Keali‘iahonui (1800-49) was the son of Kaumuali‘i (c. 1778-1824), the last king of Kaua‘i, and Kapua‘amoku, a Kaua‘i princess of the highest chiefly rank, and was therefore possessed of some of the bluest blood in all Hawai‘i.
In person, he was finely proportioned, athletic, and stood more than six feet tall.
When his father, Kaumuali‘i, was abducted from Kaua‘i to Honolulu by Liholiho in 1821, and Queen Regent Ka‘ahumanu (1768-1832) forced Kaumuali‘i to marry her, Keali‘iahonui, on Kaua‘i, then cohabited with Deborah Kapule (1798-1853), the last queen of Kaua‘i, and the favorite wife of his father.
And, when Kaumuali‘i died in 1824, Ka‘ahumanu also forced Keali‘iahonui to marry her.
When Ka‘ahumanu died in 1832, Keali‘iahonui then freely married Kekau‘onohi, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I, and later, the Governess of Kaua‘i from 1840 to 1845.
When he died in Honolulu in 1849, a public funeral was held, and Kekau‘onohi ordered his coffin removed to a cavern at Pu‘uloa, O‘ahu with plans to have it buried later at sea.
However, Keali‘iahonui’s niece and guardian, Kapule (not Deborah Kapule), was against burial at sea and delayed its execution.
Kapule then stole Keali‘iahonui’s outer coffin — while leaving the inner coffin containing his remains behind — and buried it near Pu‘uloa.
She did this because of a Native Hawaiian belief that asserted that a coffin left unburied would bode death to a near relative of the deceased.
Kekau‘onohi’s burial plans at sea were finally carried out when six Kaua‘i brothers, all guardians of Keali‘iahonui, placed his inner coffin in a canoe and paddled out to deep sea outside Pearl Harbor.
With them was Kanepio, one of two men to be put to death and sunk with Keali‘iahonui, so as to accompany him into the afterlife.
The second man, Opiopio, had run off.
On board, Kanepio pleaded for his life, saying “either both or neither” should be put to death, and having won the brothers over, his life was spared.
But, when the coffin was heaved overboard, it wouldn’t sink.
So, one brother smashed the glass case over Keali‘iahonui’s face, and the coffin filled with water and sank.
