Hawaiians really did go mano-a-fin with killer sharks

 “Chief of War” mostly got it right

Copyright © 2025 by Stephen Shender

In the first scene of the first episode of “Chief of War,” the series’ hero, Ka‘iana (Jason Momoa), dives into the sea from a double-hulled sail canoe to rope and kill a niuhi, a man-eating shark, after his companions chum the water with ‘awa, an intoxicant, to inebriate the animal. As implausible as this might seem, it’s not a Hollywood CGI fever dream. Through “Chief of War’s” first four episodes it’s the series’ most historically credible scene.

According to native-Hawaiian writer Stephen L. Desha, Hawaiians went mano-a-fin with sharks and killed them. Desha conserved Hawaiian oral history in columns he wrote for readers of Hawaiian-language newspapers in the first quarter of the 20th century. His columns were later translated into English and compiled in a book, Kamehameha and His Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o (Kamehameha Schools Press, 2000). Kekūhaupi‘o was Kamehameha’s martial arts trainer; his kahu.

Desha learned about Hawaiian shark-hunting methods from his “wife's grandfather who was one of those who fished for niuhi on the purplish-blue seas of Kāne.” Desha recounted the old man’s account of shark baiting as he heard it:

In the red dawning [said Desha’s wife’s grandfather] my foster father ordered two men to immerse the bait [the flesh of a butchered pig], then some men with sharpened sticks…began to pierce the putrid bundles, releasing stinking juices and grease to spread over the surface of the sea.

— From Kamehameha and His Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o

Unlike Ka‘iana’s crew in “Chief of War” These real-life Hawaiian fishermen did not use ‘awa to slow the reflexes of their man-eating shark. But ‘awa, a sacred drink derived from a pepper plant, was ritually employed by Hawaiian shark hunters, as in “Chief of War.”

Drawing on the old man’s recollections, Desha spins his story of Kekūhaupi‘o’s fight with a man-eater. In Desha’s telling, Kekūhaupi‘o’s companions chum the water with stinking bundles of rotting sow meat wrapped in kalo (taro) and kī (ti) leaves to lure the shark to the canoe and dull its senses.

 Kekūhaupi‘o’s kahu cautions him to remain on the canoe until the shark grows sluggish from gulping “greasy” sea water:

“E Kekūhaupi‘o e, don’t be too hasty…when I tell you to leap, attempt to dive under this fish which is following our canoe, but not just at this moment, as the sea has not cleared. Wait a little and let the shark swallow the grease from the bundles.”

—From Kamehameha and His Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o

Kekūhaupi‘o waits as instructed, dives under the shark and spears it, killing it before it can turn on him.

Kekūhaupi‘o had watched the shark gulping baited sea water knowing very well the place to thrust his short spear and that if his thrust should be awkward his opponent would have time to turn quickly on him….on hearing his teacher’s order he dove straight to the shark’s side giving it no time to turn.

—From Kamehameha and His Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o

In my novel, it’s Kamehameha, coached by Kekūhaupi‘o, who dives into greasy water to kill a shark.

Kamehameha slipped into the water with a short ihe spear tied to his wrist. He filled his lungs, doubled over, and slid beneath the water’s surface. Intent on the pig meat, the shark did not notice him. From a fathom below the canoe’s hull, Kamehameha turned back and kicked hard, angling up toward the shark, now a dark shadow against the water’s bright surface. Sensing Kamehameha’s presence at last, the great predator turned toward him.

—From Once There Was Fire, A Novel of Old Hawaii

Regarding the virtues of greasy pig meat versus ‘awa for sedating sharks, a writer of historical fiction gets to choose, and putrid pig flesh makes for more pungent prose than ‘awa.

Historical choices in “Chief of War” episode 4

Ka‘iana concludes his adventure in Zamboanga by releasing hundreds of Asian men, women, and children from slave pens while searching for and rescuing Tony, his black crewman friend from the Nootka, while incidentally starting a fire that engulfs the town’s gritty slave-trade quarter. Historically, there’s not much to unpack from this wholly imaginative sequence.

Meanwhile, trouble is brewing in the Big Island’s Ka‘ū District, where “Chief of War” creators have made some historical and cultural choices.

