Posted on: Sunday, March 30, 2003

Spear linked to Cook's death sold for $212,000

Associated Press

EDINBURGH, Scotland — The spear believed to be used by a Native Hawaiian to kill British explorer Capt. James Cook has been auctioned off in Scotland for about $212,000.

Edinburgh-based auction house Lyon and Turnbull had expected the spear — fashioned into a walking stick and passed down through the family of one of Cook's fellow naval officers — to be sold for far less. The buyer was not identified.

Cook made the first known Western contact with Hawaiians in 1778. He was killed at the age of 50 on the Big Island on Feb. 14, 1779, on his third expedition to the Southern Hemisphere.

Cook landed his ship HMS Resolution in Kealakekua Bay in January 1779 at a time of celebration of the harvest and he initially was welcomed by islanders as a god.

But relations rapidly turned sour and Cook was killed in a February 1779 fight that began when another officer fired shots into a crowd of more than 1,000 Hawaiians gathered on a beach to confront the explorers.

Cook's body was recovered from the islanders, and he was buried at sea 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. David Milne and 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, was sold Wednesday.

An obelisk monument to Cook now sits on the shore of Kealakekua Bay near the spot where he was killed.