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 navigator, Samuel Wallis, made the first European contact with Tahiti. Wallis returned from his voyage in time to help the Royal Society decide that it would be an ideal location to observe the Transit of Venus. A big advantage was that Tahiti was one of the few islands in the South Pacific that they knew the longitude and latitude of. The Admiralty was not really interested in particularly where in the South Pacific the observation of the Venus transit would take place. They were more interested in the "secret" mission that would be revealed after the Venus transit observation: the