Memories of Queen Elizabeth II
By George Kahumoku Jr
In 1977 I was part of an entourage of about 16 Hawaiians led by Haunani Apoliona and Aunty Edith Kanakaʻole and others from Alu Like that went to England to retrieve Hawaiian artifacts taken from Hawaii by Captain Cook in 1778. She returned such artifacts as capes, calabashes full of feathers, and a statue of the head of the god Kūkāʻilimoku made of red & black feathers and dog teeth. We received them and upon return to Hawaii, gave them all to the Bishop Museum where they are now stored and displayed.
We then played for the Queen’s Jubilee ceremony. we were waiting in turn to make our presentations of chanting, hula, and music. When it came to my turn, I played “The Queens Jubilee” which was originally written by Queen Liliuʻokalani for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee 100 years before in 1877.
After our presentations of music and hula, we waited in a reception line for our turn to meet the Queen one on one. I was surprised at how small she was in person, maybe 5ʻ2” or so. And her husband was very tall. She looks bigger in pictures.
When it was my turn to say hello, I said, “My name is George Kahumoku” she replied, “We have a record that mentions a Kahumoku in Captain Vancouver’s log”
She asked, “Are you a descendant? Are you from Kealakekua?" I said that "I was from Kona on the Big Island, in the same general area".
She invited me to go see the actual log entry the next morning if I wanted to. So, the next day I got up early to go to the archive. She sent a car to pick me up and I met her at the entrance of the building which honestly looked like a dungeon to me. It went underground. The Queen was there with two aids and the librarian. We all wore masks and gloves inside. We were not allowed to actually touch anything even with the gloves. The old volumes were very frail. But the librarian carefully opened the book for us to see the entries.
The handwriting on the captains’ logs for Captain George Vancouver was the most beautiful handwriting I’ve ever seen. The book was huge, maybe 18ʻ x 24ʻ They spelled all the Hawaiian names in an odd way, with Kealakekua Bay being spelled something like KOOKUUAHU.
The log entry said something like this: “There was a huge storm close to Nova Scotia. The first mate was washed overboard. The young Kahumoku from Kealakekua dove into the icy waters and saved the first mate.” The Queen said that “most of the crew in both the English and Spanish navies couldn’t swim.”
The librarian carefully found the second entry that said something like this:
Upon his return to England, Captain Vancouver told the story of the heroic rescue of the first mate by Kahumoku who was 13-15 years old, to King George. The King held a ceremony and knighted the youth as George Kahumoku.
And that is the first George Kahumoku in our family. I’m number 8.
