Hernsheim & Co

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Commercial flag of Hernsheim & Co
Company founders Eduard and Franz Hernsheim, around 1882

Hernsheim & Co were a German trading company in the western Pacific with main branches in Jap (Karolinen), Jaluit (Marshall Islands) and Matupi (Bismarck Archipelago). The company specialized in copra export to Europe and after losing its possessions in the South Seas (1918) tried a new start in the French mandate of Cameroon (Central Africa). In the heyday of their South Seas business (approx. 1882–1885), Hernsheim & Co exported almost 30% of the copra produced in the western Pacific .

Company history

In Oceania

Foundation and start-up capital (1875)

Hernsheim & Co was founded in November 1875 by the brothers Franz and Eduard Hernsheim in Sydney (Australia). The share capital consisted on the one hand of the South Sea stations Malakal ( Koror , Palau), Nif and Tomil ( Jap , Karolinen), Niata (Hunterhafen, Duke of York Islands ) and the schooner Coeran, which had already been built by Eduard Hernsheim . A contribution from Franz Hernsheim of M 50,000.00 was included in cash  . In addition, the Hamburg merchant Ruben Jonas Robertson, an uncle of the Hernsheims, opened loans to an extent that could no longer be determined.

First expansion (1876–1882)

Central station in the Marshall Group, approx. 1880 (drawing by Franz Hernsheim)

Between January and August 1876, Eduard Hernsheim initiated the construction of a first Makada central station for the New Britain archipelago on the Makada island of the same name (Duke of York Group) during new exploratory trips . A second central station Jaluit for the Marshall Islands on the island of Jabor (Jaluit Atoll) followed. In addition, five traders were signed in the Radak chain (eastern Marshall Islands) and a trading post was then probably established on Ponape (Caroline Islands).

From mid-1876, the agent J. T. Blohm established trade contacts to Talilibai and Kabaira (northern beaches of the Gazelle Peninsula ), as well as to the Birara district (southern Blanche Bay, all New Britain archipelago). Until 1883, the stations Kurakaul , Ragunai , Kabaira , Vlavolo / Nogai and Pulpul / Kabaira (northern beaches), as well as Rolavio (port island Matupi, Blanche bay ), Ruluana , Urakukuni , Ululai , Lagumgum , Tarram and Tawana (banks of the Blanche Bay / Birara District) was founded.

In June 1879 the central station for the New Britain archipelago was relocated from Makada to Matupi due to a malaria epidemic. The existing station on Matupi was expanded into a trading post and supplemented by a second trading post on the east coast of the island.

In February 1880, at the beginning of a next series of exploratory trips, now with the small steamers Pacific and Alice , stations were again founded, now in the village of Pakail and on the port island of Nusa (northern New Ireland ). Through the agent Friedrich Schulle, these trade relations were extended to the east coast of New Ireland (stations Kablaman , Butbut , Navangai , Lamerotte , Lagumbanje , Lauaru and Kapsu ).

Station on Kusaie (Karolinen), ca.1880

On other exploratory trips by Eduard Hernsheim, only a few new stations were established: Uleai ( Uleai Atoll , March 1878), Kusaie (Carolines, August 1878), Nauru (September 1878), Carcone ( Hermit Islands , Western Islands, June 1879) and Oberlark ( Laughlan Islands , Louisiades, early (?) 1881).

Franz Hernsheim took over the management of the Jaluit business in 1877 and set up a ship connection to the Gilbert Group at the beginning of 1878 , via which copra purchases from the islands of Apamama , Aranuka and Kuria were imported into the central warehouse on Jabor from 1883/84 .

In March 1878 and March 1880, American captains C. P. Holcomb and D. D. O'Keefe were won over as general agents for Jap and St. David's Island for the business on the Carolines . However, these connections were broken again in April 1884.

