Weapon used to kill Cook for sale
Associated Press
LONDON — The spear used by a Native Hawaiian to kill British explorer Capt. James Cook will be auctioned in Scotland later this month.
Edinburgh-based auction house Lyon and Turnbull said yesterday it expects the spear, which was fashioned into a walking stick and passed down through the family of one of Cook's fellow naval officers, to be sold for up to $3,200.
Capt. James Cook made the first known Western contact with Hawaiians in 1778.
Paul Dahlquist, an anthropologist and retired director of the Lyman Museum in Hilo, considers himself a Hawaiiana specialist. His family history in Hawai'i dates to 1828.
"I would think that the authenticity of that piece would be extremely difficult to prove," said the Waikoloa resident, who has never heard of the spear. "If indeed those who are auctioning it off only expect $3,200 for a piece of that historic background, then they probably have serious doubts themselves as to its authenticity."
Cook made the first known Western contact with Hawaiians in 1778. He was killed on the Big Island on Feb. 14, 1779, on his third expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, during which he discovered the Cook Islands, Christmas Island and some of the smaller Hawaiian Islands.
Cook anchored his ship HMS Resolution in Kealakekua Bay in January 1779 at a time of celebration of the harvest, and he initially was welcomed as a reincarnation of the Hawaiian god Lono.
But relations rapidly soured when he took a local dignitary hostage over a series of petty thefts. Cook, 50, was killed in a February 1779 skirmish that began when another officer fired shots into a crowd of more than 1,000 people gathered on a beach to confront the explorers. Cook's body was recovered from the islanders, and he was buried at sea on Feb. 21, 1779. William Bligh — a navigation officer who later became captain of a mutinous crew on the HMS Bounty — recovered the spear. It was passed between officers before being given to Adm. Milne, where it remained in his family.
The stick, which bears the inscription "From Adml. CBH Ross to Admiral Sir David Milne GCB. Made of the Spear that killed Captn. Cook R.N." on a silver band, will be sold March 26.
An obelisk monument to Cook sits on the shore of Kealakekua Bay near the spot where he was killed.
Advertiser staff writer Zenaida Serrano Espanol contributed to this report.
