home > stamp sites > cook on stamps > death of cook

Death of Cook

Cook's death in Hawaii was by any measure an extraordinary event. It was received with shock in Europe where the publication of accounts of the first two voyages had made him a famous figure.

At first sight it was the result of a mishandled attempt to recover a stolen boat. However the event itself was more than that. It is clear that the Hawaiians initially saw Cook as the personification of their god Lono (Rongo in other Polynesian dialects). They treated him as such. 

By the time of the attack is apparent many had lost this belief. He had in the interim sailed to the Pacific Northwest and then returned to Hawaii. Two views of the attack on him are it have been an angry response to their self-deception or alternatively a test of his by then suspect divinity. He was also attempting to take a chief hostage so the Hawaiians were also motivated to protect him.

The explorer's death at the hands of Pacific people was not alone. It has parallels with those of Magellan and Du Fresne.

Sources for accounts of the circumstances of the death are Beaglehole, J.C. 1974, The life of Captain James Cook,  particularly Chapter XXV, Gavin Kennedy, 1978, The death of Captain Cook. Duckworth, London, and Anne Salmond, 2003, The trial of a cannibal dog, The remarkable story of Captain Cook’s encounters in the south seas. Yale University Press.

For a modern depiction see: David Samwell Surgeon's Journal with a Herb Kane painting of the death - the only depiction which gets the scene correct.

(Thumbnail)  The Death of Cook, George Carter - National Library of Australia, Canberra   "A battle between the forces of light and darkness" other work	Cook Island 1979 - Anniversary of Cook's Death.
(Thumbnail)  Johann Zoffany the Death of Cook  National Maritime Museum Greenwich other work , more. Zoffany was to be an artist on the second voyage but as a result of the falling out of Banks from the voyage he was replaced by Hodges.	Maldives - 250th Anniversary of Birth
(Thumbnail) Figures engraved by F. Barolozzi: landscape by W. Byrne. Published 1785, by Byrne and Webber.	Wallis and Futuna, a loose copy of the engraving.
(Thumbnail)  Engraving after Cleveley James Cleveley witnessed the death of Cook. From his sketch his maritime artist brother John Cleveley produced a finished watercolour (private ownership) which is the origin of this aquatint by F Jukes. Detail - (thumbnail)	Grenada Norfolk Island (Thumbnail)

home  |  death  |  ships  |  artefacts |  first stamps