Consolidation / introduction of an "agent system" (1882–1885)

The expansion of the field of activity to a large part of the western Pacific and the exploding operating costs to maintain traffic between the three main stations Jap , Jaluit and Matupi forced Hernsheim & Co to consolidate from October 1882. Instead of small steamers, the inter-island traffic was increasingly provided by cheaper sailing ships and the import and export from / to Europe was outsourced to charter ships. In the New Britain archipelago, the number of trading stations was reduced and the barter business was transferred to independent agents who took responsibility for dealing with local negotiators and suppliers. The partnership Mouton, Dupré & Co acted as a representative for the northern Gazelle Peninsula from October 1885 , and from July 1884 the former dealer Friedrich Schulle acted as general agent for New Ireland. Robert Friedländer, who was sent out by the Hamburg parent company, had been the general agent for the Carolines based in Jap since December 1883. A displacement competition in the Marshall Group with the German Trading and Plantation Company of the South Sea Islands in Hamburg ( DHPG ) also forced Hernsheim & Co to unite their properties there with those of their competitor.

Focus on the Matupi branch and diversification (1886–1892)

Faktorei of Hernsheim & Co on the eastern edge of the island Matupi, 1900

Hernsheim & Co reacted to the German Reich's declaration of protection of the New Britain archipelago (November / December 1884, then renamed the Bismarck archipelago ) by restructuring their company property. The branches of the Marshall Group and the Karolinen were merged with those of the German Trading and Plantation Society of the South Sea Islands in Hamburg ( DHPG ) to form the Jaluit Society (December 1887). In contrast, the Matupi branch was outsourced, Eduard Hernsheim took sole responsibility and converted into Hernsheim & Co OHG (1888/89).

After individual deliveries to SMS Habicht , Carola , hyena and Albatros as well as the English side of HMS Espiègle and darts could Hernsheim & Co  OHG one from Hamburg parent Robertson & Hernsheim (s. U.) Closed coal supply contract with the Imperial Navy by a second with the British Royal Navy complement and renew the former repeatedly until 1914. This, as well as supply contracts with small business owners and public institutions in the protected area, including the Wesleyan Mission , enabled the company to cross-finance its co-op business and gave it a decisive competitive advantage over DHPG and EE Forsayth . Increasing profits from 1888 onwards led to the conversion into a limited partnership (1901) and finally to the transfer to a stock corporation with a share capital of 1.2 million marks (1909, seat in Hamburg).

Second expansion in trade and extensive planting (1893–1914)

Under the new manager for the Bismarck Archipelago, Maximilian Thiel, the Admiralty Islands ( Komuli and Manus stations ), the Exchequer Islands , the Solomon Islands ( Bouka and Choiseul stations ), the St. Matthias Group and the Portland Islands ( Bigilitz station ) included in the copra business. For reasons of space, the main station in the archipelago was relocated again in 1912, now from Matupi to Rabaul .

Hernsheim & Co AG consistently rejected an intensive plantation construction according to the scheme of DHPG and EE Forsayth . In the grasslands near Rabaul as well as on their property on Makada (Duke of York Group), also on Nusa, Nusalik and in Pakail (all New Ireland) the company operated labor-intensive plantings, in which on the import of foreign workers, as they were for cultivation of plantations was necessary, was waived. The company was able to  finance the expansion of its palm stock in 1912 through a one-time increase in its share capital of M 600,000.00.

In the Australian mandate area and in Cameroon

Participation in Melanesia Co. Ltd. (1928–1930)

After the Treaty of Versailles, all properties of Hernsheim & Co AG in the former German New Guinea protected area were confiscated by the Australian mandate authority. After the War Compensation Act (1928) was passed, the German Reich reimbursed the company 13% of its recognized claim for damages in the amount of 14 million marks, plus a reconstruction surcharge of 2%. Together with Hamburgische Südsee-Aktiengesellschaft (HASAG), Hernsheim & Co AG acquired a stake in the London-based Melanesia Company  Ltd., which had bought parts of the company property of both companies in the former German protected area. As a result of Black Friday (1929) the Melanesia Company got into trouble; a joint attempt by HASAG and Hernsheim & Co AG to sell the shares held failed. After the copra market collapsed in the 1930 financial year, the plantations and plantations managed by the Melanesia Company then had to be sold at such a low price that not even the preferred main creditors - including neither HASAG nor Hernsheim & Co  AG - could be satisfied .

