Die Marshallinseln aus der Sicht des Kapitäns Otto Kessler (1861-1933)

Abstract

The German captain Otto Kessler (1861-1933) spent nearly two decades in Micronesia. Beginning in 1886, from a base on the Jaluit Atoll, he carried on trade in the coconut kernel (copra) throughout the Marshall, Caroline and Gilbert islands. Four years later he was promoted to the rank of captain, and in 1897 he took over from the Jaluit Society the task of managing import and export at his own expense. He purchased two of his ships, the Neptun and the Hercules, from Matthew Turner's Shipyard near San Francisco. Like other seafarers, he also collected ethnographica and, following his return to Germany, reported on the foreign land and its people within the framework of lectures and newspaper articles. The text of his slide shows has survived; the slides themselves, however, have been lost. Kessler’s slide commentaries are here being reproduced for the first time. With eighty-four pictures, Otto Kessler endeavoured to introduce his audiences to the inhabitants of Micronesia, its landscapes and its culture. A journey by mail steamer from Hong Kong to Sydney forms the lecture’s framework. The islands visited along the way and the adventures had on them are described. The first slides are views of the Caroline island of Truk (Chuuk), the next of Ponape (Pohnpei), followed by shots of the Jaluit Atoll / Marshall Islands. The lastnamed are interspersed with pictures from Murilla, character studies and scenes of everyday life. The lecture ends with views of havoc caused by a typhoon and shots of Nauru Island. The report is rounded out by an outline of the area’s history and culture as well as an account of Otto Kessler’s life. The significance of Otto Kessler lies first and foremost in the connection between his nineteen-year career as a seafarer in Micronesia and the rise of the Jaluit Society from its beginnings to the height of its development, which at the same time marked the end of its de facto administration of the Marshall and Gilbert as well as the Caroline islands. Because of the fact that a large proportion of the Jaluit Society’s records were destroyed during World War II, Kessler's description represents an important source for the image of the Micronesian culture prevalent at the time.