Historedia
Episode 1 of 3

Theft of a cutter

When
13 February 1779
Where
Kealakekua Bay area, Hawaii
Part of
Death of Captain James Cook

Hawaiians stole one of Cook's cutters on 13 February 1779, precipitating the fatal confrontation.

On 13 February 1779, a group of Hawaiians stole one of Cook's cutters. The theft prompted Cook's attempt the following day to seize a hostage in exchange for the boat's return, which ended in his death.

Sources

  1. James Cook Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-22
  2. Death of James Cook Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-12

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.