 King Kamehameha twice prepared a huge armada of ships and canoes to take the islands by force, and twice failed; once due to a storm, and once due to an epidemic.In the face of the threat of a further invasion, however, Kaumualii decided to join the kingdom without bloodshed, and became Kamehameha's vassal in 1810.He ceded the island to the Kingdom of Hawaii upon his death in 1824.