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The social and economic fall of the salmon/brander clan of tahiti

2005; Routledge; Volume: 40; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00223340500176574

1469-9605

Claus Gossler,

Australian History and Society

Abstract Between the 1840s and 1880s, the Salmon and Brander families, of mixed British and Tahitian origins, dominated the social, commercial and, to some extent, also the political scene in Tahiti. One member married a Tahitian princess, and both families were connected through marriage and business to one another. Another member was married for a short time to the last king of Tahiti and, since she survived him for many years, was called ‘the last Queen of Tahiti’. That, for a time, also added to the prestige of what can truly be called a ‘clan’. Since each of the families had nine children, there were sufficient descendants who could have held the group together, although the progenitors died when many of their offspring were still minors. But commercial inability, distrust of one another, faulty personnel decisions and fighting for a share of the inheritance was responsible for the disappearance of the clan within a generation. Acknowledgements I am very much indebted to the Editorial Board of The Journal of Pacific History for their valuable criticism of the first version of this paper. Notes A[nna] Brassey, Eine Segelfahrt um die Welt an Bord der Yacht ‘Sunbeam’ in elf Monaten ausgeführt und geschildert von Mrs. A. Brassey. Frei übersetzt nach der achten Auflage des Originals von A. Helms (Leipzig 1879), 214, 222. Henry Adams to Elizabeth Cameron, Papeete, 6 Feb. 1891, in J.C. Levenson et al. (eds), The Letters of Henry Adams, Vol. III, 1886–1892 (Cambridge 1982), 403–4. Ernest Salmon, Alexandre Salmon (1820–1866) et sa femme Ariitaimai (1821–1897). Deux figures de Tahiti à l’époque du Protectorat (Paris 1964), 1–6; Eric Ramsden, ‘Alexander Salmon an English Jew who made history in Tahiti and his family’, Australian Jewish Historical Society 1:3 (Sydney 1940), 57–71. Pierre-Yves Toullelan, Tahiti Colonial 1860–1914 (Paris 1984), 31–9. Salmon, Salmon, 28. Ibid., 86–96. Patrick O’Reilly and Raoul Teissier, Tahitiens. Répertoire biographique de la Polynésie Française (Paris 1975), 507. For the opposing views on this topic, see the following two papers: Niel Gunson, ‘A note on the difficulties of ethnohistorical writing with special reference to Tahiti’, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 72 (1963), 415–19, and W.N. Gunson, ‘Tahiti's traditional history — without Adams’, The Journal of Pacific History, 10 (1975), 112–17 (review of Marau Taaroa's Memoirs). Salmon, Salmon, 30. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 544, 507. Ibid., 365. Henry Adams, Papeete, to Elizabeth Cameron, 17 May 1891: ‘[Arii Taimai] drew me to her and kissed me so affectionately that the tears stood in my eyes’ — Levenson, Letters, 477. Henry Brooks Adams, Tahiti, Memoirs of Arii Taimai (repr. Ridgewood [1968] of the Paris 1901 edn); Henry Adams, Mémoires D’Arii Taimai, traduit de l’Anglais par Suzanne & André Lebois, Introduction par Marie-Thèrèse & Bengt Danielsson (Paris 1964); Arii Taimai, Denkwürdigkeiten (Hamburg 1923); Robert E. Spiller (ed.), Memoirs of Arii Taimai e Marama of Eimeo, Teriirere of Tooarai, Terrinui of Tahiti, Tauraatua i Amo. Memoirs of Marau Taaroa, Last Queen of Tahiti (New York 1947); the introduction by the Danielssons to the French version relates the origins and differences of the various editions. The question of whether Arii Taimai or her daughter Marau was the more important source for Adams's history of Tahiti remains unsolved until today, especially after another contribution to this controversial topic appeared: Robert Langdon, ‘A view on Ari’i Taimai's memoirs’, Journal of Pacific History, 4 (1969), 162–5; the letters of Henry Adams, mostly from Tahiti, dealing with his sojourn in Tahiti and his encounters with the clan can be found in J. Levenson, Letters; Harold Dean Cater (ed.), Henry Adams and his Friends: a collection of unpublished letters (Boston 1947); Worthington Chauncey Ford (ed.), [Volume 2:] Letters of Henry Adams (1892–1918) (Boston and New York 1938). O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 65–7. Michel Panoff, ‘Farani Taioro, la première génération de colons français à Tahiti’, Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 70–71 (1981), 3–26. Pictured in Colin W. Newbury, Tahiti Nui: change and survival in French Polynesia 1767–1945 (Honolulu 1980), 161. