Morning of Fire

by Scott Ridley

  Seated at the table with Vancouver and his officers, Kendrick produced “a copy of a letter which Mr. Brown of the Butterworth left in Decr last [December 1793] with James Coleman at Woahoo [Oahu], importing that [Kahekili] had in the most formal manner ceded to him that island together with the four islands to windward, in consideration of some valuable presents he had made to the Chief, & to render his claim more solemn & binding he had an instrument drawn up, which was signed by himself & four of his officers on the one hand & four of the principal Chiefs on the other, after which he appointed James Coleman as resident on the island of Woahoo in charge of his claim.”

  Coleman resented Vancouver and British tyranny, and perhaps the prospect of serving Brown, and had recently passed the copy to Kendrick. There was a general belief among American traders that Brown had approval from the Crown to establish settlements for fur trading, fishing, and whaling. Kendrick might have questioned whether Brown negotiated his agreement as a private transaction or under royal authority.

  Vancouver’s role in encouraging Brown to gain possession of the Leeward Islands is not known. However, Vancouver did have a motive to support the taking—it complemented his effort at Hawaii perfectly and offered a brilliant strategy to increase his leverage with Kamehameha and the district chiefs. The thirty-gun Butterworth, the largest ship in the islands, gave Kahekili a powerful advantage in thwarting any ambition of Kamehameha and his chiefs to rule over the Leeward Islands. The

  British commander now had the opportunity to assure Kamehameha that he could control Brown, who was a subject of the king.

  There is no record of what Vancouver said to Kendrick concerning Brown. Hostility toward Kendrick from Vancouver’s officers was noted, however. George Hewett, surgeon’s mate on the Discovery, wrote that when he had asked Kendrick about trading for furs on the Northwest Coast, Kendrick answered that “he would fire at a village til they brought him fifty skins & this he intended to do every time.” Hewett concluded that Kendrick was “one of the worst [traders] he saw and ought to have been taken by Captain V.” Hewett missed the fact that Kendrick was being wryly sarcastic and ridiculing Brown’s tactics of intimidation to gather furs.

  Nevertheless, Kendrick kept up his contacts with Vancouver’s officers, and on January 29 they took sail together north of Kealakekua to the small cove of Keauhou. The cove held a painful secret. Up near the beach, the Fair American lay half hidden, secured to trees and housed over with palm fronds to preserve her hull, which was said to be leaking badly and had to be pumped out every day. She was a haunting reminder of the overriding interest of the chiefs in acquiring armed ships, and how quickly events could turn.

  Three days later, on February 1, the Discovery’s carpenters began laying the keel of the “man-of-war” frame brought from Waiakea for Kamehameha. At this point, Kendrick may have felt something slipping from him. Not only would the ship he had arranged for Kamehameha now become a British present, but there was a shift of attention to Vancouver. For two weeks Kendrick had watched Vancouver unload a continuous stream of gifts for Kamehameha, while his officers huddled with the king and local chiefs. Vancouver had clearly reached a point where he recognized a path to make his plan succeed. He grew very confident in his relationship with Kamehameha, “in whose good opinion and confidence I had now acquired such a predominancy.” Vancouver noted that he had become acquainted with his most secret inclinations and apprehensions.”

  By playing on Kamehameha’s pride, Vancouver had succeeded in persuading him to issue a summons for every district chief to attend a grand council at Kealakekua. Vancouver wanted to relaunch the discussion about ceding the island to Great Britain.

  For the grand council, Kamehameha’s brother, Keliimaki, arrived from Hilo, as did Kaiana from the east, where he had apparently been avoiding the island king’s wrath after being suspected of having an affair with the queen. Her father, Keeaumoku, drifted in, as did others. The last to appear was Kameeiamoku, who arrived with a thousand men in canoes streaming into the harbor amid drumming and much pomp. Vancouver now had in the harbor the two men responsible for the massacre of the Fair American’s crew, as well as Palea, the man said to have first stabbed James Cook. There was a certain sense of dishonor Vancouver had to swallow in order to achieve what he wanted. He had to be unusually generous and forgiving to overlook those murderous acts and welcome these men. It was a hugely symbolic gesture to heal old wounds and showed he had learned his lessons from Quadra well.

