Kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Captain James Cook Kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Captain James Cook Captain James Cook's 1779 attempted kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief of the island of Hawaii and the decision to hold him in exchange for a stolen long boat (lifeboat) was the fatal error of Cook's final voyage, ultimately leading to Cook's death. Cook's arrival in Hawaii was followed by mass migrations of Europeans and Americans to the islands that ended with the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the aboriginal monarchy of the islands. James Cook led three separate voyages to chart unknown areas of the globe for the British Empire. It
James Cook Collection: Australian Museum James Cook Collection: Australian Museum The Australian Museum's Cook Collection was acquired in 1894 when it was transferred from the Government of New South Wales. At that time it consisted of 115 artifacts collected on Captain James Cook's three voyages of discovery Throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768 - 1780, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artifacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South