![]() ![]() Prince Arthur of Connaught / on behalf of the British Empire League 7 th July 1914" A complex legacy Born 1728 Died 1779 / Circumnavigator of the globe explorer of / the Pacific Ocean he laid the foundations of / the British Empire in Australia and New Zealand / charted the shores of New Foundland and traversed / the ocean gates of Canada both East and West / Unveiled by H.R.H. This bronze statue set on a stone plinth was designed in 1914 by Sir Thomas Brock, who was also responsible for the Queen Victoria Memorial at the other end of The Mall. It is located close to Admiralty Arch and is the first sculpture on entry to The Mall. The Resolution and Discovery eventually returned to England.This statue commemorates the British explorer and navigator, Captain James Cook (1728-79). ![]() A few days later, the Englishmen retaliated by firing their cannons and muskets at the shore, killing some 30 Hawaiians. The captain and his men fired on the Hawaiians, but they were soon overwhelmed, and only a few managed to escape to the safety of the Resolution. Negotiations with King Kalaniopuu for the return of the cutter collapsed after a lesser Hawaiian chief was shot to death Hawaiians attacked Cook’s party. The Hawaiians greeted Cook and his men by hurling rocks they then stole a small cutter vessel from the Discovery. On February 4, 1779, the British ships sailed from Kealakekua Bay, but rough seas damaged the foremast of the Resolution, and after only a week at sea the expedition was forced to return to Hawaii. And, after one of the crewmen died, exposing the Europeans as mere mortals, relations became strained. However, Cook's arrival brought with it infectious diseases that devastated the Native Hawaiian population. Cook and his compatriots were welcomed as gods and for the next month exploited the Hawaiians’ good will. Kealakekua Bay was considered the sacred harbor of Lono, the fertility god of the Hawaiians, and at the time of Cook’s arrival the locals were engaged in a festival dedicated to Lono. In Cook’s second visit, there was no question of this phenomenon. It is suspected that the Hawaiians attached religious significance to the first stay of the Europeans on their islands. Almost one year later, Cook’s two ships returned to the Hawaiian Islands and found a safe harbor in Hawaii’s Kealakekua Bay. The ships then made a brief stop at Ni’ihau and headed north to look for the western end of a northwest passage from the North Atlantic to the Pacific. Cook provisioned his ships by trading the metal, and his sailors traded iron nails for sex. He may have been the first European to ever visit the island group, which he named the Sandwich Islands in honor of one of his patrons, John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich.Ĭook and his crew were welcomed by the Hawaiians, who were fascinated by the Europeans’ ships and their use of iron. In 1776, Cook sailed from England again as commander of the HMS Resolution and Discovery, and in January 1778 he made his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1771, he returned to England, having explored the coast of New Zealand and Australia and circumnavigated the globe.īeginning in 1772, he commanded a major mission to the South Pacific and during the next three years explored the Antarctic region, charted the New Hebrides, and discovered New Caledonia. In 1768, Cook, a surveyor in the Royal Navy, was commissioned a lieutenant in command of the HMS Endeavou r and led an expedition that took scientists to Tahiti to chart the course of the planet Venus. On February 14, 1779, Captain James Cook, the great English explorer and navigator, is killed by Native Hawaiians during his third visit to the Pacific island group. ![]()
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