Palm oil production in Edéa (1928–1939)

Hernsheim & Co AG share (1934)

As part of the so-called “  advance compensation ”, Hernsheim & Co AG received a portion of RM 900,000 in its recognized claim for damages from the Weimar government around 1922. The former managing director for the Bismarck Archipelago, Maximilian Thiel, now chairman of the board in Hamburg, initially invested this sum in the Dutch East Indies . From 1928 onwards, he also involved the company in palm oil production in Edéa (French mandate of Cameroon ). Due to further slumps in the copra and palm oil market, the company had to accept heavy new losses from 1930, so that compensation was only possible through write-offs and a mortgage on the property in Edéa. Since 1932, the shares of Hernsheim & Co have only been listed with a “memory value” of RM 1 in the books. After all losses were recorded in the following years, liquidation was initiated on January 7, 1939.

fleet

Schooner Coeran and Franziska

When the Hernsheim brothers met in Hong Kong in September 1876, the Coeran was the first ship owned by Hernsheim & Co to be sold and replaced by the smaller Franziska , which was built in Shanghai . After the maiden voyage to Jaluit, the new sailor was stationed in the New Britain archipelago in the 1877 financial year. Then it was relocated back to Jaluit and provided the inter-island traffic from Hernsheim & Co in the Marshall Group until 1884 . At the same time, Franziska took care of the ship connection to the Gilbert Islands and was available to the branch manager Franz Hernsheim for business trips in the office of the Imperial Consul for the western Pacific.

Three-masted schooner Elise

The Elise , built in Hamburg in 1876 , was the first parent company to connect the South Sea stations of Hernsheim & Co and the Hamburg-Altonaer grain and goods defeat (see below). On a return voyage from Jap in October 1878, the schooner was captured by the islanders during a stop in the Hermit Group (Western Islands), the crew murdered and the ship burned.

Small steamers Pacific , Alice and Freya

Advertisement for the ss Pacific in the Sydney Morning Herald , July 1882

Loans from Hamburg merchant Ruben Jonas Robertson made it possible to build the first small steamship Pacific in 1876 . After the maiden voyage from Hong Kong, the vehicle was used for Eduard Hernsheim's sightseeing and exploration trips. As part of the consolidation , it was sold in Sydney (Australia) in July 1882.

In 1879 a second small steamer Alice in Hong Kong was bought and converted . It was mainly used to supply the stations in the New Britain archipelago. In October 1880 the vehicle failed on the reef off Kablaman (New Ireland).

According to Eduard Hernsheim's instructions, a third Freya small steamer was built in 1881, again in Hong Kong . Faulty by the agent Friedrich Schulle, who was in command on a return from Cooktown (Australia), the ship ran onto the Ospreyriff in October 1882 and suffered a total loss.

Three-masted schooners Montiara and Estelle

Montiara , which was already active in the island area of ​​the Marshall Group , was acquired by the Hernsheim brothers in September 1878 and since then has been the second sailor alongside the Franziska to handle inter- island traffic for the Jaluit branch, including the connection to the Gilbert Islands. In March 1883 the schooner was exchanged for the Estelle bought by Eduard Hernsheim in Sydney and has since been used in inter-island traffic in the New Britain archipelago. In 1886 the Montiara was shipped to Hamburg and sold there.

Yacht Naiad , schooners Hans and Zoe

These three ships were all active for the Matupi branch from 1881 onwards. The Naiad was acquired in Hong Kong in 1880, the Hans in Hamburg in the summer of 1883. It was replaced in 1889 by the smaller Zoe bought in Australia .

Commercial agencies on the continents

In Hamburg from 1876 to 1882, the Hamburg-Altonaer grain and goods defeat with Ruben Jonas Robertson as the owner of the Hernsheim & Co business . Thereafter, the parent company Robertson & Hernsheim , founded for this purpose, took over the sales and until 1888 also organized the charter ships to deliver to the South Sea stations and to buy island products. From the following year, both tasks were temporarily carried out by the Hamburg main office of the Jaluit company and, from 1901, by Scharff & Kayser  OHG (also Hamburg).

