Island History

Portlock and Dixon  – Following the departure of Captain Cook’s “Resolution” and “Discovery” from Hawai‘i in March 1779, no foreign ships sailed to the Hawaiian Islands until 1786.

In that year, a couple of vessels commanded by the French explorer Jean Francois La Perouse, and a pair of English ships, the “King George,” under the command of Captain Nathaniel Portlock, and the “Queen Charlotte,” Captain George Dixon commanding, visited Hawai‘i.

The English were engaged in exploring the possibility of establishing a British fur trade between the Pacific Northwest and China, whereby seal and sea otter pelts taken on the northwest coast of North America would be traded in China for tea and other items at phenomenal profit.

Hawai‘i, ideally situated en route between North America and China, would provide trading ships with a convenient rest stop and place where fresh water, food, salt and firewood could be acquired in exchange for iron.  

Iron was prized by the Hawaiians, who fashioned it into tools and weapons. They produced none themselves, but prior to Cook’s discovery had found it in driftwood, and they’d also gotten iron from Cook.

During Portlock and Dixon’s stay, an eightpenny or tenpenny nail could fetch several taro roots and coconuts traded at five for an eightpenny nail.  

Portlock and Dixon visited Kaua‘i twice in 1786 and again in 1787.

At Waimea in 1786, Dixon observed taro fields irrigated by ditches connected to the Waimea River and raised paths that linked fields and houses, which were commonly surrounded by paper mulberry trees.   

On Dec. 25, 1786, the first Christmas was celebrated on Kaua‘i at Waimea aboard the “King George” and the “Queen Charlotte.”

Christmas dinner consisted of roast pig, meat and vegetable pies covered with crust, and a mixture of rum and coconut water. Hawaiians and Englishmen exchanged gifts.