Beachcombers in Yap

Robert J. Abbott Yap (1870s-1880)

Abbott was a native of Tasmania. Abbott apparently had some legal training, for he served as the attorney for O'Keefe for a few years. He was also certified as a master in the British Merchant Service. He must have first arrived in Yap in the early or mid-1870s. He was the mate on the "Seabird" for a time, and returned from Palau on board the brig "Queen" in 1878. He died on Yap on June 4, 1880. A list of his personal effects is given in the testimony in the "Espiegle Papers".

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: judicial proceedings on the Estate of R J Abbott

Walter Amery, aka "George" Yap (c1882-1884)

Amery was an English attorney and agent for Capelle & Co on Yap. He was said to have been engaged in the Hawaiian labor trade before coming to Micronesia. The year of Amery's arrival in Yap is unknown, but he was there in 1882. In an incident that sparked an investigation by British authorities, Amery was almost drowned by Yapese for cheating them. He and two other traders (Shaw and Holcomb) retaliated by setting fire to two houses and shooting up a village. After an investigation by the British aboard the "Espiegle".

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: judicial proceedings on the case of Amery and Shaw

Boele Yap (1800-1814?)

Boele was one of six white men who landed on Yap in a small boat. After a stay of a few months, Boele's five companions went to sea again. Boele was adopted by a Yapese and chose to stay on Yap.

Sources: Kotzebue 1821: vol 3, 117.

William Bonar Ebon, Yap (1877-1878)

Bonar evidently resided in New Zealand. He was a trader on Ebon in the Marshalls for a short time, January-March 1977. He then was taken to Yap where he was an agent for Thomas Farrell for a little longer than a year. He returned to Auckland aboard the "Vision" in October 1878.

Sources: Young 1878: 13 Sept 1877; New Zealand Herald, 8 Oct 1878

Peter Bowens Woleai (c1878-1880)

Peter Bowens was living on Woleai in October 1880. He was trading for Capelle & Co. He might have been the "old Irishman" who was living on Woleai when Hernsheim visited in 1878. He was still there in October 1880, but this is the last we hear of him.

Sources: Hernsheim 1983: 40; Young 1881: 14 Oct 1880

Thomas Brown (aka Thomas van der Plann) Yap (c1872-1883)

Thomas Brown (born Thomas van der Plann) was born in Holland. He first arrived in Yap about 1872. He was mate on the trading vessel "Eagle" when the ship was attacked by Hermit Islanders, so Brown turned the ship around and headed for Yap. He seems to have remained there since. He was the agent for Hernsheim from 1879 to 1881, and was still residing there in 1883 at the arrival of the British naval ship "Espiegle".

Sources: Hernsheim 1983: 41-2; Swanston 1885: 10 Feb 1884 & 18 Mar 1884.

Arturo Bruggemann Yap (1896-1897)

He was an agent for Jaluit Co, headquartered on Ngingich Island near the port. In 1896 Bruggemann worked on Maap. He served a court summons against Sendker in 1897.

Sources: Christian 1967: 269; AHN Leg 5868, ff 413-6.

John Connelly Satawal (1797)

Connelly, an Irishman, was a convict who was dropped off at Tonga by the ship "Otter" in October 1797 with one other man (William Tucker). A year later he was taken off Tonga by the London Missionary Society ship "Duff" and brought to Satawal in October 1797. He was left on the island.

Sources: Wilson 1799: 298-305

Curley Yap (1884)

Curley came to Yap in January 1884 on the "Colonial." He worked as an agent for O'Keefe for a short time. A month after his arrival he became seriously sick and died on March 23, 1884.

Sources: Swanston 1885: 16 Mar 1884

Easson Yap (1880-1881)

Easson was the first mate of the "Lilla" on her voyage out of Britain in 1880. He arrived in Yap on June 1, 1880. He was the manager of O'Keefe's trading station at Terang for a time, but then moved to a smaller one in July 1880. He left Yap as mate of the "Fortuna" in January 1881 and sailed to the Anchorite Islands where he lived as a trader.

Easson complained that he was defrauded of his wages by O'Keefe. O'Keefe, in turn, claimed that Easson refused to work for him, went on a drunken spree with other whites, and left on the "Fortuna" without paying off his work debt to O'Keefe.

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: statement of O'Keefe

Robert Friedlander Yap (1883-c1903)

He was born around 1862 in Germany. Came to Yap in December 1883 on the "Montiara" as the principal agent for Hernsheim and remained there permanently. Was described in the mid-1880s as "about 23 years old--a Jew--a very pleasant young fellow." He had an office in Dulukan. After the Jaluit Company took over Hernsheim's holdings, he remained on Yap to serve as the agent for Jaluit Company until at least 1903. He married a Chamorro woman, Ana Garcia, in 1896. He lived in Rul at that time.

Sources: Christian 1967: 262; Furness 1910: 18,26-28, passim; Swanston 1885: vol 6, 30 Dec 1883; Yap church baptismal records

Grosser Yap (1884)

Grosser arrived in Yap on April 6, 1884 on the "Dora" to take up residence as a trader for Hernsheim.

Sources: Swanston 1885: 10 Apr 1884

Charles Henry Henderson Yap, Palau (1880-1884)

Henderson was an American citizen. At one time he was master of the schooner "Wrecker"

Sources: Swanston 1885: 7 May 1884; LeHunte 1883: statement of McGuinness

Edward Hernsheim Yap (1874-1880s)

Hernsheim was the German founder of Hernsheim & Co. He arrived in Yap in November 1874 and stayed until January 1875 searching for trepang. He may have left shortly after this, but he returned to Yap later and was there in the 1880s.

