My name is Lt Clayton Erickson of the Royal Canadian Navy.  I am the Communications Officer aboard HMCS Vancouver.  

In August 2012 we had the opportunity to visit the Captain Cook Memorial in Kealakekua Bay, Hawai`i and spend two days fixing up the area in commemoration of our commonwealth link to the great explorer, as well as to continue the great tradition of commonwealth warships visiting the monument to keep it from falling into disrepair. 

On August 28th and 29th many members of our ship’s company volunteered to help clean and repair the monument.  After collecting supplies in Pearl Harbor we travelled to the monument where we tidied up the surrounding vegetation, cleaned up the monument itself, stripping the old paint and completely repainting it including the black lettering.  

We refurbished the cannons and added a fresh coat of paint.  The chains were all repainted, and we replaced a link that was lost so the area is now properly surrounded by chain once again.  We also cleaned up the other commemorative plaques that were near the monument and polished the various ship crests and mementos left from previous visits, including HMCS Vancouver’s previous visit five years prior. 

We, finally, repaired a small portion of the jetty including placing another ship’s crest in concrete marking our visit.  I took many photos of the event, and have included a few to show our activities. 

Lt Clayton Erickson RCN
Communications & Information Systems Officer
HMCS VANCOUVER
 

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 38, volume 35, number 4 (2012).