File:Pitman Tablet Commemorative of Captain James Cook (PP-51-8-005).jpg

Pitman Tablet Commemorative of Captain James Cook. Inscription: "Capt. James Cook Forerunner of Modern Civilization in the Pacific Ocean. In Hawaii 1778-1799. In Memory of the High Chief Hoolulu, High Chiefess Kinoole and her son Keola-O-Kalani (Benjamin Franklin Pitman). Presented by Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Pitman, Benjamin Pitman and Theodore Baldwin Pitman—Sculptor." Unveiled at Archives of Hawaii Building and officially accepted by Governor Lawrence McCully Judd on February 14, 1930. Designed and executed by Theodore Pitman, of Boston. Presented to the Territory of Hawaii in memory of Benjamin Keoia-o-ka-lani Pitman by the Pitman family, at Honolulu, on August 17, 1928.

A description of the plaque from Almira Hollander Pitman's After Fifty Years: An Appreciation, and a Record of a Unique Incident (1931):

"The sculptor had achieved a marvelous result, and his inspiration was the moment Captain Cook, in the Resolution, was skirting the shore of Kauai. Out at sea was a Hawaiian outrigger canoe, and in it, a paddle in hand and standing, was an Hawaiian, his back to the beholder, looking toward the strange ship from abroad. In the background are the shores and mountains and valleys of Kauai. Flanking this scene, for artistic embellishment were two lofty cocoanuts. Between the branches of the trees is a medallion of Captain Cook, starrtling likeness that seems to change live as light rays travel over the surface" (Pitman 1931, p. 144)