  On the night of February 19, Kendrick and his men watched as all the chiefs climbed aboard the Discovery for a festive dinner.

  This was Vancouver’s test. In a conciliatory conversation, Kameeiamoku explained that the taking of the Fair American was in retaliation for his having been whipped and beaten by Simon Metcalf, the father of the Fair American‘s young captain. Others confirmed this. Vancouver solemnly listened to him and shook his hand as a token of forgiveness, then presented him with gifts. A feast of consecrated pork, followed by courses of dog, fish, chicken, and vegetables, gave way to wine and ship’s grog. Unaccustomed to these drinks, Kameeiamoku showed little reserve and was soon quite drunk. In a sudden rush of suspicion, he believed that Vancouver had lured him to the ship and poisoned him. He grew savage, and as he was carried from the table he uttered the words ”attoou-anni,” indicating the treachery to his men. His armed guards appeared ready to strike Vancouver when Kamehameha broke the tension by laughing at their suspicion and drinking from Kameeiamoku’s bottle. Everyone rejoined the party, but Vancouver couldn’t help worrying that his whole plan would have come apart if Kameeiamoku had died from the alcohol. In the atmosphere he was weaving, British credibility and trust were essential.

  For Kendrick, who was pushed to the sidelines in these events, things slipped further when a young chief had his hand split open and the tips of his two middle fingers blown off by a musket that misfired. Whether or not the gun was from the Washington didn’t matter. When he was treated by Menzies, the lesson preached was about the untrustworthiness of the traders and how their goods could not be relied upon. It was a steady theme.

  Vancouver played on the difference between the British and the Americans, saying that the natives now understood the distinction between his “little squadron and the trading vessels.” He explained to them that the traders were there for their own interests and private gain, “whilst those under my command acted under the authority of a benevolent monarch, whose chief object in sending us amongst them was to render them more peaceable in their intercourse with each other; to furnish them with things that would make them a happier people; and to afford them an opportunity of becoming more respectable in the eyes of foreign visitors.”

  And once Vancouver had the natives’ trust, he wove in fear. Beneath his bedazzled view of imperial purpose, Vancouver introduced an image far more frightening than threats from Kahekili. He told the chiefs that powerful nations looked with envious eyes upon their domains, and “the period was not very remote when they might be compelled to submit” to foreign authority. To convince them, he undoubtedly pointed to Spain’s vast domain and a litany of cruelty to native people in its colonies. He said their best choice was protection under Britain as the world’s greatest naval power.

  The argument clearly gave the group of chiefs pause. News brought back by those who had crossed the oceans to Boston and Macao and London confirmed their islands’ place in a larger world, a world far advanced and wrapped in turbulence beyond their knowing. It was not hard to imagine a hundred armed ships and thousands of soldiers with muskets and cannon.

  In addition to raising the threat of subjugation to an ambitious empire, Vancouver plied his seduction on an intimate level, taking on the role of devious intermediary for Kamehameha and the teenage Kaahumanu. Vancouver learned that Kaahumanu’s father, Keeaumoku, had great influence with three chiefs who posed the strongest opposition to cession of the islands to Britain. Realizing that Keeaumoku wanted his daughter restored to the royal
household, Vancouver spun a sugary deceit. He convinced Kamehameha that he could bring about a reconciliation and invited the estranged queen and her parents on board under the guise of giving them special presents. He then sent a signal ashore to Kamehameha, who seemed to appear at the door of Vancouver’s cabin by chance. In that moment of surprise, Vancouver joined the couple’s hands, and tears and bliss followed. The only whiff of reality Vancouver admitted was that before they all left the ship, Kaahumanu pleaded that Kamehameha should be made to promise not to beat her.

