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9616388

Title
The first voyage of SMS Bismarck photograph album, 1879-1880 / by Claus Franzen
Creator
Claus Franzen, 1857-1947
Call number
PXD 1490
Level of description
fonds
Date

1879-1880
Type of material
Graphic Materials, Photographs, Textual Records
Reference code
9616388
Physical Description
99 photographs - albumen - chiefly 16.8 cm x 21.7 cm or smaller
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Claus Franzen was born on 4th February 1857 in Jerrishoe near Flensburg in Germany, the son of the farmer Hans Christian Franzen. He joined the Imperial Navy and travelled as a naval rating on the frigate SMS Bismarck to the World Exhibition in Australia and to the South Seas, including Samoa, 1879-1880. After the Bismarck's return to Germany, Franzen returned home and worked for the post office. There he met his wife Sophie, nee Asmussen, and moved to Süderschmedeby where he died in 1947 at the age of 90.

SMS Bismarck, constructed by F. A. Egells of Berlin and completed in July 1878, was built of iron with a thick wooden sheathing below the water line, over which there was a covering of zinc. Her length was 74.5 metres, beam 13.75 metres, draft 6 metres when her stores and fuel were on board and was driven by a three-cylinder engine of 2500 horse power.

In 1879 the Bismarck sailed the Atlantic Ocean visiting Montevideo, Uruguay, before proceeding through the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean and stopping in Valparaiso, Chile. She then headed to the Society Islands, visiting Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine, where the ship's commander conducted a friendship treaty with the local ruler. The Bismarck sailed onto Australia for an overhaul, timed for the opening of the Garden Palace in Sydney on 17 September, and the officers and crew were guests at the opening while her band played at the Randwick Races. The ship was recalled to Samoa before leaving Apia on 26 January 1880 where she was damaged and returned to Sydney for repairs. Ordered to the west coast of South America, the Bismarck patrolled Chilean and Peruvian harbours then left Chile on 18 July and rounded Cape Horn, passing through heavy storms in the Strait of Magellan. She stopped in Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands before proceeding to Plymouth and ultimately reaching Wilhelmshaven on 30 September. She was decommissioned on 14 October 1880.

References:
German Speakers in Australia, http://www.germanaustralia.com/e/deserter.htm (accessed 8 October 2018)
Library correspondence file
Collection history
Purchased by the vendor from the Estate of Otto von Bismarck
Scope and Content
Prussian blue morocco-bound photograph album with inner boards lined with red silk, containing 99 albumen print photographs mounted on 93 unbound leaves of thick card. Also includes a loose four-page manuscript index in German with some variant spellings of places and personal names. The photographs, taken by naval rating Claus Franzen, document the ship's crew and shipboard activities; the visit to Punta Arenas in Patagonia; the diplomatic mission to the Society Islands, where a friendship treaty between Germany and the Queen of Raiatea was signed, and goodwill visits made to Bora-Bora and Huahine; the initial sojourn in Samoa between May and August 1879; visits to Tonga, Fiji and Rarotonga; the unscheduled return to Samoa due to the escalating civil and military crisis, where the Bismarck's presence enabled an agreement to be signed at Apia in December 1879 which recognised Malietoa Falavoa as king of Samoa; the visit to Sydney in February-March 1880, including the Bismarck undergoing repairs in the Fitzroy Dry Dock (Cockatoo Island), local dignitaries at Captain Deinhard's 'at home' party on board, a view of the Garden Palace taken from the ship at Farm Cove, and visits to the house and gardens of James White's house Cranbrook while it was being re-designed by John Horbury-Hunt, and the Blue Mountains; the album concludes with views of Arica (Peru), Cape Horn and the Falkland Islands.

