Japanese poaching and the enforcement of German colonial sovereignty in the Marshall Islands

Journal of Pacific History

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 51-67

  Spennemann, Dirk H R ^a  

^a CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039254364     PISSN: 00223344     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00223349808572858     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. See Hermann J. Hiery, The Neglected War. The German South Pacific and the Irifluence of World War I (Honolulu 1995);
2. idem, Das Deutsche Reich in der Südsee (1900-1921). Eine Annäherung and die Erfahrungen verschiedener Kulturen (Göttingen 1995).
3. The activities and colonial management of the three officers is reviewed in Dirk H. R. Spennemann, 'From disaster to disaster: the efforts of the German Colonial Administration in Micronesia to mitigate the effects of the typhoons of 1905 and 1907', MS in preparation.
4. Wilhelm Stuckhardt had served as District Judge and Bezirksamtmann Herbertshöhe (New Guinea), 1900-1906;
5. Bezirksamtmann Madang and Friedrich Wilhelmshafen 1906-1908;
6. Bezirksamtmann Jaluit late 1908 until his removal from office in Nov. 1909 (ex officio as the District Judge for Jaluit and Pohnpei 1908-1909).
7. Wing bones of the frigate birds served as sewing needles and those of albatrosses as tattooing chisels. Young birds, mainly boobies, were raised and kept as pets and thus, in semi-domestic form, could furnish a near continuous supply of feathers. A. Krämer and H. Nevermann, 'Ralik-Ratak (Marschall Inseln)', in G. Thilenius (ed. ), Ergebnisse der Sudsee-Expedition 1908-1910. II. Ethnographie, B: Mikronesien, Vol. 11 (Hamburg 1938);
8. A. Erdland, Die Marschall-Insulaner (Münster 1914).
9. The German government in New Guinea established a set of regulations governing the hunting of birds (cf. Verordnung betreffend die Jagd auf Paradiesvögel in Kaiser Wilhelmsland (signed Schmiele 27 Dec. 1892).
10. The regulation had been repeatedly amended, the last time on 13 Mar. 1907. In Auswärtiges Amt Kolonial-Abtheilung AIII Acten betreffend Jagd und Wildschutz in Deutsch Guinea, File 7788, Vol. 1, Jan. 1892-Feb. 1913. Jagd und Wildschutz le, National library of Australia (hereinafter NLA), Microfilm MfM G 8613 (hereinafter AAKA Wildschutz). P. Swadling, Plumes from Paradise. Trade Cycles in Outer South East Asia and their Impact on New Guinea and Nearby Islands until 1920 (Boroko 1996).
11. In the Pacific atoll trade the main species predated were Laysan albatross, black-footed albatross, frigate birds, tropic birds, sula, sooty terns, masked boobys and minor tern species.
12. A good indication that the two northern atolls Bikar and Bokak were vulnerable to unnoticed foreign activity is provided by the stranding of the bark Manchester. This was noted in June 1901, when a canoe-load of Marshallese went there to collect bird feathers, skins and eggs (cf. Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 1901, p. 4).
13. Land Register (Grundbuch) Entry No. 31 (1913: 'Bokak Atoll, Size of parcel of land: whole atoll. Original acquisition in: 1888 (22 June)', in 'Verzeichnis der Grundstücke the im Eigentum von Nichteingeborenen sind' ('List of real estate owned by non-natives'), Jaluit, 24 Aug. 1913, German Colonial document in Reichskolonialamt (hereinafter RKA), Vol. 3077, doc. 5, Ms on file, Canberra, Australian Archives (hereinafter AA), Record Group (hereinafter RG) G-2, Y40.
14. For the legal basis see also P. Sack and B. Sack, The Land Law in German New Guinea. A Collection of Documents (Canberra 1975).
15. On the nature of the 'guano', see F. R. Fosberg, 'Coments on atoll phosphate rock', Atoll Research Bulletin, 396 (1994).
16. Kaiserlicher Landshauptmann für das Schutzgebiet der Marschall Inseln Dr. Georg Irmer to Reichskanzler Fürst zu Hohenlohe- Schillingsfürst, report on a voyage to Bikar and Bokak, Jaluit, 14 Dec. 1895. Krieg, Kommando SM Cruiser Falke, regarding observations on Taongi or Gaspar Rico, Jaluit, 13 Dec. 1895. Both in Auswärtiges Amt Kolonial-Abtheilung AIII Acten betreffend Deutsche Südsee Phosphat Gesellschaft, Gesellschaften und Vereine 10f, No. 4, File 2459, Vol. 1, June 1906 to 15 Mar. 1907, NLA, Mf, MfM G 8525.