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 65. Salmon, Salmon, 138–59, gives a summary of this period. J. Douglas Porteous, The Modernization of Easter Island (Victoria 1981), 16–18; idem, ‘Easter Island. The Scottish connection’, The Geographical Review, 68:2 (1978), 145–56; idem, ‘The modernization of Rapanui’, Steven Roger Fischer (ed.), Easter Island Studies: contributions to the history of Rapanui in memory of William T. Mulloy (Oxford 1993), 225–7. Patricia Anguita, ‘L’insertion des Rapanui à Tahiti et Mooréa 1871–1920’, Bulletin de la Société des Etudes Océaniennes 20:8 (1988), 21–39. Robert E. Spiller (ed.), Introduction, Adams, Tahiti, IV. Deposited at Staatsarchiv Hamburg (hereinafter StAH) 621-1 Société commerciale de l’Océanie (hereinafter SCO). Paras 1–3 of the Statutes of the company, StAH 621-1 SCO 2. C. Scharf, SCO supervisory board, Hamburg, to J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn, Hamburg, 3 June 1878, StAH 621-1 SCO 7 fol. 51. Minutes of the meeting of the SCO supervisory board, Hamburg, 29 June 1880, StAH 621-1 SCO 1 Vol. 1 fol. 20; on John Hart see O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 250–1; on David Byrnes see ibid., 84. Balance Sheets of the SCO, StAH 621-1 SCO 11 Vol. 1 and 2; the dividend paid for 1877 was not from earned income but probably only to increase the value of the shares. Newbury, Tahiti Nui, 235–54; Toullelan, Tahiti, 176. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 544–5. Toullelan, Tahiti, 304, 310–11. A publication not accessible to the author may be proof of this interest: Tati Salmon, The History of the Island of Borabora and Genealogy of our Family [...] (Papeete 1904). Pierre Lagayette, Introduction. ‘Tati Salmon et Henry Adams: lettres de Tahiti. Traductions et notes de Pierre Lagayette’ (Papeete 1980), 10, partially quoting Jules Desfontaines, without giving further references (trans. by the author); a picture of Tati Salmon on p. 13 of this book seems to support these traits; Lagayette claims that Tati was born in 1852, while all other sources give his birth date as 1850. Toullelan, Tahiti, 111 and 119. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 30 Apr. 1889, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 1 fol. 198; Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Kayser, S&K, Hamburg, 24 May 1889, ibid., SCO 6 Vol. 2 fol. 81. Chilean piastres or Chile-dollars were the going currency in East Polynesia even after annexation by the French. The value corresponded to $US1 until about 1885, after which it declined rapidly and was slowly replaced by the French franc, which kept its value of about 0.20 $US at least until World War I. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 6 June 1889. StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 1 fol. 221. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Kayser, S&K, Hamburg, 30 Oct. 1889, ibid. SCO 6 Vol. 2 fol. 188. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 10 Dec. 1891, ibid. SCO 5 Vol. 2 fol. 160. Henry Adams, Papeete, to Elizabeth Cameron, 31 May 1891, Levenson, Letters, 480; to the same, 3 June 1891, ibid., 481. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Kayser, S&K, Hamburg, 16 June 1890, StAH 621-1 SCO 6 Vol. 3 fol. 98–9. Tati Salmon, Vairao, Tahiti, to Henry Adams, Washington, 2 July 1893 (Salmon and Adams, Lettres, 66) states that the amount borrowed was $US13,000, while Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 11 Jan.1893 (StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 2 fol. 236) indicates it to have been only $US10,000. On 1 Dec. 1892 60,000 francs became due to François Cardella under the contract through which Narii Salmon bought the Opunohu plantation on 19 Sept. 1885 (Hamburg, Archiv Herbert Ruperti, sales contract p. 7). Tati most likely requested $US13,000 (equal to 65,000 francs) from Adams to pay off this amount. According to Hoppenstedt (SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 11 Jan. 1893, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 2 fol. 236) only 40,000 francs were still due to Cardella and were paid by Tati with $US10,000 received from Adams. According to Salmon and Adams, Lettres, 66, Tati Salmon, Vairao, Tahiti, to Henry Adams, Washington, 2 July 1893, Tati used the balance for other purposes that he explained in the letter. