Both Simon Metcalfe and his son Thomas Humphrey Metcalfe had been caught up in the Nootka Crisis at Nootka Sound in 1789.

The events at Nootka had been mainly directed toward British merchant vessels, but the Spanish naval officer Esteban José Martínez had seized Thomas Metcalfe's small schooner, the Fair American.

Simon Metcalfe had approached Nootka Sound and the Eleanora was almost captured as well, but he managed to escape.

The Fair American and its crew, taken to the Spanish naval base at San Blas, had been quickly released.

The Metcalfes had planned to spend the winter in the Hawaiian Islands.

Thomas Metcalfe, after being released, sails the Fair American to Hawaii, hoping to join his father.

The Eleanora, under Simon Metcalfe, arrives in the islands first.

Metcalfe is greeted by local chief Kameʻeiamoku in Kohala on the island of Hawaiʻi.

Metcalfe, by most accounts an irascible and harsh man, believes in strong and immediate punishment when his rules are broken, and has the chief flogged for some infraction.

Metcalfe then sails to the neighboring island of Maui to trade along the coast.

Kameʻeiamoku meanwhile vows revenge on whatever ship next comes his way.