17. Copra was the mainstay of the German economy in the Marshalls and in much of Micronesia. Other products, such as pearlshell, shark fins and the like were only of marginal significance. Cf. trade statistiscs in Denkschrift über die Entwicklung der Schutzgebite in Afrika und der Südsee im Jahre 1907/08. Teil F. II: Deutsch-Neu Guinea, Inselgebiet (Ost-Karolinen, West-Karolinen mit Palau und Marianen und Marshall Inseln), Reichstag 12, Legislatur-Periode I, Session 1907/1909 (Berlin 1908).
18. Swadling, Plumes from Paradise, 248 ff.
19. An exception is the Pagan Handelsgesellschaft based in Saipan in the Marianas, exploiting not only copra but also bird resources on several of the northern Mariana Islands (Kirn, Bericht iiber eine Reise nach den nördlichen Marianen Inseln, 30 Dec. 1910, Saipan, RKA AIII Akten betreffend die Marianen Gesellschaft, Gesellschaften lOf, No. 10, File 2474, Vol. 1, Oct. 1910 to June 1914, NLA MfM G 8530).
20. Cf. P. E. Thomas, Report of the Northern Marshall Islands Natural Diversity and Protected Areas Survey, 7-24 September 1988 (Noumea 1989), 32.
21. J. E. Tobin, 'Land tenure in the Marshall Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 11 (1952), 12;
22. D. Heine and J. A. Anderson, 'Eneen-kio Island of the kio flower', Micronesian Reporter, 14:4 (1971), 34-7.
23. Deposition Loani, 24 Apr. 1909, Jaluit; Deposition Flower, 24 Apr. 1909, Jaluit; Deposition Latere, 24 Apr. 1909, Jaluit - AAKA Wildschutz.
24. In 1906 the German protectorate of the Marshall Islands was downgraded from a separate entity (Landeshauptmannschaft) to a district office (Bezirksamt) subordinate to the German Governor in Rabaul.
25. Stuckhardt to RKA, 'Betrifft japanische Vogelfänger auf der Insel Gaspar Rico', report, Jaluit, 15 May 1909, in AAKA Wildschutz.
26. Letter Fensch and Janssen, Jaluit Gesellschaft, to Kaiserliches Bezirksamt Jaluit, Jaluit, 20 Apr. 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
27. For the issue of the exiled Samoan chiefs see P. J. Hempenstall, Pacific Islanders under German rule. A Study in the Meaning of Colonial Resistance (Canberra 1978).
28. Reported in Kommando des Kreuzergeschwaders, 'Militärpolitischer Bericht Eurer Majestät Schiff Condor über die Reise von Samoa über die Fidschi Inseln nach Nauru, über den Aufenthalt in den Marshall Inseln und die Reise nach Herbertshöhe und den Karolinen', Yap, 30 Dec. 1909, in Deutschlands Kolonien in Australien Februar 1900 bis März 1907, Archiv der Marine, Friedensakten, Series II. D. 23b, NLA Mf M311 (hereinafter AAKA Condor).
29. Kommando Kreuzergeschwaders, Musampho, 9 July 1909, in Auswärtiges Amt Kolonialabteilung, AIII Alten betreffend die Entsendung deutscher Kriegschiffe nach der Australischen und Südsee Station und Berichterstattung der betr. Kommandanten, vom August 1904 bis Juli 1909, Bd. 11 Marinesachen 9, KAII Gr. NLA Mf MfM G8568. Telegram, Commander Jaguar, regarding the drop off of soldiers, Guam, 7 May 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
30. AAKA Condor.
31. The arrested Japanese were Soitiro Saito (foreman), Suehan Sasjima, Niouke Sato, Tomohito Tanji, Kiataki Taji, Saiji Nakamura, Jasumoto Naraga, Jiyokiji Ogasowawa, Komekiti Haniruka, Toso Abe and Heto Hansanea.
32. Jiji, 3 July 1909. A translation is contained in the file in AAKA Wildschutz; also Stuckhardt, 'Betrifft japanische Vogelfänger'.