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 11 Jan. 1893, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 2 fol. 236. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 19 Feb. 1894, ibid., Vol. 3 fol. 14. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 4 Dec. 1894, ibid., fol. 101; idem to idem, 14 Jan. 1895, ibid., fol. 119; idem to idem, 11 Oct. 1898, ibid., Vol. 4 fol. 142. Minutes of the meeting of the SCO supervisory board, Hamburg, 25 June 1901, ibid., SCO 1 Vol. 1 fol. 107–8. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 7 Dec. 1901, ibid., SCO 5 Vol. 5 fol. 324–6; idem to idem, 30 Aug. 1903, ibid., Vol. 6 fol. 144. Marau Taaroa, Mémoires de Marau Taaroa, Dernière Reine de Tahiti, traduits par sa fille la Princesse Ariimanihinihi Takau Pomare (Paris 1971), 7–8. Salmon, Salmon, 165, citing an undated report in the Messager de Tahiti. Ibid., 167. Henry Adams, Papeete, to Elizabeth Cameron, 6 Feb. 1891, Levensen, Letters, 403. Salmon, Salmon, 178. Henry Adams, Tautira, to Elizabeth Cameron, 4 Mar. 1891, Levenson, Letters, 426. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 22 Jan. 1901, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 5 fol. 133; idem to idem, 10 Aug. 1894, ibid., Vol. 3 fol. 61. Colin Newbury, ‘The Makatea phosphate concession’, R.G. Ward (ed.), Man in the Pacific Islands (Oxford 1972), 168. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 23 Mar. 1908, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 8 fol. 59. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 508. Introduction by Patrick O’Reilly in Salmon, Salmon, VII–X. Taaroa, Mémoires. Heinrich August Schlubach, Schlubach y Cia., Valparaiso, Chile, to Wm. Gatherer, Pitgaveny, Scotland (lawyer and agent of John Brander in Scotland), 20 Aug. 1875 (copy in the author's possession). O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 133. Hoppenstedt, SCO Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 25 June 1896, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 3 fol. 226. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 66. Raoul Teissier, ‘Les cyclones en Polynésie Française, 1878–1903–1905–1906’, Bulletin de la Société des Études Océaniennes, 14:5–6/No. 166–167 (1969), 1–48. Henry Adams, Tautira, to Elizabeth Cameron, 4 Mar. 1891, Levenson, Letters, 426. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Scharf, S&K, Hamburg, 12 Dec. 1889, StAH 621-1 SCO 6 Vol. 2 fol. 217–18. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 12 Mar. 1888, ibid., SCO 5 Vol. 1 fol. 94. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Kayser, S&K, Hamburg, 4 June 1886, ibid., SCO 6 Vol. 1 fol. 9; idem to idem, 12 Dec. 1887, ibid., Vol. 3 fol. 43; idem to idem, 6 Dec. 1888, ibid., Vol. 1 fol. 105; idem to idem, 13 Feb. 1889, ibid., Vol. 2 fol. 23. Idem to idem, 30 Oct. 1889, ibid., Vol. 2 fol. 194. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 30 Dec. 1889, ibid., SCO 5 Vol. 1 fol. 275–80. Henry Adams, Papeete, to Elizabeth Cameron, 31 May 1891, Levenson, Letters, 473. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 364–5. Minutes of the meeting of the SCO supervisory board, Hamburg, 29 July 1890, StAH 621-1 SCO 1 Vol. 1 fol. 72–3. Minutes of the meeting of the SCO supervisory board, Hamburg, 2 Mar. 1891, ibid., fol. 88. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 7 Dec. 1892, ibid., SCO 5 Vol. 2 fol. 232. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO supervisory board, Hamburg, 19 Sept. 1893, ibid., fol. 342–4. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 5 Apr. 1894, ibid., Vol. 3 fol. 34–5. Idem to idem, 16 Feb. 1900, ibid., Vol. 5 fol. 36. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 123. Narii Salmon, Papeete, to SCO, Papeete, 17 Jan. 1901, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 5 fol. 126. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 17 Jan. 1901, ibid., fol. 124–5. Idem to idem, 1 Apr. 1904, ibid., Vol. 7 fol. 40; idem to idem, 1 Apr. 1904, ibid., fol. 64. Teissier, cyclones, 12. