The Flying Fish, under the command of Samuel Knox, was part of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842 which was led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes .The Wilkes Expedition was in the grand tradition of the Cook Expedition of the 1760-1770s. The Flying Fish was formerly a New York Pilot boat which was given two cannons and modified for the voyage. When the Wilkes Expedition reached Hawaii, the Flying Fish was dispatched with a group of scientitsts to survey and explore Kauai. While the scientists were ashore, Knox was tasked with charting some of the harbors and inlets of Kauai. The charts he made of Waimea, Wahiawa and Hulaia (Modern day Nawiliwili) are really excellent work.

The painting shows the Flying Fish entering Nawiliwili Harbor in the fall of 1840. In the waiste of the Flying Fish the crew are taking in the foresail as the halyards are let go. Nawiliwili, then as now, was a beautiful bay and its backdrop mountains and Huleia Stream have been used in a number of movies. It is amazing that the early explorers of Kauai missed the harbor of Nawiliwili, but then the harbor could be quite a trap in bad weather for such un-nimble ships as Vancouver's Discovery .

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