Medal mentioning Captain James Cook’s death in the Hawaiian Islands; “Kill’d by the Indians at O’Why’Hee February 14 1779”

Minted shortly after news of Cook’s death had reached Europe, this must be one of the very earliest mentions of either Cook’s death or the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands in any form. Graded R (“of the high rarity”) by British Historical Medals. Four other examples are known to numismatists, one of them in the British Museum.

The obverse has a portrait of Cook in naval uniform facing half-right with the caption “CAPTAIN JAMES COOK”. The reverse reads: “KILL’D / BY THE INDIANS / AT O’WHY’HEE / FEBRUARY 14 / 1779”.

This early attempt at transliteration of the native word for the Hawaiian Islands quickly became formalised as Owhyhee. Bushing’s Wochentlichte Nachrichten (Berlin, 1780) has been identified by Forbes (Hawaiian National Bibliography, 1) as the earliest printed reference to the death of Cook. Busching’s information came from despatches sent back by Clerke and King via Kamchatka to St Petersburg and thence to London. This news via Russia, which was published in England in January 1780, remained the only source for information on the events at Kealakekua Bay almost until the return of Resolution and Discovery in September 1780, when further details began to be disseminated.

Very few pieces indeed can be identified as falling into this period after the news of Cook’s death had reached Europe but before any detailed description was available. Mira speculates that this medal may have been issued earlier than the similar, and similarly rare, “Courage and Perseverance” medal of the same date, although comparison of the two suggests Mira may have been in error.