Illustration of natives of the Sandwich Islands (now the Hawaiian Islands) making offerings to Captain James Cook (1728-1779). Cook was the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands when he arrived there in January 1778. He named the islands after the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. After exploring and charting the west coast of North America and attempting, unsuccessfully, to pass through the Bering Strait, Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. He was killed in February that year, when a dispute with a group of islanders over the theft of one of the expedition's boats got out of hand and resulted in violence.