Naihe-Kukui Kapihe (died 1825), known as "Captain Jack" or "Jack the Pilot" to visitors, served as

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

harbor master and admiral of the royal fleet in the early

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

. His daughter would become a Queen consort.

Life

He was royal harbor pilot at Honolulu during the time of

Kamehameha I Kamehameha I (; Kalani Paiea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiikui Kamehameha o Iolani i Kaiwikapu kaui Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea; – May 8 or 14, 1819), also known as Kamehameha the Great, was the conqueror and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii. T ...

, and was the commander of native fleet of the

. He was known as "Captain Jack" by the non-Hawaiians visiting or living in Hawaii. His name was also sometimes spelled "Naihi-kukui" or "Naihi tutui". Other times he is mentioned having the name "Kapihe". He is recorded as guiding Russian

Vasily Golovnin Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin (Russian: Василий Михайлович Головнин; , Gulyniki, Ryazan Oblast – , Saint Petersburg) was a Russian navigator, Vice Admiral, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences ( ...

in 1818 and French explorers

Louis de Freycinet Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia. Biography He was born at ...

and Camille de Roquefeuil in 1819. Louis de Freycinet calls him in French "premier pilote Kéihé-Koukoui, surnommé Jack". His daughter Kalama Hakaleleponi Kapakuhaili (c. 1817–1870) would marry King

Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K� ...

and become Queen consort. Kalama was the King's pick for a bride, despite having others with better family connections available. Naihe-kukui is often called a "chief of low rank", not to be confused with other people of that time with similar names. He accompanied

Kamehameha II Kamehameha II (November 1797 – July 14, 1824) was the second king of the Kingdom of Hawaii. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kalani Kaleiʻaimoku o Kaiwikapu o Laʻ ...

on his trip to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1823, and died in Valparaíso, Chile on their return with

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

on February 8, 1825. He was buried at sea. He was known to be a skilled player at the game of

English draughts English draughts (British English) or checkers (American English), also called straight checkers or simply draughts, is a form of the strategy board game checkers (or draughts). It is played on an 8×8 checkerboard with 12 pieces per side. The ...

(also called "Checkers") because it was similar to the Hawaiian game called Kōnane.

References

{{Reflist Royalty of the Hawaiian Kingdom 18th-century births 1825 deaths Hawaiian Kingdom politicians