Cook Landing Site (Waimea) Cook Landing Site (Waimea) The Cook Landing Site in Waimea on Kauai island in Hawaii, is where Captain James Cook landed at the mouth of the Waimea River on January 20, 1778. Cook was the first European reported to have sighted the Hawaiian Islands, and the January 20 landfall on southwestern Kauai was his first arrival upon Hawaiian soil. Cook Landing Site was registered as a National Historic Landmark on December 29, 1962. Hofgaard Park is a small county park in Waimea, a few blocks from the actual landing, that commemorates the historic events of Cook's landing. It is suspected
Kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Captain James Cook fatally stabbed him with a metal dagger, ironically traded from Cook's ship during the same visit. Cook fell with his face in the water. This caused a close-quarters melee between the townspeople and Cook's companions. Four of the Royal Marines (Corporal James Thomas and Privates Theophilus Hinks, Thomas Fachett, and John Allen) were killed, and two were wounded. The remaining sailors and marines fired as they fled to their small boat and rowed back to their ship, injuring and killing dozens of Native Hawaiians on the beach, including possibly High Chief Kanaʻina. Cook's ships did not leave Kealakekua bay until