundred houses called by the inhabitants Kiverua [Ka’awaloa,] and on the other side a town contained 1100 houses, and called Kirekakooa [Kealakekua]…” (Journal of John Ledyard)

“As soon as the Resolution was moored Capt. Cook went on ashore … the chiefs had each two long white poles which they held upright and waved to the people in the canoes, to make room, and as they passed through the throng, the chief cried out in their language that the great Orono [Lono] was coming …”

“… at which they all bowed and covered their faces with their hands until he was passed, but the moment this was done they resumed their clamorous shouts, closed the vacant place astern, and as many as could crowded upon his rear to the shore. …” (Journal of John Ledyard)

At that time of Cook’s arrival, Kalaniʻōpuʻu was on the island to Maui to contend with Kahekili, king of Maui. The east side of Maui had fallen into the hands of Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Kahekili was fighting with him to gain control.

Kalaniʻōpuʻu returned to Hawaiʻi and met with Cook on January 26, 1779, exchanging gifts, including an ʻahuʻula (feathered cloak) and mahiole (ceremonial feather helmet.) Cook also received pieces of kapa, feathers, hogs and vegetables.

In return, Cook gave Kalaniʻōpuʻu a linen shirt and a sword; later on, Cook gave other presents to Kalaniʻōpuʻu, among which one of the journals mentions “a complete Tool Chest.”

The natives were permitted to watch the ships’ blacksmiths at work and from their observations gained information of practical value about the working of iron. (Kuykendall)

Shortly thereafter, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. “At midnight, a gale of wind came on, which obliged us to double reef the topsails, and get down the top-gallant yards.”

“On the 8^th [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.”

“In this difficulty, Captain Cook was for some time in doubt, whether he should run the chance of meeting with a harbour in the islands to leeward, or return to Karakakooa [Kealakekua.]”

“In the forenoon, the weather was more moderate, and a few canoes came off to us, from which we learnt, that the late storms had done much mischief; and that several large canoes had been lost.”

“During the remainder of the day we kept beating to windward, and, before night, we were within a mile of the bay; but not choosing to run on, while it was dark, we stood off and on till day-light next morning, when we dropt anchor nearly in the same place as before.”

“Upon coming to anchor, we were surprised to find our reception very different from what it had been on our first arrival ; no shouts, no bustle, no confusion …”

“… but a solitary bay, with only here and there a canoe stealing close along the shore. The impulse of curiosity, which had before operated to so great a degree, might now indeed be supposed to have ceased …”

“… but the hospitable treatment we had invariably met with, and the friendly footing on which we parted, gave us some reason to expect, that they would again have flocked about us with great joy, on our return.”

“… there was something at this time very suspicious in the behaviour of the natives; and that the interdiction of all intercourse with us, on pretence of the king’s absence, was only to give him time to consult with his chiefs in what manner it might be proper to treat us.”

“For though it is not improbable that our sudden return, for which they could see no apparent cause, and the necessity of which we afterward found it very difficult to make them comprehend, might occasion some alarm”.

“[T]he next morning, [Kalaniopuʻu] came immediately to visit Captain Cook, and the consequent return of the natives to their former, friendly intercourse with us, are strong proofs that they neither meant nor apprehended any change of conduct.”

However, “Soon after our return to the tents, we were alarmed by a continued fire of muskets from the Discovery, which we observed to be directed at a canoe, that we saw paddling toward the shore in great haste, pursued by one of our small boats.”

That night a skiff from the Discovery had been stolen. “It was between seven and eight o’clock when we quitted the ship together; Captain Cook in the pinnace, having Mr Phillips and nine marines with him; and myself in the small boat.”

“Though the enterprise which had carried Captain Cook on shore had now failed, and was abandoned, yet his person did not appear to have been in the least of danger, till an accident happened, which gave a fatal turn to the affair.”

“The boats which had been stationed across the bay, having fired at some canoes that were attempting to get out, unfortunately had killed a chief of first rank.”

“One of the natives, having in his hands a stone, and a long iron spike (which they call a pahooa), came up to the Captain, flourishing his weapon, by way of defiance, and threatening to throw the stone. The Captain desired him to desist ; but the man persisting in his insolence, he was at length provoked to fire a load of small-shot. “

“Our unfortunate Commander, the last time he was seen distinctly, was standing at the water’s edge, and calling out to the boats to cease firing, and to pull in.”

“If it be true, as some of those who were present have imagined, that the marines and boat-men had fired without his orders, and that he was desireous of preventing further bloodshed, it is not improbable that his humanity, on this occasion, proved fatal to him.”

“For it was remarked, that whilst he faced the natives, none of them had offered him any violence, but that having turned about to give his orders to the boats, he was stabbed in the back, and fell with his face in the water.” On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed.

