American Samoa Civil War 1890 German Navy Gunboat Cabinet Card Shipwreck Maroon For Sale

DETAILS:Original Samoan cabinetcard photograph of the Imperial German Gunboat SMS Adler by Alfred James Tattersall of Apia, Western Samoa. Circa 1890. Double sided. Wnderfully sharp detailed photograph, We have provided a low resolution scan. However under a higher resolution the details visible are impressive. A testament to Tattersall photographicskills. Measures12" X 10" inches. Please see item images for further details.


The SMS Adler was a gunboat of the Imperial German Navy. She was launched in 1883. In 1888 she entered the Samoan Civil War against the United States Navy and the Bristish Navy. She was wrecked together with the German gunboat SMS Eber, the German corvette SMS Olga, the United States Navy gunboat USS Nipsic, the U.S. Navy screw steamer USS Trenton, and the U.S. Navy sloop-of-war USS Vandalia on 16 March 1889 in a hurricane at Apia, Samoa, during the Samoan crisis.Twenty crew members lost their lives. Several others crew members however survived and began inhabiting the boat until they were finally rescued in1890. You can see some of thesecrew members in the cabinet card photo.




Alfred James Tattersall(1866–1951) was a New Zealand photographer who lived in Samoa for most of his life and contributed a significant collection of images of thePacific Islandcountry and its peoples during thecolonialera. He was born inAuckland in 1866 and moved to Samoa in 1886 to work as an assistant in the studio of John Davis. This was the era of colonial photography in the South Pacific when the tropical landscapes andindigenouspeople provided 'continual fascination' for foreign photographers. When Davis died in 1893 Tattersall took over his studio.He went on to photograph events in Samoa including the volatile era whenBritain,Germanyand theUnited Stateswere vying for control of theSamoa Islands. Many of his photographs are significant in thehistory of Samoaand covered eras such asGerman Samoa(1900 - 1914) followed by the country's administration underNew Zealandwhich saw the rise of the pro-independenceMau movement.

Oxxbridge Galleries

Established 1987

Oxxbridge Galleries was founded in 1987 and specializes in vintage paper itemswith a large selection of historical and 19th Centurytintypes, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, cabinet cards as well as other types of early photography.We invite everyone to visit our storeto viewour entireinventory.

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