LONDON >> The spear used by a native Hawaiian to kill British explorer Capt. James Cook will be auctioned off in Scotland later this month. Auction house to sell spear
that killed Capt. CookAssociated Press
Edinburgh-based auction house Lyon and Turnbull said yesterday it expects the spear, which was fashioned into a walking stick and passed down through the family of one of Cook's fellow naval officers, to be sold for up to $3,200.
Cook made the first known Western contact with Hawaiians in 1778.
Cook, 50, was killed on the Big Island on Feb. 14, 1779, on his third expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, during which he discovered the Cook Islands, Christmas Island and some of the smaller Hawaiian Islands.
Cook landed his ship HMS Resolution in Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island in January 1779 at a time of celebration of the harvest, and he initially was welcomed by islanders as a god.
But relations rapidly turned sour when he took a local dignitary hostage over a series of petty thefts. Cook was killed in a skirmish that began when another officer fired shots into a crowd of more than 1,000 locals gathered on a beach to confront the explorers.
Cook's body was recovered from the islanders, and he was buried at sea Feb. 21, 1779.
William Bligh, a navigation officer who later became captain of a mutinous crew on the HMS Bounty, recovered the spear. It was passed between officers before being given to Adm. David Milne and remained in his family.
The stick, which bears the inscription "From Adml. CBH Ross to Admiral Sir David Milne GCB. Made of the Spear that killed Captn. Cook R.N." on a silver band, will be sold March 26.
An obelisk monument to Cook now sits on the shore of Kealakekua Bay near the spot where he was killed.
Cook's most famous voyages of discovery were made in the Southern Hemisphere, including claiming Australia for Britain in 1770.
Lyon and Turnbull