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
Third voyage of James Cook the crew were produced. The first to appear, in 1781, was a narrative based on the journal of John Rickman entitled "Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage". Then in 1782 an account by William Ellis, Surgeons Mate on the Discovery was published followed in 1783 by John Ledyard's "A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage" published in Connecticut. Third voyage of James Cook James Cook's third and final voyage (12 July 1776 – 4 October 1780) took the route from Plymouth via Cape Town and Tenerife to New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands, and along the North American coast to