HARBOURING A LONG HISTORY

Pearl Harbor will always be remembered for the events of 1941, but its history stretches back many decades before that fateful and devastating turning point. Indeed, you could go back to Captain James Cook, who was the first Westerner to set eyes on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, when he visited the region in 1778. But way before his explorations, native Hawaiians knew the area as Pu’uloa, which means ‘long hill’, and the area was steeped in legend.

Oahu, and the bay especially, was said to have been home to two protective sharks: Ka’ahupahau and her brother Kahi’uka. They sought to protect the island, with Pu’uloa believed to be the scene of one of the most fierce battles. It involved heroic Ka’ahupahau turning herself into a net to capture a school of advancing man-eating sharks. The story suggests these predators were brought ashore and left to die, allowing the islanders to live in peace once more.

Luckily Cook, who named the island