01. Bismarck afloat
02. Offiziercorps
03. Die Batterie
04. Sonnenscheissen
05. Landungsartillerie
06. Linientaufe
07. Rein Schiff
08. Im Passat, Sonntag Nachmittag
09. Beim Tiefloth
10. Punta Arenas, Maghellan – Strafse
11. Ochsenschlitten, Madeira / Patangonische Familie / Patagonier und sein Freund [3 smaller prints on page]
12. Patagonier, Punta Arenas
13. Snow Sound, Maghellan – Strafse
14. Port Angosta, Maghellan – Strafse
15. Churucca, Maghellan – Strafse
16. Bismarck – Einfahrt, Raiatea
17. Factorei Raiatea
18. Missionshaus, Raiatea
19. Neue Kirche Raiatea
20. Haus des Königs von Raiatea
21. König von Raiatea / Kinder von Raiatea [two smaller prints]
22. Premier Minister, Raiatea / Kinder von einem Weissen und einer Halbblut, Raiatea [two smaller prints]
23. Huaheine
24a. Landschaft auf Huaheine
24b. Landschaft auf Huaheine
25. Huaheine, Das Haus der Königin
26. Huaheine, Die Berathung des Tractats
27. Das Ministerium von Huaheine nach Abschlufs des Tractats
28. Bora Bora
29. Makea, Königin auf Roratonga
30. Haus des Missionars, Roratonga
31. Kirche auf Rora-tonga
32. Landungsplatz Api
33. Captain Chandler, U.St.S. Lakawanna [?]
34. Mount, Apia
35. Das Commandantenbad Luffi-Luffi
36. Falifa Upolu
37. Hütten der Arbeiter aus den Neu Hebriden, Vailele
38. Missionsstation Malua, Upolu
39. Diner bei einem Häuptling in Seumanu, Apia
40. Mädchen aus Palaule Savaii
41. Mädchen aus Savaii
42. Mädchen aus Apia
43. Tanzende Samoanerinnen, erste Stellung
44. Tanzende Samoanerinnen, zweite Stellung
45. Sangopolotele, Häuptling von Saluafata mit familie im Sonntagsstaat
46. Tapituea Leute, Eingeführte Arbeiter
47. Moe und Fatulia, Apia / Masua, Sprecher der Atua [two smaller prints]
48. Atahamaneno (Cooks bay) [?]
49. Samoanische Hütte, Apia
50. Hütte in Saluafata Upolu
51. Lufi Lufi, Upolu
52. Brodbaum, Upolu
53. Tamanabaum, Upolu
54. Tamanabaum and Banane
55. Zweijährige Palmen, Upolu
56. Palmenhain Vaitete, bei Apia
57. Picnic nach dem Falepoma, dem einigen Steingebäude und ältesten Heiligthum in Samoa
58. Picnic nach dem Falepoma
59. Bemanntes Taumalua
60. Die confiscirten Taumaloas (Kriegscanoes)
61. Die Gefangenen von Sawaii
62. Die Einschiffung der Gefangenen
63. Versammelte Delegirte nach dem Friedensschluss
64. Talolo der Tua Masaga
65. Talolo der Tuamasaga, Mulinum [Mulinu’u]
66. Talolo der Atua und Aana, Lufi Lufi
67. Das talolo der Atua und Aana, Lufi Lufi
68. Verschanzungen, Upolu
69. Befestigte Hütten im Süden von Upolu
70. Crows nest, Eingeborene Befestigung, Upolu
71. Geiseln von Savaii
72. Levuka
73. English Corvette ‘Amethist’ von Levuka
74. Cricket ground, Levuka
75. Government House, Nassova, Levuka
76. Nassova Levuka, Government House früher Parlament house von Thakunbau
77. Mafu, der Loofse für Loma Loma
78. Loma Loma, Fidji Gruppe
79. Ausstellungs Palast [Exhibition Palace], Government House, Farm Cove
80. Bismarck im Dock, Sydney
81. Cranbrook, Sydney
82. Cranbrook, Sydney
83. Cranbrook, Sydney
84. Captain D. [Deinhard] at home, Sydney
85. Zigzag, Blue Mountains, New South Wales
86. Morro von Arica, Peru
87. Cap Spencer, Gegend bei Cap Horn
88. Cap Horn von S.W.
89. Cap Horn von Sudöst
90. Einfahrt zu Port Stanley, Falklands Inseln
91. Port Stanley, Falklands Inseln
92. Trinidad, Süd Atlantic
93. [Pocket map of Tahiti]
Language
German, English
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright: Created before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Variant title

Album is blind stamped on cover with the title 'Die Erste Reise S.M.S. Bismarck' [The First Voyage of S.M.S. Bismarck]
General note

Album measures 45 cm x 36 cm x 10 cm
Signatures / Inscriptions

Leaves are numbered sequentially on the top left corner and have captions inscribed in German below the prints.
Attributions / conjectures

The album is thought to have been presented to Otto von Bismarck by Captain Deinhard, who was invited to the Chancellor's Friedrichsruh estate (near Hamburg) on 26 December 1880, for a debriefing of the voyage.

Reference:
Library correspondence file
Conservation note

The cover has detached from the leaves and has some worming. There is scattered foxing, and a few prints are slightly faded.
Name
S.M.S. Bismarck
Deinhard, Karl August, 1842-1892
Makea, 1839-1911
Subject
Voyages and travels--19th century.
Samoa--Photographs.
Samoans--Social life and customs
Fiji--Pictorial works.
Fiji--Social life and customs.
Place
Sydney (N.S.W.)
Farm Cove (N.S.W.)
Garden Palace (Domain, Sydney, N.S.W.)
Cranbrook (Victoria Road, Bellevue Hill, N.S.W.)
Blue Mountains (N.S.W.)
Madeira (Madeira Islands)
Patagonia
Raiatea (Society Islands)
Bora-Bora (French Polynesia)
Huahine Island (French Polynesia)
Rarotonga (Cook Islands)
Apia (Western Samoa)
Upolu (Samoa)
Savai'i Island (Samoa)
Levuka (Fiji)
Chile
Magellan, Strait of (Chile and Argentina)
Cape Horn (Chile)
Falkland Islands
Exhibited in

Shot : 400 photographs, 200 photographers, 3 centuries - State Library of New South Wales (October 2023 - October 2024)
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IE19275571