Kealakekua Bay is located on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii about south of Kailua-Kona. Settled over a thousand years ago, the surrounding area contains many archeological and historical sites such as religious temples (heiaus) and also includes the spot where the first documented European to reach the Hawaiian islands, Captain James Cook, was killed. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places listings on the island of Hawaiʻi in 1973 as the Kealakekua Bay Historical District. The bay is a marine life conservation district, a popular destination for kayaking, scuba diving, and snorkeling.
History
Ancient history Settlement on Kealakekua Bay has a long history. Hikiau Heiau is a luakini temple of Ancient Hawaii located at the south end of the bay, at coordinates . Cook recorded the large platform being about high, long, and wide.Van James, Ancient Sites of Hawaii, 1995, Mutual Publishing, Page 94 The sheer cliff face called Ka-pali-poko—a-Manuahi overlooking the bay houses burials of Hawaiian royalty and their accompanied companions and funerary items. The northwestern part of the cliff is called Ka-pali-kapu-o-Keoua. The name means "sacred cliffs of Keōua" in honor of Keōua Nui. He was sometimes known as the "father of kings" since many rulers were his descendants. The difficulty in accessing the cliff kept the exact burial places secret.
The village of Kaawaloa was at the north end of the bay in ancient times, where the Puhina O Lono Heiau was built, along with some royal residences. The name of the village means "the distant Kava", from the medicinal plant used in religious rituals. The name of the bay comes from ke ala ke kua in the Hawaiian language which means "the god's pathway". This area was the focus of extensive Makahiki celebrations.
Captain Cook and Kalaniʻōpuʻu
Although there are theories that Spanish or Dutch sailors might have stopped here much earlier, the first documented European to arrive was Captain James Cook. He and his crews on the Resolution and Discovery sighted Kealakekua Bay on the morning of January 17, 1779. He estimated several thousand people lived in the two villages, and many thousand more in the surrounding areas. On January 28, he performed the first Christian service on the islands, for the funeral of a crew member who had died.
Cook had entered the bay during Makahiki, a traditionally peaceful time. Cook and his men were welcomed, given much food and gifts from the island and treated as honored guests. John Ledyard, the only American on board Cook's third voyage, gives a detailed account of these events in his journals. Cook and his crew stayed for several weeks, returning to sea shortly after the end of the festival. After suffering damage to the mast during a storm, the ships returned two weeks later on February 12. This time, already fraying relations came to a head.
One of Cook's captains correctly accused a native chieftain of stealing the Resolution'''s jolly boat. Cook himself attempted to barter for the wood used to border the natives' "Morai" (a sacred burial ground for certain high-ranking individuals). The native chiefs were mortified at this offer and refused to accept it. Cook later took the wood anyway. With a damaged mast, fraying relations with the natives and being heavily outnumbered, Cook attempted to lure Hawaiian chief Kalaniōpuu aboard his ship to hold him hostage. Tensions mounted as Cook attempted to trick the chief, and natives surrounded the beach. It evolved to attacks on both sides. As Cook and his men attempted to retreat, Cook was stabbed through the chest by a native chief with an iron dagger which had been traded from Cook's own ship previously in the same visit. Most of Cook's body was never recovered. Cook's men felt they could not leave without resupplying fresh water and further repair of their damaged mast, and subsequent skirmishing resulted in dozens of native deaths by musket fire and the ship's cannons; a portion of Kireekakooa, one of the towns in the bay, was also burned. Cook's death has been depicted in a series of paintings called Death of Cook.
Turmoil
When Kalaniōpuu died in 1782, his oldest son Kīwalaʻō officially inherited the kingdom, but his nephew Kamehameha I became guardian of the god Kūkailimoku. A younger son, Keōua Kuahuula, was not happy about this and provoked Kamehameha. Their forces met just south of the bay at the battle of Mokuōhai.Thomas S.Dye (2003) Archaeological Survey of a Portion of Keei Makai Kamehameha won control of the west and north sides of the island, but Keōua escaped. It would take over a decade to consolidate Kamehameha's control.
In 1786, merchant ships of the King George's Sound Company under command of the maritime fur traders Nathaniel Portlock and Captain George Dixon anchored in the harbor, but avoided coming ashore. They had been on Cook's voyage when he was killed by natives. In December 1788, the Iphigenia under William Douglas arrived with Chief Kaiana, who had already traveled to China.
The first American ship was probably the Lady Washington around this time under Captain John Kendrick. Two sailors, Parson Howel and James Boyd, left the ship (in 1790 or when it returned in 1793) and lived on the island.
In March 1790, the American ship Eleanora arrived at Kealakekua Bay and sent a British sailor ashore named John Young, to determine whether the sister ship, the schooner , had arrived for its planned rendezvous. Young was detained by Kamehameha's men to prevent the Eleanora's Captain Simon Metcalfe from hearing the news of the destruction of the Fair American, and the death of Metcalfe's son, Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe, after the massacre at Olowalu. Young and Isaac Davis, the lone survivor of the Fair American, slowly adjusted to the island lifestyle. They instructed Hawaiians in the use of the captured cannon and muskets, becoming respected advisers to Kamehameha."A Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites on the West Coast of Hawaii Island" by Diane Lee Rhodes, on National Park Service web site In 1791 Spanish explorer Manuel Quimper visited on the ship .
