Marshall Islands History Sources No. 28
Itinerary of the German cruiser S.M.S. Bussard 1894-95, 1897-99


S.M.S. Sperber was one of the German patrol cruisers on the Australian Station, charged with showing the German flag on routine visits to various ports in the South Pacific, enabling the German administrators to travel their islands territories on law enforcement missions and to be on stand-by for any military conflict. The itinerary reproduced below has been compiled from various sources held in the archives of the German Imperial colonial office. It has been reproduced here to serve as example of naval visits in the middle period of the German protectorate over the Marshall Islands.

Arrive Harbour Depart Comments
Sydney 1 April 1894
15 Apr 1894 New Guinea 14 May 1894
14 May 1894 Jaluit 24 Jun 1894
5 Jul 1894 Apia 24 Jul 1894
2 Aug 1894 Sydney 7 Sep 1894
? Sep 1894 Apia 15 Jan 1894
? Feb 1895 Sydney /Jervis Bay 1 May 1895 for torpedo exercises to Jervis Bay
15 May 1895 New Guinea 15 Jun 1895
25 Jun 1895 Jaluit 20 Jul 1895
1 Aug 1895 Apia 20 Aug 1895
5 Sep 1895 Sydney 15 Oct 1895
30 Oct 1895 Apia 15 Jan 1896
1 Feb 1896 Sydney /Jervis Bay for torpedo exercises to Jervis Bay
-o-o-o-
17 Apr 1897 Samoa 11 Jun 1897 to depart after the arrival of the American mail, to visit various places in the Samoa and Tonga Islands
24 Jun 1897 Sydney 12 Jul 1897 change-over of the crew
25 Jul 1897 Samoa 16 Sep 1897 training of the crew
23 Sep 1897 Auckland 15 Oct 1897 R & R
23 Oct 1897 Samoa 15 Nov 1897 live fire training and patrols as required
22 Nov 1897 Jaluit 12 Dec 1897 ditto
20 Dec 1897 Bismarck-Archipelago 15 Feb 1898
25 Feb 1898 Sydney 25 Apr 1898 repairs
9 May 1898 Samoa 8 Sep 1898
22 Sep 1898 Sydney 22 Oct 1898
6 Nov 1898 Samoa 14 Dec 1898
22 Dec 1898 Auckland 1 Feb 1899
7 Feb 1899 Sydney 8 Mar 1899
15 Mar 1899 Auckland 10 Apr 1899
18 Apr 1899 Samoa 1 Jun 1899
18 Jun 1899 Bismarck-Archipelago 20 Aug 1899
1 Sep 1899 Sydney 1 Oct 1899
15 Oct 1899 Samoa 9 Nov 1899

 Sources:
Not all dates can be read in the original file documents as the bound files were not fully opened for the microfilming.-- Reiseplan für die Stationäre der Australischen Station, for 1894 no. II.12422 RKA 2658.-- Reiseplan für die Stationäre der Australischen Station, for 1895 no.s 17547 ( signed 25 Oct 1895) RKA 2658.-- [Reiseplan] SMS Bussard, K6685 RKA 2658.
RKA 2658 = Auswärtiges Amt, Kolonial-Abteilung. Segelorders für die Schiffe der Kaiserlichen Marine Südsee . 19 January 1885 ¹ August 1904. Series. Marinesachen 13e. file nÞ RKA 2658. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Mfm no . G8570.



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CONTACT:
Dirk H.R. Spennemann, Institute of Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, P.O.Box 789, Albury NSW 2640, Australia.
e-mail: dspennemann@csu.edu.au

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