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The first printed view of the Crater at Mount Kīlauea.
In the late 18th century, British naval officer and explorer Captain George Vancouver made notable observations of the Hawaiian Islands during his voyages in the Pacific. Among these observations was his encounter with Kīlauea, the active shield volcano on Hawai‘i Island. Vancouver’s records, detailed in his A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World (1798), provide one of the earliest European accounts of Kīlauea and its volcanic activity. These observations were part of Vancouver’s broader efforts to chart the Pacific and establish diplomatic relationships with the islands’ inhabitants.
Vancouver visited Hawai‘i several times between 1792 and 1794, and while his primary purpose was not scientific exploration, he displayed a keen interest in the natural phenomena of the islands. Upon learning of the volcano from local Hawaiians, Vancouver's crew undertook an expedition to view Kīlauea firsthand. Though he did not descend into the caldera, Vancouver and his men described the landscape as awe-inspiring and formidable, noting the presence of molten lava, active fissures, and volcanic smoke. His descriptions highlight the powerful impression Kīlauea made on early Western visitors, contrasting its raw, destructive force with its profound natural beauty.
George Vancouver (1757–1798), a naval officer and explorer, grew up in King’s Lynn, England, the youngest of six children. After entering the Royal Navy in 1771, he served in both the second and third great exploratory voyages of James Cook. During Cook’s second voyage, a three-year quest to find a legendary southern continent, Vancouver received instruction from the astronomer William Wales. During Cook’s third voyage, to the Pacific Northwest, Vancouver was part of the first known group of Europeans to land on the coast of present-day British Columbia.
Vancouver gained valuable navigational, surveying, and mapping experience in the Pacific Northwest during his time with Cook. After returning from Cook’s third voyage in 1780, Vancouver was promoted to lieutenant and spent the following nine years serving on fighting ships, primarily in the Caribbean.
In 1790, Vancouver was chosen to captain the Discovery and charged with a mission to discover and chart the vast areas of the Pacific that were still unknown, in part to locate a Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This four-year voyage of discovery circumnavigated the globe and eliminated the possibility of an inland Northwest Passage. During many months of surveying, Vancouver produced detailed regional maps of the Northwest Coast, as far north as Alaska. He also established several hundred place-names for physical features in the areas surveyed.
Upon returning to England in 1795, Vancouver’s voyage received little recognition, and he faced personal and political attacks from colleagues and crew members alleging abuse of power. With his health failing, Vancouver spent his remaining years in retirement, revising his journal for publication. His Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World was first published in 1798, which was also the year of his death. It contained a multi-volume account of his voyage as well as an atlas of his maps. His exploration and mapmaking activities greatly increased knowledge of the North American coast.
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