The story:

Kalani‘ōpu’u, the Big Island’s ruler, has died. He’s named his son Keōua (Keōua Kū‘ahu‘ula) to rule after him. Kalani‘ōpu’u’s nephew, Kamehameha, swears to follow Keōua, but that’s not enough for Keōua. He’s furious when he learns Kalani‘ōpu’u has entrusted Kamehameha with his war god, Kūkā‘ilimoku. Keōua wants to rule and keep the god, a grinning feathered idol on a pole. He calls Kamehameha a “low-born” “bastard” son of Poiwa (Keku‘iapoiwa) who’s not fit to take the god into his keeping. Keōua is so angry about this, he knocks out one of his own teeth to show the assembled chiefs how mad he is. Kamehameha is unmoved. He says he must honor his uncle’s dying wish and takes the god back to his fiefdom in Kohala, where he installs it in a temple and announces he will not fight Keōua unless Keōua attacks him first.

The history:

Historically, Kalani‘ōpu’u did not choose Keōua to succeed him. Prior to his death in the Ka’ū District circa 1782, Kalani‘ōpu‘u named his oldest son Kiwala‘o his heir and made his nephew Kamehameha the war god’s keeper—an arrangement Kalani‘ōpu’u hoped would forestall a fight between the two cousins after he died. When Kamehameha and Kiwala‘o eventually fought, they clashed over land distributions, not the idol. The fight between the two cousins was resolved by the slaying of Kiwala‘o at Moku‘ōhai (where Ka‘ahumanu’s father killed him).

The victory left Kamehameha in control of the Big Island’s Kohala and Kona districts. Keōua, who sided with his older brother Kiwala‘o against Kamehameha at Moku‘ōhai, controlled the Ka‘ū District. (A third chief—an uncle of Kamehameha, Kiwala‘o, and Keōua—ruled the Hilo and Puna districts and a portion of the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island’s windward side.)

Kamehameha and Keōua were still fighting for control of the Big Island—Keōua had previously dispatched their mutual uncle—when Ka‘iana turned up there with a load of muskets years after the battle of Moku‘ōhai. Offering his services to Kamehameha, Ka‘iana became an important ally in the former’s fight with Keōua for control over the rest of the Big Island. History will be served when Ka‘iana joins Kamehameha in opposing Keōua in a future episode of “Chief of War” (a clash that is almost certainly coming). But the series’ creators will have short-circuited history to get there.

Culture:

I appreciate the care “Chief of War” creators have taken to portray Hawaiian culture for a popular audience. But at the risk of stepping out of my “lane” as a haole, I’ll point out a couple of discordant cultural notes in episode four.

First, Keōua’s do-it-yourself tooth “extraction”—Hawaiians of Kamehameha’s and Ka‘iana’s day knocked out their own teeth out of grief, not in anger as Keōua does in episode four. Hawaiians considered it proof of anguished mourning. Kamehameha famously knocked out one of his teeth when his first lover died.

Second, Keōua’s insulting reference to Kamehameha’s parentage—Keōua calls Kamehameha Keku‘iapoiwa’s “bastard” offspring. In fact, no Hawaiian child could be born a bastard in Kamehameha’s day. The Hawaiians of his time had no marriage sacrament and there was no such thing as birth out of wedlock. Moreover, Hawaiian men and women were equally free to take lovers even when they partnered with others. A case in point: As a very young man, Kamehameha had an affair with one of Kalani‘ōpu‘u’s wives, with the inevitable biological result. Kalani‘ōpu‘u adopted and raised Kamehameha’s child. As for Kamehameha’s “bastard” birth, his mother, Keku‘iapoiwa, was rumored to have had an affair with Kahekili, Maui’s future ruler. Her partner, Kalani‘ōpu‘u’s brother Keōua (not be confused with Kalani‘ōpu‘u’s son Keōua), accepted Kamehameha as his own child.

Hawaiian villages really raised children back in the day.

Do you have comments, objections, concerns, thoughts about this and other posts on this blog? I’d love to hear from you. Well, from anybody for that matter.  

Stephen Shender is the author of  Once There Was Fire, A Novel of Old Hawaii about the life of  Kamehameha and the unification of the Hawaiian Islands.