SAILING INTO THE NEW YEAR

We hope your holidays were joyous and filled with lots of love and family.

As we embark on 2023 it marks a new beginning, new people to meet, new adventures to enjoy, and new memories to create. 

In 1768, James Cook, a surveyor in the Royal Navy was commissioned a lieutenant and given the command of the H.M.S. Endeavor. He led an expedition with scientists to Tahiti hoping to chart the course of the planet Venus.  He returned to England in 1771 after exploring the coast of New Zealand and Australia and circumnavigated the globe.  In 1772 he commanded a mission to the South Pacific and for the next three years explored the Antarctic region, charted the New Hebrides, and discovered  Caledonia.  In 1776 he set sail again from England as commander of the H.M.S. Resolution and Discovery and on January 21, 1778, made landfall at Waimea on the Island of Kauai having first sighted and gone post-Oahu.

The fact that Cook was the first western arrival is up for debate.  There is evidence that Spanish galleons may have landed on Hawaii 200 years earlier when they made their way from their Mexican colony to their bases in the Philippines and had mapped the island on their charts as the 'Isla de Mesas' and 'Los Monges' group with the exact location and latitude of the Hawaiian Islands.  When the British came into the Pacific in 1742 with the Centurion, they seized a Spanish galleon on its annual crossing and took their treasures and sea charts showing the island group.  It is possible that Cook had a copy of those charts, and he was simply tracing the footsteps of those before him.  There is other evidence of earlier visits to Hawaii.  Alon Lloyd, a Kailua resident, found pre-Cook globes in Innsbruck, Austria that indicate a cluster of islands roughly where Hawaii is located.  The "Old Hawaiian Charts and Prints" in Kona claims ownership of an original chart dated 1579 and unpublished voyage documents which contain the earliest and hard evidence of the pre-Cook discovery of Hawaii.  Hawaiian legends of fair-skinned visitors before Cook, Hawaiian flowered helmets patterned after those of Spanish marines, and the presence of iron when Cook landed on the islands indicate earlier visitors

Cook and his crew were welcomed and revered by the Hawaiians.  The Hawaiians were fascinated by the two ships perceiving the strange and white-winged objects as "floating islands".  Cook named the isles "Sandwich Islands", in honor of his patron, the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty.  During this trip, the crew traded goats, pigs, melon, pumpkin and onion seeds for salt and yams.  Along with the introduction of Western flora and fauna were syphilis, gonorrhea, and tuberculosis.  Cook had given explicit orders not to engage with indigenous women with the threat of severe lashings at the ship's masthead.  However, the crew smuggled them aboard and traded sex for iron nails and metal.  The religious significance occurred with his return to Maui during the time of the makahiki celebrations, an annual tribute to the god Lonoi-Kamakahiki, which can last for several weeks.  Some 10,000 Hawaiian warriors paddled out to greet Cook.  He was misinterpreted as a second coming of the fair-skinned Lono, who was said to return to Hawaii on a "floating island".  He was given royal honors including a ceremony at a sacred temple.  Cook then gave the natives tours of the ship, flute and violin concerts and fireworks.  Cook left for a crossing to Asia.  Only three days after their departure, a fierce winter storm damaged the Resolution's mast and they returned to Kealakekua Bay. With the celebrations over, the area was deserted.  The remaining natives apparently were surprised that the 'god's' property had been damaged and thus Cook may not have been the fair-skinned Lono.  They began stealing from the boat, including the cutter of the Discovery.  Cook went ashore to take King Kalaniopu'u hostage to demand the exchange of the cutter.  A violent riot broke out and Cook and his party were killed.  Cook's remains were buried at sea at Kealakekua Bay. 

There are several memorials to James Cook, including coins, statues, a Hawaiin town, and several businesses named after him.  Cook's first expedition aboard the HMS Endeavour departed England on August 26, 1768, for the Pacific.  The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour, as was the Space Shuttle Endeavour.  And also, the first Crew Dragon capsule flown by SpaceX was named for Endeavour.  Discovery, another shuttle, was named after Cook's HMS Discovery. 

And then there was Cook's sailing master, William Bligh, and the HMS Bounty..................but that's another story for another day!

We would like to share with you some of our images from Hawaii.

	This image is called Quiet Spot and was taken on Sunset Beach on Oahu Island.  Not a soul to be seen and a lazy quiet sea.
	The Curl was captured on Kauai Island on a not-too sunny day. The winds were whipping, the sun was hiding behind clouds, and the rain kept coming, but I was determined to do some photography. We came upon this cove and the waves were magnificent. I set up my tripod in the water and got ready to shoot. The wind kept rocking my camera, so I leaned on it only to have the tripod sink into the wet sand. I wanted to get a look through the wave and see the beach on the other side. So, I timed the waves knowing I would have one shot.... and I got it!!  The only thing dry that day was the camera, thanks to a weatherproof sleeve!
	Tropical Splendor was captured on Kauai Island. The triple Poinsettia was in the Nation's only congressionally chartered tropical botanical garden.

These images are available in tabletop to wall size, triple matted, and with or without a frame.  The matted versions are yours at a 10% discount and the framed matted versions in sizes 11x14 and larger can be yours at a 15% discount.

Visit our website, www.throughthelensoflee-margaret.com for available sizes and prices.

Stop by and see us on Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The gallery is open for arranged Saturday appointments.  Call us at 904-387-8710 to schedule your special visit.  Come see us and order now.

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance"

Aristotle