I think the ‘reputedly’ is doing a lot of lifting. I mean the origins of the weapon being in Hawaiian possession are not clear and why did his crew somehow rescue this weapon wist leaving their captain behind?
The more I read about this account the more it looks like Cook was a bully who got his comeuppance and the Hawaiians treated him respectfully even after killing him.
I’m not sure English navy ship captains were known for their respect to local cultures in general. I wonder if he was outside the range of normal as far as assholery. I’m just impressed the Hawaiians went from “this is a god” to “this is bullshit” inside a month.
From what I have heard, and take that with a grain of salt, contemporary europeans considered him to be more considerate of local (“native”) cultures and traditions than most colonial explorer ship captains. Of course he still was sailing to spread the english empire.
I think the ‘reputedly’ is doing a lot of lifting. I mean the origins of the weapon being in Hawaiian possession are not clear and why did his crew somehow rescue this weapon wist leaving their captain behind?
The wikipedia article is pretty interesting.
TLDR: the Hawaiians kept the body for funeral rites.
The more I read about this account the more it looks like Cook was a bully who got his comeuppance and the Hawaiians treated him respectfully even after killing him.
I’m not sure English navy ship captains were known for their respect to local cultures in general. I wonder if he was outside the range of normal as far as assholery. I’m just impressed the Hawaiians went from “this is a god” to “this is bullshit” inside a month.
From what I have heard, and take that with a grain of salt, contemporary europeans considered him to be more considerate of local (“native”) cultures and traditions than most colonial explorer ship captains. Of course he still was sailing to spread the english empire.