  Keeaumoku was won over and the island king was delighted. “The domestic affairs of Kamehameha having taken such a happy turn,” Vancouver wrote, “his mind was at liberty for political considerations; and the cession of Owyhee to His Britannic Majesty became now an object of serious concern.” Vancouver moved quickly.

  On Tuesday, February 25, the British commander convened a historic meeting of all the leading chiefs of Hawaii on board the Discovery “for the purpose of formally ceding and surrendering the island of Owyhee to me for his Britannic Majesty and his heirs and successors.” At dawn that day, he toured the ship to make sure all was ready. For Kendrick, the quarterdeck of the Lady Washington offered a prime vantage point for viewing the drama playing out.

  Hours ahead of time, Vancouver had Lieutenant Peter Puget of the Chatham and the officers of both ships drawn up as witnesses. Kamehameha and the seven other chiefs arrived shortly before noon in full formal regalia: Keeaumoku, father of the queen and a chief of the Kona district; Kameeiamoku, the fearsome chief of Koahala; Kaiana, and Kamehameha’s three brothers and a cousin.

  The robed island chief rose and recited the reasons for ceding the island. He noted that several nations had now visited them. Each of these nations was too powerful for them to resist. Also, the visitors were coming more frequently and their numbers were increasing. Kamehameha expressed his fear that one of these nations would claim them and stated that it was necessary to align with one of their choosing. He said he would become a subject of Great Britain and asked who would follow. Five chiefs spoke. Keeaumoku, father of the queen, assumed the cession would happen and proposed that “when a force for their protection should be obtained from England, the first object of its employment ought to be the conquest of Mowee [Maui].” He reasoned that if a chief friendly to Hawaii were installed at Maui, the Hawaiians would have more assurance for total peace. Kaiana agreed with Keeaumoku, and proposed that an authorized guard be stationed on the island and that a war vessel or two be provided by Britain for defense by sea. All the speakers repeated that they wanted no interference with their religion or the priests, no disruption of their system of chiefs, and no change in their way of life and trade.

  Vancouver apparently gave promises to meet their conditions. In addition to constructing Kamehameha’s sloop Brittania, island historians believe that Vancouver promised Kamehameha another man-of-war armed with brass cannons. This promise was fulfilled years later. “These preliminaries being fully discussed and thoroughly understood on both sides,” Vancouver wrote, the momentous climax of the courtship was at hand. According to Vancouver, Kamehameha stated again that he agreed to the cession of the island “and the whole party declared their consent by saying that they were no longer Tanata no Owyhee [the people of Hawaii], but Tanata no Britannee [people of Britain].”

  Puget went ashore and proceeded to raise the British flag on a pole erected at Kaawaloa “and took possession of the island in his Majesty’s name.” The ships fired a salute that resounded off the cliffs and across the bay. A statement inscribed on a copper sheet presented to Kamehameha commemorated the event: “On the 25th February, 1794, Kamehameha, king of Owyhee, in council with the principal chiefs of the island assembled on board His Britannic Majesty’s Sloop Discovery, in Karakakooa bay, and in the presence of George Vancouver commander of said sloop, Lieutenant Peter Puget, commander of said Majesty’s armed tender Chatham, and the other officers of the Discovery; after due consideration, unanimously ceded the said island of Owyhee, to His Britannic Majesty, and acknowledged themselves subjects of Great Britain.”

  The event was a defeat for Kendrick, but its impact was uncertain. Britain’s claim could obstruct Spain or any other nation from taking possession of Hawaii, but it was not clear what it would mean for Americans and other foreigners and their trading outposts. William Brown had charged that through the advice and example of these traders and their men, “the natives of most of the Leeward Islands had arrived at such a degree of daring insolence” that sending in small boats or anchoring near the shores was “highly dangerous.” He told Vancouver that he “trusted it might be within the limits of [Vancouver’s] authority to take from these islands such improper and dangerous associates.”