33. Interrogation of Sotiro Saito and Suehan Sasajima, Stuckhardt, Interrogation of the Japanese on board the Aeolus, 12 May 1909.
34. Deposition, Flower, 24 Apr. 1909, Jaluit, AAKA Wildschutz. See also AAKA Condor.
35. Stuckhardt, 'Betrifft japanische Vogelfänger'.
36. Stuckhardt to German Consul Hong Kong, Jaluit, 18 May 1909 (Journal no. 503/09), AAKA Wildschutz.
37. AAKA Condor. In addition, 783 pounds of rice (approx. 30-40 per day for the crew) were confiscated by Stuckhardt, which contradicts the claim made in the Jiji that the Japanese were starving to death.
38. It was not the practice to allow defence counsel to represent the accused at the German lower colonial courts.
39. Stuckhardt to RKA, telegram, 7 June 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
40. RKA to Auswäriges Amt, Berlin, 11 June 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
41. Auswärtiges Arat to RKA, Berlin, 28 June 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
42. Auswärtiges Amt to RKA, Berlin, 30 Aug. 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
43. Voretzsch, German Consul Hong Kong, to Stuckhardt, Hong Kong, 30 June 1909;
44. Voretzsch, German Consul Hong Kong, to Imperial Chancellor Hollweg, Hong Kong, 30 June 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
45. Jaluit Gesellschaft to RKA, 25 Aug. 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
46. German commercial ownership of these islands was tenuous at best. Bikar, for example, had been bought by A. Capelle & Co. from the chiefs (irooj)Jurtaka and Jocular of Maloelap effective 27 Jan. 1880 and from the chiefs Ladjike and Tanura of Utirik effective 19 Jan. , thereby recognising the multiple rights to the atoll and its resources. The property was then transferred on 18 Dec. 1883 from Capelle & Co. to the Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen Gesellschaft der Südsee zu Hamburg GmbH. Despite the sale of the land, the property documents expressly allow the people from Uterik (and Maloelap) to go to Bikar to catch turtles and to collect birds eggs. (Dr Knappe, 'Die Verhaltnisse auf den Marschall Inseln. Grundbesitz', 18 June 1886. Also 'Grundakten des Schutzgebietes der Marschallinseln. Artikel II', entry on Bikar, 2 Apr. 1887, signed by Dr Knappe. Both in Records of the German Foreign Office, Series DC RKA File No. 2296, Land und Grundstuckserwerbungen auf den Marschallinseln, Allgemeines 1887-1906, NLA, Mf G 8491). The Marshallese questioned the German and later Japanese claim over Bokak and Bikar and demanded the return of the atolls from the US into private property. This claim was supported by Tobin ('Land tenure in the Marshall Islands'), who had conducted a study on Marshallese land tenure.
47. Cf. The Times, 25 June 1909, p. 5; 3 Aug. 1909, p. 5; 12 Oct. 1909, p. 3. The available newspaper sources are unclear as to the nature of the establishment and the amount of plumage, guano, pearlshell and matchwood production.
48. Voretzsch, German Consul Hong Kong, to RKA, 12 Nov. 1909 (Journal No. 268);
49. also mentioned in Voretzsch, German Consul Hong Kong, to Stuckhardt, Amtsleiter Jaluit, 30 June 1909, AAKA Wildschutz.
50. Cf. Jiji, 3 July 1909.
51. See also Deutsche Kolonialzeitung, 26:3 (1909), 551.
52. Imperial German Station Chief Merz, Jahresbericht über die Entwicklung der Marschall Inseln in Jahre 1909/10. Letter Merz to Staatssekretar des RKA Berlin, Jaluit Journal No. 896/10, 8 June 1910. Ms contained in German Colonial Archives from Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea, AA, Record Series G2, RG N16.
53. Heuser (1909) Kommandant SMS Leipzig berichtet über Pago-Pago, Nauru, Ponape und Truk, Admiralsstab der Marine. B. Acta betreffend Ostasiatische Station Bd. 2, Tätigkeitsbericht Januar 1909 bis November 1910, Archiv der Marine, Kriegsakten, Series VII. 1. 1c, NLA Mf M318.
54. Cf. M. R. Peattie, Nanyō. The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia, 1885-1945 (Honolulu 1989), 22-3.
