Hawaii–Tahiti relations James Cook who was already famous for exploring the Pacific islands including Tahiti. He and his crew were struck by the similarity between the Tahitian and Hawaiian languages, and many crewmen were able to communicate with the Hawaiians. Some of the first Tahitians came to Hawaii aboard foreign vessels as sailors or translators. In 1804, British Captain John Turnbull brought a Tahitian couple to Kauai. Tahitians missionaries led by William Ellis from the London Missionary Society, arrived to assist the American missionaries in Hawaii. A few years prior to 1804, King Kaumualii of Kauai had sent an envoy to Tahiti
1769 Transit of Venus observed from Tahiti collected from the transit and Cook's report. The Tahiti observers had trouble with the timing of the stages and their drawings were inconsistent. They later found out that this was also true with the observers at the other locations. Observers from all over noted a haze or "black drop" that seemed to follow Venus making it very difficult to record time entry point on the sun and the exit from the sun. For what they believed to be a failure in the observation, The Royal Society decided to blame Green who died on the voyage back to England. Cook's rebuke