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Case file s1197 · Heirlooms and treasure · 1779
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1779
The ahu ula (feathered cloak) of Kalaniopuu: The ahu ula (feathered cloak) that chief Kalaniopuu gave to captain James Cook, on long-term loan from Te Papa Tongarewa (the national
The ahu ula (feathered cloak) of Kalaniopuu. AnonymousUnknown author. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
given January 1779
Place
Kealakekua Bay, Hawaiʻi Island, USA; London, England; Wellington, New Zealand; Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, USA
Field
feather cloak and helmet · Military on the timeline
Legal tradition
Hawaiian chiefly gift exchange; museum repatriation agreement · Customary law
Historical event
Cook's third voyage and his death at Kealakekua Bay, February 1779
Heirlooms and treasureMurder and sudden deathEmpires and conquestNorth AmericaOceaniaEuropeUnited States

Hawaiʻi's ruling chief put his feather cloak on Captain Cook in 1779, and it took 237 years and a New Zealand museum to bring it home

In January 1779 Kalaniʻōpuʻu, ruling chief of Hawaiʻi Island, gave Captain James Cook the ʻahu ʻula (feather cloak) and mahiole (feather helmet) he was wearing at Kealakekua Bay. The cloak holds feathers from about 20,000 birds on olonā fibre netting. Weeks later Cook and four of his men were killed in a clash at the bay. The crew took the garments to England. The showman William Bullock bought them and displayed them in his London museum. In 1819 Bullock sold his whole collection, and Charles Winn bought the cloak and helmet. In 1912 Winn's grandson, Lord St Oswald, gave them to the Dominion of New Zealand. They went to the Dominion Museum, now Te Papa. In 2016 Te Papa lent them to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu for at least ten years, with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. On 9 July 2020 Te Papa announced the return was permanent, with the support of the St Oswald descendants. The Bishop Museum holds them in trust for the people of Hawaiʻi.

What the law took from it

A gift can travel through four owners before the giver's people get it back.

Sources
  1. Smithsonian MagazineScholarship
  2. blog.tepapa.govt.nzPress
  3. kawaiola.newsPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Hawaiʻi's ruling chief put his feather cloak on Captain Cook in 1779, and it took 237 years and a New Zealand museum to bring it home,” story s1197, https://www.celebrity.estate/cook-feather-cloak-1779, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Heirlooms and treasureMurder and sudden deathEmpires and conquestNorth AmericaOceaniaEuropeCustomary lawUnited States