Captain Charles Clerke took over the expedition and they left. (The quotes are from ‘The Voyages of Captain James Cook,’ recorded by Lieutenant James King (who, following these events was appointed to command HMS Discovery.))

January 17, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Voyages

In 1768, when Captain James Cook set sail on the first of three voyages to the South Seas, he carried with him secret orders from the British Admiralty to seek ‘a Continent or Land of great extent’ and to take possession of that country ‘in the Name of the King of Great Britain’.

While each of the three journeys made by Captain Cook into the Pacific had its own aim and yielded its own discoveries, it was this confidential agenda that would transform the way Europeans viewed the Pacific Ocean and its lands. (State Library, New South Wales)

Endeavour voyaged to the South Pacific, mainly to record the transit of Venus in Tahiti in 1769. After that, the ship sailed around the South Pacific searching for the “Great Southern Land.” (Wall Street Journal)

After heading west from England, rounding Cape Horn beneath South America and crossing the Pacific, Cook landed the Endeavour in Australia’s Botany Bay on April 29, 1770. To the British, Cook went down in history as the man who ‘discovered’ Australia – despite Aboriginal Australians having lived there for 50,000 years and the Dutch traversing its shores for centuries. (Ward)

When Endeavour sailed around the coast of Australia, on June 11, 1770, she became stuck in a reef, now known as Endeavour Reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef). Cook ordered that all extra weight and unnecessary equipment be removed from the ship to help her float.

The reef had created a hole in the hull which, if removed from the reef, would cause the ship the flood. After several attempts, Cook and his crew successfully freed Endeavour but she was in a dire condition. She sailed to Batavia, part of the Dutch East Indies, to properly repair her before the voyage home.

After returning to Britain in 1771, the Endeavour was sent to Woolwich to be refitted to be used as a naval transport and store ship, frequently operating between Britain and the Falklands. In 1775 she was sold out of the navy to a shipping company Mather & Co. She was refitted and renamed Lord Sandwich.

Lord Sandwich was also contracted by the British navy to transport soldiers in 1776 to fight against the American colonists who sought to break free from British control.

In 1776, Lord Sandwich was stationed in New York during the Battle of Long Island that led to the British capture of New York. In August 1778, the British scuttled the Lord Sandwich and four other vessels at Newport Harbor to try to create a blockade to stop a fleet of French warships that had sailed in to support the American forces. (VOA News)

On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guided a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia.

Cook’s second Pacific voyage (1772-1775) aboard Resolution and Adventure aimed to establish whether there was an inhabited southern continent, and make astronomical observations.

Cook set sail from Plymouth on July 13, 1772. Among the personnel on this second voyage were artist William Hodges (1744–1797); young George Vancouver (1757–1798), the future surveyor of North America’s northwest coast.

Two Royal Society astronomers were also on board and Cook tested a chronometer they had to determine longitude by comparing its results with those obtained by lunar observations, his more familiar method.

For the four-month period from November 22, 1772 until March 26, 1773, more than ten thousand miles of sea were traversed, out of sight of land, in fog, around ice fields, dodging icebergs, even dipping at one point below 67° S, just seventy-five miles from undiscovered Antarctica. (Princeton)

Cook did not rush back to England, though he had the wind with him. He took Resolution down to 55° and kept that “tolerable” parallel going east to Cape Horn for five weeks, covering on one day, under a steady gale, a record 183 miles.

They celebrated Christmas, protected in a cove within what Cook named Christmas Sound (still used today) on the western side of Tierra del Fuego, enjoying dozens of geese they had shot. After passing Cape Horn, Cook explored the vast South Atlantic, west of where he had started when leaving Cape Town two years before. (Princeton)

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery. (State Library, New South Wales)

The Resolution impressed Cook greatly and he called her “the ship of my choice and as I thought the fittest for service she was going upon of any I have seen.” (Hough) She was 14 months old and her tonnage was 462. She had the same flat-floored, apple-cheeked hull.

Resolution’s lower deck length was 110 feet 8 inches, maximum beam was just over 35 feet. Her crew included 6 midshipmen, a cook and a cook’s mate, 6 quartermasters, 10 marines including a lieutenant, and 45 seamen.

She was fitted with the most advanced navigational aids of the day, including a Gregory Azimuth Compass, ice anchors and the latest apparatus for distilling fresh water from sea water. Twelve carriage guns and twelve swivel guns were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin.

The support vessel was the Discovery built by G&N Langborn for Mr. William Herbert from whom she was bought by the Admiralty. She was 299 tons, the smallest of Cook’s ships. Her dimensions were: lower deck 91’5″, extreme breadth 27’5″, depth of hold 11’5″, height between decks 5’7″ to 6’1″. Her complement was 70: 3 officers, 55 crew, 11 marines and one civilian.

The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes.

