Kanaka is the Hawai'ian term for man (human being) and is found with various spellings and pronunciations in other Polynesian dialects.

Throughout much of the 19th c., young Hawaiians worked on ships and on shore, many contracted out by the government of Hawai'i.
Kanaka Creek in British Columbia commemorates a settlement in that province. Hawaiian labor built Fort Langley in British Columbia, and Hawaiians worked on farms, in packing plants (Hawaiian soul food, the salmon used in lomi-lomi) and in saw mills for the Hudsons Bay Company, which had a branch in Honolulu.
Kanakas became important as voyageurs in Canada, working for the Hudsons Bay Company. They processed and loaded hides in Mexican California. And, of course, they worked on sailing vessels and whalers.
As such, Kanakas were well-known to sailors and the name appears in their chanteys.

Through ignorance, Kanaka, to North Americans and Europeans, has received a negative connotation.

The various terms for Hawaiian women might be known to those sailors who found a soft nest in the Hawaiian Islands, but contact was usually short-term.