[1][2] The first incident that led to the American expedition was in 1849 when the house owned by agent John Brown Williams was hit by cannon fire and burned.

John Adams, under Commander Edward B. Boutwell, was sent to monitor the unrest in October, and her crew landed on more than one occasion to protect American interests.

The natives were given a deadline saying if they failed to pay, a landing party of marines and sailors would be sent ashore to capture the king in the island's village.

His dilemma was that if he acknowledged the debt, he did not have sufficient funds to pay it, but that if he disclaimed it by saying that it fell under the jurisdiction of another chief, he would jeopardize his claim to the kingship, which he wanted foreign powers to recognise.

A second Fiji expedition in 1858, involving the crew of Vandalia, achieved clearer results, but in the end Cakobau never paid the debt.