page_title: Kealakekua Bay
section_title: Turmoil
hierarchical_section_title: Kealakekua Bay / Turmoil
caption_attribution_description: An illustration by William Ellis of the Morai (w:heiau) at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i. Engraved by W. Walker after Ellis [Ellis. 1782. II fp. 180].
context_page_description: Kealakekua Bay is located on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaiʻi about 12 miles south of Kailua-Kona.
  Settled over a thousand years ago, the surrounding area contains many archeological and historical sites such as religious temples and also includes the spot where the first documented European to reach the Hawaiian islands, Captain James Cook, was killed. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places listings on the island of Hawaii in 1973 as the Kealakekua Bay Historical District.
  The bay is a marine life conservation district, a popular destination for kayaking, scuba diving, and snorkeling.
context_section_description: When Kalaniʻōpuʻu died in 1782, his oldest son Kiwalaʻo officially inherited the kingdom, but his nephew Kamehameha I became guardian of the god Kūkaʻilimoku. A younger son, Keōua Kuahuʻula, was not happy about this and provoked Kamehameha. Their forces met just south of the bay at the battle of Mokuʻōhai.
  Kamehameha won control of the west and north sides of the island, but Keōua escaped. It would take over a decade to consolidate Kamehameha's control.
  In 1786, merchant ships of the King George's Sound Company under command of the maritime fur traders Nathaniel Portlock and Captain George Dixon anchored in the harbor, but avoided coming ashore. They had been on Cook's voyage when he was killed by natives. In December 1788, the Iphigenia under William Douglas arrived with Chief Kaʻiana, who had already traveled to China.
  The first American ship was probably the Lady Washington around this time under Captain John Kendrick. Two sailors, Parson Howel and James Boyd, left the ship (in 1790 or when it returned in 1793) and lived on the island.
  In March 1790, the American ship Eleanora arrived at Kealakekua Bay and sent a British sailor ashore named John Young, to determine whether the sister ship, the schooner Fair American, had arrived for its planned rendezvous. Young was detained by Kamehameha's men to prevent the Eleanora's Captain Simon Metcalfe from hearing the news of the destruction of the Fair American, and the death of Metcalfe's son, Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe, after the massacre at Olowalu. Young and Isaac Davis, the lone survivor of the Fair American, slowly adjusted to the island lifestyle. They instructed Hawaiians in the use of the captured cannon and muskets, becoming respected advisers to Kamehameha. In 1791 Spanish explorer Manuel Quimper visited on the ship Princess Royal.
caption: An illustration of the Hikiau heiau at Kealakekua Bay, by William Ellis
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