  Now, with the agreement for cession in place, Vancouver launched an effort to remove Kendrick and other traders. The British commander noted that he told Kamehameha “in the strongest terms all the bad consequences that were likely to result from those people remaining on Owyhee.” But no arguments could induce Kamehameha or the other chiefs to “deliver up” these men, who included Boyd and Howell. Unlike Kendrick’s men at Kauai, who had killed Kahekili’s warriors, Vancouver could cite no specific charges against them, and he was afraid to cause a breach of the new agreement by compelling the men to be produced. He urged Kamehameha to trust only the two British subjects, John Young and Isaac Davis, and to prevent any other foreigners from residing or taking land on the island. The chiefs invoked their control of local matters, and the advice was turned aside. Kendrick had done his work, his relationships with the chiefs held, and the cession appeared somewhat symbolic and hollow.

  It seemed that Kendrick would be able to proceed as if nothing had occurred at Hawaii, and he would ignore William Brown’s claim in the Leeward Islands as well. Inamoo and Kaeo would certainly resist any high-handed efforts by William Brown to take control there. It remained to be seen what Brown would do. On the day before the cession ceremony, Brown had started back from Canton with the Jackall and Prince Lee Boo, after having sent the Butterworth homeward. There would soon be a reckoning with him.

  UNDER A QUARTER MOON, the British expedition left Kealakekua at 3 a.m. on February 26 and proceeded along Hawaii’s west coast toward the Leeward Islands to complete their survey and evaluation of the harbors and lands. Giddy with his accomplishment, Vancouver confided in his journal that he was perfectly convinced that if he had passed back and forth among the islands he could have negotiated peace (a general pacification), but unfortunately did not have the time or circumstances. The British commander was dreaming. The relative tranquility would not hold. The chiefs’ dynastic ambitions would have to play themselves out. Vancouver’s agreement would be of little benefit to Kamehameha in his inter-island war, and time would tell whether it would serve the interests of British merchants and imagined plantation owners.

  Perhaps seeking to further dampen Vancouver’s claims of British dominion in the islands, Kendrick went ahead of the Discovery, arriving before Vancouver at harbors and meeting with chiefs before the British captain could reach them. While Vancouver ran up the west coast of Hawaii, Kendrick sailed to Oahu and spent five days at Waikiki with

  Kahekili and his chiefs. When Vancouver arrived, Kahekili and Kaeo did not come to meet him. He again encountered Kendrick and the Washington at Waimea on Kauai. “Having beaten around the east end of the island he arrived two days ahead of us,” Vancouver noted. Here the British commander tried to pressure Kendrick into withdrawing his men, and Vancouver thought he seemed to acquiesce. However, when the Discovery and Chatham set sail from the islands on March 14, Kendrick and his men were still there.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Last Season

  Northwest Coast

  APRIL 1794–NOVEMBER 1794

  VANCOUVER STEERED for the American coast in a last attempt to find the Northwest Passage and secure British claims. His health, his supplies, and his patience were wearing down. He had dismissed the poss
ibility of a passage branching from the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Straits of Admiral de Fonte and was now headed for the northern reaches of the Gulf of Alaska. “Having ascertained satisfactorily that there was not any extensive navigation eastwardly, between the 30th and 56th degrees of north latitude on this side of the American continent,” he wrote, “I was led to believe, that if any such did exist, it would most probably be found communicating with Cook’s River” at the northern end of the Gulf below the Kenai Peninsula.

  He made the coast in April at 60° north latitude, finding ranges of “stupendous” mountains covered in snow. The green-black waters of “Cook’s River” were choked with drift ice and they encountered hundreds of kayaks with Aleuts speaking Russian and offering to trade. They found the river terminated in marshes and low icy plains backed by continuous mountains. Vancouver was deeply dismayed. In a rare moment he criticized James Cook, lamenting that if the “great explorer” had “dedicated one more day to its further examination,” he would have spared others from “ingeniously ascribing” a Northwest Passage to this channel. Exploring southward, he was again disappointed to find only more blind inlets and walls of ice among the bays and rivers of Prince William Sound.