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

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lanai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke. They returned to Kealakekua. On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed.

At this same time, recall that back in the Atlantic, the American Revolutionary War was still ongoing with the Americans (with support from the French) fighting the British.

“Not long after Captain Cook’s death, an event occurred in Europe, which had a particular relation to the voyage of our Navigator, and which was so honourable to himself, and to the great nation from whom it proceeded”. (King)

On March 19th, 1779, Monsieur Sartine, secretary of the marine department at Paris, sent to all the commanders of French ships the following statement/directive:

“Captain Cook, who sailed from Plymouth in July, 1776, on board the Resolution, in company with the Discovery, Captain Clerke, in order to make some discoveries on the coasts, islands, and seas of Japan and California …”

“… being on the point of returning to Europe, and such discoveries being of general utility to all nations, it is the king’s pleasure that Captain Cook shall be treated as a commander of a neutral and allied power …”

“… and that all captains of armed vessels, etc., who may meet that famous navigator, shall make him acquainted with the king’s orders on this behalf, but at the same time let him know that on his part he must refrain from all hostilities.”

“By the Marquis of Condorcet we are informed that this measure originated in the liberal and enlightened mind of that excellent citizen and statesman, Monsieur Turgot.”

“Whilst great praise is due to Monsieur Turgot for having suggested the adoption of a measure which hath contributed so much to the reputation of the French government, it must not be forgotten that the first thought of such a plan of conduct was probably owing to Dr. Benjamin Franklin.”

Franklin’s gesture of good will toward Cook was not least among the honors he brought to his fledgling country. On the return of the Discovery and Resolution, they met neither French nor American ships on the way home. (Captain Cook Society)

“All the great remaining voyages of the eighteenth century drew on Cook’s officers. Bligh, Portlock, Vancouver, Colnett, Riou, and Hergest all got their commands and served with great distinction. These men then passed on their skills to a second generation of men such as Flinders and Broughton.” (Information here is from Australian National Maritime Museum, Ward, RIMAP, MuSEAum. Image “Moment of Contact” by Herb Kane.)

December 29, 2021 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Interest in the heavens goes back far into the ancient fabric of Polynesian culture. Many of the early Polynesian gods derived from or dwelt in the heavens, and many of the legendary exploits took place among the heavenly bodies.

Early Polynesians, who trusted their navigational instincts and skills to the nighttime stars above, currents, winds and waves, sailed thousands of miles over open ocean across the Pacific to Hawai‘i.

They had names for their star guides: Ka Maka – the point of the fishhook in the constellation Scorpius; Makali‘i – the Little Eyes within the Pleiades; Hoku‘ula – The Red Star in the constellation Taurus; and Hokupa‘a – the North Star (fixed star,) as well as others.

After the Polynesians came, in 1778, the Europeans, under the command of Captain James Cook, arrived. He brought with him spyglasses, clocks, sextants, charts, foreign ideas and techniques – new tools of navigation.

A new awareness of the skies was reborn under the scientific patronage of King David Kalākaua, (Kalākaua reigned over the Kingdom of Hawai‘i from 1874 to 1891.)

Kalākaua had a great interest in science and he saw it as a way to foster Hawai‘i’s prestige, internationally.

The opportunity to demonstrate this interest and support for astronomy was made available with the astronomical phenomenon called the “Transit of Venus,” which was visible in Hawai‘i in 1874.

Subsequently, auxiliary stations – though not so elaborate as the main station in Honolulu – were established in two other island locations: one at Kailua-Kona and the other at Waimea, Kauai.

It was not long after this that a telescope was purchased from England in 1883 and set up at Punahou School.

In 1884, the five-inch refractor was installed in a dome constructed above Pauahi Hall on the school’s campus (the first permanent telescope in Hawai‘i.)

In 1956, this telescope was installed in Punahou’s newly completed MacNeil Observatory and Science Center. (Unfortunately, it is not known where that telescope is today.

Why was the Transit of Venus important?

Although Copernicus had, by the 16th century, put the known planets in their correct order, their absolute distances remained unknown. Astronomers still needed a celestial yardstick of “Astronomical Units” with which to measure distances among the planets and to link the planets to the stars beyond.

The mission of the British expedition was to observe a rare transit of Venus across the Sun for the purpose of better determining the value of the Astronomical Unit – that is, the Earth-to-Sun distance – and from it, the absolute scale of the solar system.

The orbits of Mercury and Venus lie inside Earth’s orbit, so they are the only planets which can pass between Earth and Sun to produce a transit (a transit is the passage of a planet across the Sun’s bright disk.) Transits are very rare astronomical events; in the case of Venus, there are on average two transits every one and a quarter centuries.

Ironically, on December 8, 1874 the big day, the king was absent, being in Washington to promote Hawaiian interests in a new trade agreement with the United States.