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 3 Mar. 1903, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 6 fol. 83. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to J.C. Godeffroy [VII], SCO, Hamburg, 19 June 1903, ibid., fol. 211–12. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 1 May 1906, ibid., Vol. 8 fol. 174. Agreement between SCO and Narii Salmon as partner of Narii Salmon & Co., ibid., 13 Jan. 1906, fol. 193. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 25 Mar. 1906, ibid., fol. 187; see also Teissier, cyclones, 32. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 508. ’Kept roll of dead at Andersonville, now lies buried on South Sea Island’, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Apr. 1912. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 6 July 1892, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 2 fol. 190; idem to idem, 7 Aug. 1893, ibid., fol. 314; idem to idem, 20 Nov. 1891, ibid., fol. 154. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO supervisory board, Hamburg, 19 Sept. 1893, ibid., fol. 354; Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 13 Oct. 1893, ibid., fol. 368. Idem to idem, 7 Aug. 1893, ibid., fol. 316–17. Dorence Atwater, Papeete, to Henry Adams, Washington, 9 Mar. 1893, Salmon and Adams, Lettres, 55. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 29 Dec. 1893, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 2 fol. 414. Idem to idem, 13 Oct. 1893, ibid., fol. 367–8. ‘Kept Roll … ’, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Apr. 1912. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Kayser, S&K, Hamburg, 4 June 1886, StAH 621-1 SCO 6 Vol. 1 fol. 9. Idem to idem, 13 Feb. 1889, ibid., Vol. 2 fol. 22. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 10 Aug. 1894, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 3 fol. 60–1. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to S&K, Hamburg, 13 June 1898, ibid., SCO 6 Vol. 6 fol. 87; Lamprecht, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 20 Aug. 1902, ibid., SCO 5 Vol. 6 fol. 53; idem to idem, 30 Aug. 1903, ibid., fol. 143. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 30 Apr. 1905, ibid., Vol. 7 fol. 206. Lamprecht, SCO, Papeete, to S&K, Hamburg, 11 Jan. 1907, ibid., SCO 6 Vol. 14 fol. 5–8. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 23 Mar. 1907, ibid., SCO 5 Vol. 8 fol. 104. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to S&K, Hamburg, 3 June 1910, ibid., SCO 6 Vol. 17 fol. 84. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 14 Dec. 1897, SCO 5 Vol. 4 fol. 75; idem to idem, 27 Jan. 1900, ibid., Vol. 5 fol. 18; idem to idem, 7 Sept. 1900, ibid., Vol. 5 fol. 98; idem to idem, 1 Apr. 1904, ibid., Vol. 7 fol. 63–4. Idem to idem, 15 Jan. 1905, ibid., Vol. 7 fol. 160; idem to idem, 20 Aug. 1905, ibid., Vol. 7 fol. 241. Porteous, Easter Island, 150. Porteous, Modernization, 18. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 13 Aug. 1895, StAH 621-1 SCO 5 Vol. 3 fol. 170. Lamprecht, SCO, Papeete, to S&K, Hamburg, 18 Mar. 1901, ibid., SCO 6 Vol. 9 fol. 43. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 66. Hoppenstedt, SCO, Papeete, to SCO, Hamburg, 16 Feb. 1900, ibid., SCO 5 Vol. 5 fol. 38; idem to idem, 27 Sept. 1900, ibid., fol. 105; idem to idem, 18 Dec. 1900, ibid., fol. 120; see also Moshe Rapaport, ‘Oysterlust. Islanders, entrepreneurs, and colonial policy over Tuamotu lagoons’, Journal of Pacific History, 30 (1995), 39–52; Y. Malardé, ‘Le palais de la reine Pomaré’, Bulletin de la Société des Études Océaniennes, 65:VI:4 (1939), 129–33. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Kayser, S&K, Hamburg, 5 Sept. 1889, StAH 621-1 SCO 6 Vol. 2 fol. 117. Tati Salmon, Papeete, to Henry Adams, Washington, 26 Feb. 1904, Salmon and Adams, Lettres, 169. Dieter Bromund, Schlubach, Die ersten 125 Jahre (Hamburg 1992). Minutes of the SCO supervisory board from 1885 to 1914, StAH 621-1 SCO 1 Vol. 1. Death certificate of Gustav Godeffroy junior, Hamburg, Archiv Herbert Ruperti. Various letters, ibid. O’Reilly and Teissier, Tahitiens, 66. Jörss, SCO, Papeete, to Kayser, S&K, Hamburg, 7 Mar. 1890, StAH 621-1 SCO 6 Vol. 3 fol. 43–7.