German sailors butchering at Easter Island Oct 1914 Mr Edmunds sold about 1000 [pounds] worth of meat not knowing that war had broken out. Edmunds

Title

Creator

Edmunds, Henry P.

Date

1914

Collection

The Edmunds/Bryan photograph collection, Rapanui circa 1900-1920

Citation

Edmunds, Henry P., “German sailors butchering at Easter Island Oct 1914 Mr Edmunds sold about 1000 [pounds] worth of meat not knowing that war had broken out. Edmunds,” UHM Library Digital Image Collections, accessed April 19, 2024, https://digital.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/show/6276.

Comments

Anonymous

"The [German] fleet stopped from 12 to 18 October, during which time the escort vessels provided the cruisers with coal and provisions. From the island the Germans qcquired fresh fruit and living livestock. Edmunds was delighted to sell them £1,000 worth of cattle and sheep; but, refusing to accept their cash offer as this would have been ungentlemanly, he insisted he be paid by order instead -and so, in the end, the Company never received payment. Coalins was made difficult by large ocean swells; merely to complete the task, the vessels had to move from Cook's bay to the south coast. [...] the German officers and crew rarely disembarked, nor did they give any food or clothes to the Rapanui, the customary courtesy. [...] It was here at Easter Island that Graf von Spee learnt over the wireless of the sudden appearance of British warships off South America's western coast. The German fleet left Easter Island promptly on 18 October, with Graf von Spee's flagship leading, to wage the First World War's first open sea battle, near Coronel -just south of Concepcion, Chile- where the British armoured cruisers HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth were sunk, a tremendous loss for Britain. Although 1,000 Tahitian volunteers would eventually fight in Europe's trenches for France -nearly one out of three becoming a war casuality- no Rapanui was involved in warfare of any kind in the First World War. Chile itself remained officially neutral during the entire conflict."

In Steven Roger Fischer, "Island at the End of the World - The Turbulent history of Easter Island". p. 172-3 (Reaktion Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-86189-282-9). by Phil Guasch () at 2010-01-05 03:58:34

German sailors butchering at Easter Island Oct 1914 Mr Edmunds sold about 1000 [pounds] worth of meat not knowing that war had broken out. Edmunds

Title

Creator

Date

Format

Subject

Spatial Coverage (Location)