Captain Cook and his journey
James Cook was born in 1728 in Marton, England. His father was a Scottish migrant farm worker who took James as a pupil on coal carrying boats at the age of eighteen. While working in the North Sea, Cook spent his free time learning math and navigation. This led to his appointment as mate. Searching for something more adventurous, in 1755 he volunteered for the British Royal Navy.
In January of 1778, Captain Cook anchored his sailing ship in a town named Waimea on the island of Kaua'i. He was returning after his exploration of the northwest Pacific when he soon reached the Hawaiian Islands, thus becoming the first European explorer to visit Hawai'i.
The white sails on Cook's ship looked extremely similar to the white banners of Lono, their harvest god. The natives paddled their canoes to meet Cook and his ship. Amazingly the Hawaiians believed him to be Lono. Cook and his crew were then treated as if a high chief when they were being given fruit, pigs, fresh spring water, among much more. He claimed the islands as British territory. He named the islands "Sandwich Islands" after his employer, the Earl of Sandwich.
After a year of voyaging around a climate too cold, Captain Cook and his ships decided to dock at a warmer zone. By thinking this he visited the Hawaiian Islands once again. This time he anchored on a different island now known as the Big Island. His ship sailed into Kealakekua Bay, but he was not being treated as the god Lono like the last visit. In Hawaiian legend, the god Lono is not supposed to return. Many natives began to speculate if this was the real Lono, and soon came to a conclusion that he wasn't.
One night, natives decided to steal one of Cook's boats. Cook decided to shoot whoever it was stealing his boats and because of this, a huge fight broke out. Captain Cook was said to have died a numerous amount of ways. Some believe he was clubbed over the head, others with a spear, and some people even think he died from a native throwing a massive coconut straight to his head. Either way, he died somehow. His crew began killing a major amount of Hawaiian's because of their captain's death and afterwards returned to England without Cook.
As to what happened to him when he died, many say he was then cannibalized. The only problem with this rumor is that cannibalism was not actively practiced at that point of time in Hawai'i. The way Hawaiians do their rituals may have seemed like cannibalism because of the way they did it. The crew who witnessed Cook's body being put through a very unusual ritual said it to be gruesome yet respective. Cook was perceived as being a god and because of this he was put through a certain ritual. His heart was divided between all of the tribal chiefs and then eaten. His hands were filled with salt in order to preserve them better, and his bones were given to other tribal chiefs and were also placed around the island. His body was said to be flesh-less as most of his body was burned in a fire. His thighs, scalp and hands were the only think with flesh left. The crew was then given the remains of him in a way they have never seen before. Over his remains was a cloak of black and white feathers. Cook was then placed inside a tiny coffin and buried in Kealakekua Bay on the 21st of February.
Cook's death on February 14, 1779 was not yet heard of until January of 1780. His father died before knowing about his son's death in April of 1779. He has no direct decedents because all of his male children died unmarried.