In Hong Kong were Hernsheim & Co to April 1878 from Bremen trading firm co Pustau & represented, then to about 1,882 on large orders from & Co Siemssen and the daily business of Blackhead & Co . In later years, Hong Kong was hardly served any more. The business in Sydney was done by the Rabone, Feez & Co agency until 1884 , then the Justus Scharff trading company in the suburb of Randwick.

Trade goods and trade volume

After Eduard Hernsheim's initial attempts to establish himself in the export of pearl shells and bêche-de-mar to Hong Kong, Hernsheim & Co, as a result of a fundamental decision, from mid-1876 only dedicated themselves to the copra trade. This business was supplemented from 1879 by attempts to cross-finance the export of timber and fishery products from New Britain. Stable additional income was only achieved through regular coal deliveries to the Imperial Navy (Jabor and Matupi), which in 1884 resulted in an exclusive contract with the Imperial Admiralty . Hernsheim & Co also achieved significant sideline income with the establishment of a cattle and poultry farm on the banks of the Blanche Bay, the products of which were sold to stock up on warships during the colonial period.

The company was able to record steady growth in copra exports from 1878/79 and stopped before the merger of the Jaluit and Karolin branch with the DHPG . H. 1882–1885, around 30% of the copra exports from the western South Pacific. In its first business year as a stock corporation (1909), Hernsheim & Co recorded a net profit of M  133,000.00.

literature

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Released

  • Eduard Hernsheim: South Sea Merchant: Edited and translated by Peter Sack and Dymphna Clark . Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, Boroko 1983. ( Memoirs and excerpts from Eduard Hernsheim's diaries in English translation, with an introduction and comments by Peter Sack.)
  • ders .: South Sea merchant: Collected writings, edited and edited by Jakob Anderhandt . MV Science, Münster 2015.
  • Franz Hernsheim: Südsee-Schriften: Memoirs and Diaries, edited and edited by Jakob Anderhandt, with a foreword by Robert Creelman. tredition, Hamburg 2019.

Unpublished

  • Eduard Hernsheim: Memoirs (typescript, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives).
  • ders .: Diaries (1880–1886) (original, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives).
  • Franz Hernsheim: [Memories] (typescript, unpublished, Political Archive of the Foreign Office, Berlin).
  • Franz and Eduard Hernsheim: [Handwritten notes by Messrs. Hernsheim about their activities in the South Seas in the years 1874-1885] (Manuscript, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives).

Secondary works

  • Jakob Anderhandt: "Adventure, technology, progress: From the memoirs of Eduard Hernsheim", in: Hermitage: Journal for Literature , No. 12: Progress. Valentin Verlag, Ludwigsburg 2006, pp. 12–52.
  • ders .: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV Science, Münster 2012.
  • ders .: “Instead of erring with the big ones: Eduard Hernsheim's practical colonial program”, in: Saeculum: Yearbook for Universal History , 64th year (2014), 1st half volume. Böhlau, Cologne 2014, pp. 55–71.
  • Hildegard von Marchtaler:  Hernsheim, Franz Heinrich Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 674 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Peter Sack: Land Between Two Laws: Early European Land Acquisitions in New Guinea . Australian National University Press, Canberra 1973.
  • Stewart Firth: "Captain Hernsheim: Pacific Venturer, Merchant Prince", in: Deryck Scarr (ed.): More Pacific Islands Portraits . Australian National University Press, Canberra 1978, pp. 115-130.