Sources: Kramer 1917: 161

Crayton Philo Holcomb Yap (1873-1885)

Crayton Philo Holcomb was born in Granby, Connecticut, on January 24, 1830. He signed on a whaleship in 850 at the age of 20 and for the next several years worked on whalers in the Pacific. For a short time he sailed a ship that he bought, but soon sold the vessel and became involved in the China trade. For a time he made Hong Kong his home port and sailed to Melanesia to find mother-of-pearl and other trade goods. In 1873 he moved to Yap, where he established his own trading operations. He married a Chamorro woman, Bartola Garrido, two years later. For the next ten years he competed with O'Keefe and the other trading firms based on Yap for copra. Together with his wife, he petitioned the Spanish to take possession of the Carolines in 1884. He was killed by the islanders of the St. Matthias Group in Melanesia on a trading voyage for pearl shell in 1885.

Sources: Hezel 1975: 3-19

Amos Holsen Holt Yap, Palau (1878-1882)

Holt was a German by birth, although sometimes known as a Dane. He was a naturalized American citizen. He arrived on Yap from Singapore aboard O'Keefe's trading brig "Queen" in 1878. For a time, as an employee of O'Keefe, he was sent to Palau to care for the trading station there, but then was brought back to Yap and put in charge of O'Keefe's trade station at Amun. In 1883 he charged British officials that O'Keefe had beaten him and defrauded him of his wages.

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: statement of McGuinness; Hong Kong Telegraph, 17 Apr 1885

Captain Keats Yap (1880)

Captain Keats was the master of O'Keefe's brig "Lilla" in 1880.

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: statement of McGuinness

John S. Kubary Pohnpei, Palau, Yap, Nukuoro, Mortlocks, Chuuk, Jaluit (1869-1896)

John S. Kubary was a native of Poland, but a naturalized British citizen. Since 1869 he travelled in the Pacific as a naturalist for Godeffroy Co. He lived in Samoa for six months at the end of 1869, then travelled to Marshalls on "Sofia" in April 1870. In August 1870, Kubary went to Yap, where he spent five months. In January 1871, he went to Palau, staying there for more than two years. In May 1873, he sailed on "Iserbrook" visiting Ulithi, Ngulu, Woleai, Nukuoro, and Mortlocks, arriving in Pohnpei in August 1873. He left Pohnpei a year later in August 1874 on "Alfred" which went aground and went down with many of his specimens. Kubary spent some weeks on Jaluit before sailing for New Zealand in December 1874. After spending some months in Europe during 1875, he sailed back to the Pacific. In late 1875, he stopped at Pohnpei, built a house and established a plantation.

In February 1877 he set out for the Mortlocks where he spent a few months--until the end of May. In May 1878, a year later he left for Chuuk and remained there until August 1879.

He returned to Pohnpei and married Anna Yellot. When the company crashed, Godeffroy & Sons released Kubary, who turned to his plantation. His plantation was destroyed by a typhoon in 1882 and he worked in Tokyo for a few months. He returned to Pohnpei, visited Palau again in early 1883 and remained in the western Carolines until 1885. In September 1885 Kubary went aboard "Albatross" to New Britain and New Guinea. He remained at work in Melanesia until 1892 when he went to Germany for a few months.

He returned to New Guinea and worked there until 1895 when he settled again in Pohnpei. He found that his plantation had been devastated in the uprising against the Spanish. In October 1896, a few months after his return, Kubary committed suicide on the grave of his only son. A daughter was sent to Singapore to be educated in a convent school and later became a nun.

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: statement of Kubary; Spoehr 1963: 69-98; Paszkowski 1971

Lansome (Langren? Langham?) Yap (1875)

Lansome was German. He was a sea captain who worked with O'Keefe in the latter's early years on Yap (1875). He was formerly a partner in Webster & Cook, a concern owned by Celebes Trading Co of Singapore.

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: statement of David O'Keefe; Hong Kong Telegraph, 17 Apr 1885

Evan Lewis Jaluit, Palau, Yap, Pohnpei, Lamotrek (c1870-1895)

Evan Lewis was a Welshman, born in 1855. In the 1870s he served as an engineer on a steam launch that operated in Samoa under Captain Heinburger. He lived on Jaluit for a while. Came to Palau on the brig "Susannah" to trade for Capelle & Co, along with David Martens, his partner. After a quarrel with Martens, Lewis came to Yap where he settled for a time. His first arrival in Yap must have been during the late 1870s. He also spent time on Palau as an agent for Capelle & Co. He arrived in Palau on "Susannah", perhaps as early as 1876 but certainly before 1880. He left for Pohnpei aboard the "Matilda" in 1880. He returned to Yap later that year and went almost directly to Lamotrek, where he served as resident trader from 1880 to 1883. Lewis married a Chamorro woman and had a large family by the time F. W. Christian met him in the early 1890s. Lewis was living in Yap, working in Ngingich, but doing trading runs to the outer islands now and then.

Lewis was described in a statement given aboard the British naval ship "Espiegle" in 1883: "Lewis is aged 28, medium height, light build, dark hair, good looking, has some education, knows navigation, well behaved but drinks."

Sources: LeHunte 1883a: statement of Charles Ingalls; Young 1881: 20 Oct 1880; Christian 1967: 238

Continued Yap Beachcombers, Page 2