More visitors
George Vancouver arrived in March 1792 to winter in the islands with a small fleet of British ships. He had been a young midshipman on Cook's fatal voyage 13 years earlier and commanded the party that attempted to recover Cook's remains. He avoided anchoring in Kealakekua Bay, but met some men in canoes who were interested in trading. The common request was for firearms, which Vancouver resisted. One included chief Kaʻiana, who would later turn against Kamehameha.
Vancouver suspected Kaiana intended to seize his ships, so left him behind and headed up the coast. There he was surprised to encounter a Hawaiian who in broken English introduced himself as "Jack", and told of traveling to America on a fur-trading ship. Through him, Vancouver met Keeaumoku Pāpaiahiahi, who gave him a favorable impression of Kamehameha (his son-in-law). He spent the rest of the winter in Oahu.
Vancouver returned in February 1793; this time he picked up Keeaumoku and anchored in Kealakekua Bay. When Kamehameha came to greet the ship, he brought John Young, now fluent in the Hawaiian language, as an interpreter. This greatly helped to develop a trusted trading relationship. The Hawaiians presented a war game, which was often part of the Makahiki celebration. Impressed by the warriors' abilities, Vancouver fired off some fireworks at night to demonstrate his military technology. Vancouver presented some cattle which he had picked up in California. They were weak and barely alive, so he convinced Kamehameha to avoid killing them for ten years.
Scottish doctor James Lind had recommended the use of citrus juice to prevent scurvy on long voyages. The botanist Archibald Menzies had picked up some citrus fruit seeds in South Africa, and dropped them off here, so that future ships might be able to replenish their stocks at the Hawaiian islands."Early Plant Introductions in Hawaii" by Kenneth M. Nagata, Hawaiian Journal of History, 1985
Vancouver left in March 1793 after visiting the other islands to continue his expedition, and returned again January 13, 1794. He still hoped to broker a truce between Kamehameha and the other islands. His first step was to reconcile Kamehameha with Queen Kaahumanu. He dropped off more cattle and sheep from California, and discovered a cow left the year before had delivered a calf. The cattle became feral and eventually became pests. They were not controlled until the "Hawaiian cowboys", known as the paniolo, were recruited.
The ship's carpenters instructed the Hawaiians and the British advisers how to build a European-style ship, which they named the Britania. On February 25, 1794, Vancouver gathered leaders from around the island onto his ship and negotiated a treaty. Although it is sometimes supposed that this treaty "ceded" Hawaii to Great Britain, the British parliament never acted upon it.
Decline For the next few years, Kamehameha was engaged in his war campaigns, and then spent his last years at Kamakahonu to the north. By this time other harbors such as Lahaina and Honolulu became popular with visiting ships. By 1804, the heiau was falling into disuse. In 1814, a British ship HMS Forester arrived in the midst of a mutiny. Otto von Kotzebue arrived in 1816 on a mission from the Russian Empire.
When Kamehameha I died in 1819, his oldest son Liholiho officially inherited the kingdom, calling himself Kamehameha II. His nephew Keaoua Kekuaokalani inherited the important military and religious post of guardian of Kūkailimoku. However, true power was held by Kamehameha's widow Queen Kaahumanu. She had been convinced by Vancouver and other visitors that the European customs should be adopted. In the Ai Noa she declared an end to the old kapu system.
Kekuaokalani was outraged by this threat to the old traditions, which still were respected by most common people. He gathered religious supporters at Kaawaloa, threatening to take the kingdom by force, as happened 37 years earlier. After a failed attempt to negotiate peace, he marched his army north to meet Kalanimoku's troops who were gathered at Kamakahonu. They met in the Battle of Kuamoo. Both sides had muskets, but Kalanimoku had cannon mounted on double-hulled canoes. He devastated the fighters for the old religion, who still lie buried in the lava rock.
The wood Kii carvings were burned, and the temples fell into disrepair. A small Christian church was built in 1824 in Kaawaloa by the Hawaiian missionaries, and the narrow trail widened to a donkey cart road in the late 1820s, but the population declined due largely to introduced diseases and people shifted to other areas.
In 1825, Admiral Lord Byron (cousin of the famous poet) on the ship erected a monument to Cook and took away many of the old, sacred artifacts. The last royalty known to live here was high chief Naihe, known as the "national orator," and his wife Chiefess Kapiolani, early converts to Christianity. In 1829, she was saddened to see that the destruction of the temples included desecrating the bones of her ancestors at the Puuhonua o Hōnaunau. She removed the remains of the old chiefs and hid them in the Pali Kapu O Keōua cliffs before ordering this last temple to be destroyed. The bones were later moved to the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii in 1858, under direction of King Kamehameha IV.
In 1839 a massive stone church was built just south of the bay. It fell into ruin, and a smaller building called Kahikolu Church was built in 1852. This also fell into ruin, but has been rebuilt. In 1894 a wharf was constructed at the village at the south of the bay, now called Napoopoo. A steamer landed in the early 20th century when Kona coffee became a popular crop in the upland areas.