55. As well as a Mugumo Company and a Japanese vessel named Murashi Maru. Stuckhardt, 'Betrifft japanische Vogelfänger'.
56. Peattie, Nanyō, 22-3.
57. See AAKA Handels- und Erwerbs Gesellschaften, Gründungsprojekte und Allgemeines, Karolinen pp Inseln, Gesellschaften und Vereine 10f N, File 2450, Vol. 2, Jan. 1902-Dec. 1905, and File 2451, Vol. 3, Jan. 1906-Nov. 1911, NLA, MfM G 8524.
58. E. Bailey, The Christmas Island Story (London 1977), 40-1.
59. E. S. Pomeroy, Pacific Outpost (Stanford 1951), 30. Mr Hill, Acting Secretary of State, to the Secretary of the Navy, 10 Jan. 1901, encl. copy of a dispatch from the US minister at Tokyo of 13 Dec. 1900, Washington, US National Archives (hereinafter USNA), RG 250, Miscellaneous Domestic Letters, file 162.
60. W. H. Munter, 'Report on destruction of bird life on Laysan Island', Annual Report of the Coast Guard for 1915 (Washington 1916), 130-40.
61. O. C. Hamlet, Letter to the US Secretary of the Treasury (giving details of the apprehension of feather poachers on Lisianski Atoll), 23 June 1904, USNA, RG 26.
62. See also R. B. Clapp and W. O. Wirtz II, 'The natural history of Lisianski Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 186 (Washington 1975);
63. Pomeroy, Pacific Outpost, Munter, 'Report on destruction of bird life'.
64. Mr Hill, Acting Secretary of State, to the Secretary of the Navy, 10 Jan. 1901, USNA, RG 250, file 162. Hugh Rodman, Commander USS Iroquois, to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 1 July 1903, USNA, RG 126. Bailey, The Christmas Island Story, 40-1.
65. Diary, Wetmore, entry for 25 June 1923, S. L. Olson, 'History and ornithological journals of the Tanager Expedition of 1923 to the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Johnston and Wake Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 433 (Washington 1996), 85.
66. See also A. B. Amerson, 'The natural history of French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 150 (Washington 1971).
67. Diary, Wetmore, entry for 26 Apr. 1923, Olson, 'History and ornithological journals', 43.
68. See also A. B. Amerson, R. B. Clapp and W. O. Wirtz II, 'The natural history of Pearl and Hermes Reef, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 174 (Washington 1974).
69. P. G. Woodward, 'The natural history of the Kure Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 164 (Washington 1972), 8.
70. A. Croskey, master USAT Buford, to Hydrographer, Bureau of Equipment, Navy Department, 5 July 1902, USNA, RG 40, Box 431, File 9642-2. Croskey suspected that the Japanese were pearling rather than fishing, but did not take any action. Bradford to Secretary of the Navy, 8 Aug. 1902, OSN 9642-2 (quoted after Pomeroy, Pacific Outpost, 30). USS Adams, Admiral Dewey, 54th endorsement re McClutcheon, 29 Dec. 1906, General Records of the Navy Department, General Correspondence 1897-1915, USNA, RG 40 Box 431, File 9642-12.
71. Anon. , 'Attractive Wake Island. The notable possession in the Pacific over which Gen Greene raised the Stars and Stripes', New York Times, 31 July 1898, p. 19.
72. D. W. Leff, Uncle Sam's Pacific Islands (Stanford 1940), 23.
73. E. H. Bryan Jr, 'Notes on the geography and natural history of Wake Island', Atoll Research Bulletin, 66 (Washington 1959), 4.
74. Mr Hill, Acting Secretary of State, to the Secretary of the Navy, 10 Jan. 1901, USNA, RG 250, file 162.
75. Hamlet, 'Letter to the U. S. Secretary of the Treasury'.
76. T. S. Palmer, 'Our national bird reservations, The American Museum Journal, 13:5 (1913), 203-14. This reservation was administered by the Department of Agriculture until 1940, when the jurisdiction was transferred to the Department of the Interior: Amerson, The natural history of French Frigate Shoals', 42.
77. 'Government claims skins', Pacific Commercial Advertiser, 15 Feb. 1910.
78. Ch. A. Ely and R. B. Clapp, 'The natural history of Laysan Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands', Atoll Research Bulletin, 171 (Washington 1973), 41.
79. W. V. E. Jacobs in Army and Navy Register, 19 Feb. 1910
80. quoted in Honolulu Evening Bulletin, 6 Aug. 1910.