Omai

For other uses, see Omai (disambiguation).
Omai
Portrait of Omai by Joshua Reynolds, painted in 1776.
Portrait of Omai, a South Sea Islander who travelled to England with the second expedition of Captain Cook – Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1776
Born
Mai

c. 1751
Ra'iatea, Society Islands, Polynesia
Diedc. 1780 (aged 28–29)[1]
Huahine, Society Islands, Polynesia
Known for
Omai of the Friendly Isles by Sir Joshua Reynolds, c.1774
William Parry's painting Sir Joseph Banks with Omai and Dr Daniel Solander, circa 1775–76

Mai (c. 1753–1779[1]), also known as Omai in Europe,[a] was a young Ra'iatean man who became the first Pacific Islander to visit England,[2] and the second to visit Europe, after Ahutoru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768.

Life

Mai, born c. 1751, described himself as a hoa, or 'attendant upon the king', the son of a Ra'iatea landowner. His father was killed by Puni's Bora boran warriors. Fleeing to Tahiti, Ma'i was wounded in the encounter with the Dolphin in 1767. Mai then became an apprentice to a priest. Returning to Ra'iatea, he was captured and taken to Borabora. Narrowly escaping death there, he escaped to Huahine.[3]

Mai met Samuel Wallis in 1767 and Captain James Cook in 1769 in Tahiti.[4] In August 1773 he embarked from Huahine on the British ship HMS Adventure, commanded by Tobias Furneaux, which had previously touched at Tahiti as part of Cook's second voyage of discovery in the Pacific. Mai travelled to Europe on Adventure, arriving at London in October 1774 where he was introduced into British society by the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (whom he had also met during Cook's first voyage).[5][6]

During his two-year stay in England, Mai became much admired within London high society. Renowned for his charm, quick wit and exotic good looks, he quickly became a favourite of the aristocratic elite.[6] Banks regularly invited Mai to dine with the Royal Society and arranged meetings with notable celebrities, including Lord Sandwich, Dr Samuel Johnson, Frances Burney and Anna Seward, among others.[6] Richard Holmes remarks that Mai's idiosyncratic behaviour and distinctive bow were widely celebrated.[6] During a meeting with King George III at Kew, Mai is said to have delivered his bow then grasped the King's hand, declaring, "How do, King Tosh!", an attempt at pronouncing "George", though the King did not seem to mind.[7][8]

He was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, among others; Portrait of Omai sold in 2001 for "the second highest price ever paid for a British picture", according to the Antiques Trade Gazette.[9] Mai's journey to England and subsequent return to Tahiti with Cook's third voyage in 1776 became the subject of a theatrical production, written and directed by the dramatist John O'Keefe, entitled Omai – A Voyage ‘round the World that was performed during the 1785 Christmas season at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden.

Mai returned to Huahine in August 1777, where Cook built him a European-style house, and provided furniture, gunpowder weapons, a vineyard, and two Māori boys as servants. During the Bounty's visit to Tahiti in 1789, Captain Bligh was told that a couple years after Cook's departure in November 1777, Mai had died.[10] According to Richard Connaughton, the "consensus" is that he died in 1780, within 30 months of Cook's departure while still only in his 20s, probably of natural causes, possibly from an infectious disease. Before he died, he used his gunpowder weapons to fight a major battle against a competing tribe, which was a victory.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ Omai is a mistranslation of his name that became widely adopted in Europe. In the Tahitian language, O was an article meaning "it is," making it a redundancy.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Omai.
  1. ^ a b c Connaughton, Richard (2005). Omai: The Prince Who Never Was. London: Timewell Press. p. 257–259. ISBN 1-85725-205-5.
  2. ^ "Omai". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  3. ^ Salmond, Anne (2010). Aphrodite's Island. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 283-284, 389-402. ISBN 9780520261143.
  4. ^ Quanchi, Max (2005). Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands. The Scarecrow Press. p. 200. ISBN 0810853957.
  5. ^ Salmond, Anne (2003). The Trial of the Cannibal Dog: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Encounters in the South Seas. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-300-10092-1.
  6. ^ a b c d Holmes, Richard (2009). The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. London: Harper Press. pp. 50–51.
  7. ^ O'Brian, Patrick (1988). Joseph Banks: A Life. Collins Harvill. p. 181. ISBN 0002723409.
  8. ^ Sides, Hampton (2024). The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook (1st ed.). Doubleday. p. 27. ISBN 9780385544764.
  9. ^ "The strange case of the dealer who went over the top". www.antiquestradegazette.com. 13 December 2001. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  10. ^ "Temporary Export Bar For 'Outstanding' Reynolds' Portrait Of Omai" (Press release). United Kingdom Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 17 December 2002. Archived from the original on 27 July 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2008.

Further reading