Web links

Commons : South Sea Memories (1875-1880) by F. HERNSHEIM  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Assertions in secondary literature (for example Golf Dornseif: “The Brothers Hernsheim and their steep rise”, in: ders .: German merchants in the pre-colonial South Seas. (PDF; 1.9 MB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 25, 2014 , accessed on November 2, 2012 . Info: . The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested Please review the original and archive link according to instructions . and then remove this notice , p.4), Eduard Hernsheim had already The first trading station was founded on Malakal in 1872, but his memoirs (typescript, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives) do not confirm this. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.golf-dornseif.de
  2. ↑ Presented in greatest detail in Eduard Hernsheim's memoirs (typescript, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives), p. 44 f.
  3. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 1, pp. 147f., 160 and 169 (passim).
  4. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 1, p. 202.
  5. ↑ Eduard Hernsheim: Memoirs (typescript, unpublished, Hamburg State Archive, Hernsheim Family Archive), p. 74.
  6. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 1, p. 348 u. 447.
  7. ↑ The most comprehensive description of all dealers, agents and stations of Hernsheim & Co to date can be found in Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: Biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, Vol. 2, pp. 576-591.
  8. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 1, p. 219 and 222.
  9. ↑ Eduard Hernsheim's diaries (1880–1886, original, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives), entries on February 27 and March 25, 1880 and April 20, 1884.
  10. ↑ v. Oertzen an Bismarck, December 1, 1886, Foreign Office, Col. Dept. A VII, RKA 6512, in: Files of the Colonial Department of the Foreign Office and the Reich Colonial Office of the German Reich, Federal Archives Berlin-Lichterfelde (R 1001).
  11. ↑ Eduard Hernsheim: Diaries (1880–1886) (original, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives), entry v. October 13, 1885.
  12. ↑ Eduard Hernsheim: Diaries (1880–1886) (original, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives), entry v. July 3, 1884.
  13. ↑ RS Swanston: Journals 1857-1885 , Vol. 6, 1881-1885. Central Archives of Fiji and the Western Pacific High Commission: Fiji Museum 37/6, entries v. 25. u. December 30, 1883.
  14. ↑ The founding of the Jaluit Society and its preconditions is described in Wolfgang Treue: The Jaluit Society on the Marshall Islands 1887–1914 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1976.
  15. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 2, p. 385.
  16. ↑ See: Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: Biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 2, p. 385 f., And the first annual reports of Hernsheim & Co AG in: Hernsheim & Co AG / P 20 - company archive. Retrieved November 2, 2012 . , Central Library for Economics, Hamburg and Kiel.
  17. ↑ See the announcement in the company's annual report for 1911, in: Hernsheim & Co AG / P 20 - company archive. Retrieved November 2, 2012 . , Central Library for Economics, Hamburg and Kiel.
  18. ↑ Annual reports of Hernsheim & Co AG in: Hernsheim & Co AG / P 20 - company archive. Retrieved November 2, 2012 . , Central Library for Economics, Hamburg and Kiel, years 1928–1930.
  19. ↑ Information about the last few years of Hernsheim & Co  AG is provided by their annual and press reports, in: Hernsheim & Co AG / P 20 - company archive. Retrieved November 2, 2012 . , Central Library for Economics, Hamburg and Kiel.
  20. ↑ Basic data on the company's fleet can be found in the memoirs and the diaries of Eduard Hernsheim (both unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives), based on these sources e.g. Also in Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, and in: Walter Kresse: Seeschiffs-Directory of the Hamburg shipping companies 1824–1888, 2nd part. Museum for Hamburg History, Hamburg 1969, as well as the same, Hamburger Seeschiffe 1889–1914. Museum of Hamburg History, Hamburg 1974.
  21. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 1, p. 427 (passim), 262 (passim), 577, vol. 2, p. 376 and 428 (passim).
  22. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 1, p. 216.
  23. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 2, p. 208 u. 211.
  24. ↑ This is the spelling customary in the 19th century.
  25. ↑ Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 1, p. 288 f.
  26. ↑ Strictly speaking, even before the first Reich German flag was raised, cf. Jakob Anderhandt: Eduard Hernsheim, the South Seas and a lot of money: biography . MV-Wissenschaft, Münster 2012, vol. 2, p. 421.
  27. ↑ In the absence of business documents that have been preserved, this information can only be reconstructed from individual entries in E. Hernsheim's diaries (typescript, unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives). The handwritten records of the Hernsheim brothers (unpublished, Hamburg State Archives, Hernsheim Family Archives) provide the best information about the size of the first exports from the New Britain archipelago .
  28. ^ Annual report of the society for 1909, in: Hernsheim & Co AG / P 20 - company archive. Retrieved November 2, 2012 . , Central Library for Economics, Hamburg and Kiel.