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The SMS Cormoran II Crew – Prisoners of War
After more than two years of internment on the United States territory of Guam, the German cruiser SMS Cormoran II was scuttled by its crew in Apra Harbor on 7 April 1917 to prevent it becoming a spoil of war between the US and Germany.
SMS Cormoran II: Partial Crew List
The partial list presented here that researcher James Oelke-Farley compiled for Guampedia, indicates only 108 crew members. The list was cross-checked with message traffic from the US State Department and prison records. However, Oelke-Farley explains that when the men arrived in the US they often were no longer referred to by the ship upon which they served as crew members (the crew of the SMS Geier which had been interned in Honolulu was combined with the Comoran’s crew on the way to the prisoner of war camp in Fort Douglas, Utah) but rather simply as “POWs” or “German Navy,” which has made an exact identification of every man difficult.
Cormoran-Südseefahrer: SMS Cormoran Crew Annual Meetings
By 1920, after the end of World War I, the men of the SMS Cormoran II who had been taken as prisoners of war by the United States were returned to their home country of Germany. The experience of being interned In Guam and then in US POW camps bonded these men together in a significant and personal way. Even though they went their separate ways back to their families the men of the Cormoran met yearly for over 40 years to remember, share stories, mourn lost comrades and stay in touch.
Captain Adalbert Zuckschwerdt
Adalbert Zuckschwerdt (1874 – 1945) was the captain of the German raider SMS Cormoran and its successor SMS Cormoran II which sailed to Guam from Tsingtao (Qingdao), China in 1914 in the early months of World War I. For more than two years, Zuckschwerdt and his crew remained in Guam until the United States entered the conflict in April 1917, and the SMS Cormoran II was scuttled by the Germans in Apra Harbor.
Governor William John Maxwell
US Naval Captain William John Maxwell (1859 – 1934) was Governor of Guam from 28 March 1914 – 29 April 1916. Maxwell relieved Acting Governor Alfred Walton Hinds and continued previous Naval Government infrastructure projects. In addition, he reorganized government agencies, established financial institutions, petitioned the US Navy Department for Guam’s US citizenship and to open the port for commercial use.
The Journey of SMS Cormoran II
The German cruiser Cormoran II, intentionally scuttled by its own captain during World War I, sits on the bottom of Guam’s Apra Harbor. The shipwreck, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, would be noteworthy by itself, yet the sinking of the Japanese ship Tokai Maru nearly on top of […]
Guam Memorial Hospital Volunteers Association
Founded in 1965 by the late Senator Cecilia Cruz Bamba, the Guam Memorial Hospital Volunteers Association (GMHVA) is a nonprofit organization of dedicated people, who, through their gift of time, talent, and personal interest, supplement the professional hospital staff in caring for the comfort and welfare of the patients, personnel, and visitors to the hospital.
Guam Liberation Day
Guam’s biggest celebration. After World War II was over community leader Agueda Iglesias Johnston convinced US military leaders on Guam to support a celebration to commemorate the Liberation of the island from the Japanese. It was enacted into law in 1951 in Bill 35 sponsored by Speaker Antonio B. Won Pat. This celebration continues to this day as one of Guam’s holidays – Liberation Day, which is celebrated on July 21st.
Pascual Artero y Saez
Businessman, rancher, patriarch. Don Pascual Artero y Saez (1875 – 1956) was a prominent Spanish businessman, rancher and patriarch of the Artero family in Guam. Born in Mojácar, he served with the Spanish military in the Western Pacific, married on Yap and settled in Guam at the turn of the 20th century.
101 Amazing Facts About Guam
Shop for our 101 Amazing Facts About Guam in the Guampedia Heritage Gift Shop.