''Libelle'' was a 650-ton iron-hulled

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...

, built in the Free City of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

in 1864. The ship was transporting quicksilver and passengers when she wrecked on the eastern reef of

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

in 1866.

History

''Libelle'' was launched on September 24, 1864 and on October 8, the ship set sail for

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. From Hawaii, ''Libelle'' sailed to the Chinese ports of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Newchwang Yingkou () is a coastal prefecture-level city of central southern Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, on the northeastern shore of Liaodong Bay. It is the third-smallest city in Liaoning with a total area of , and the ninth most populo ...

Shipwreck

On the night of March 4, 1866, ''Libelle'' struck the eastern reef of

during a gale. Commanded by Captain Anton Tobias, the ship was en route from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Among its passengers were the 50-year-old English-born

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

singer Madame

Anna Bishop Anna Bishop (9 January 181018 March 1884) was an English operatic soprano. She sang in many countries on every continent, and was the most widely travelled singer of the 19th century.New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

merchant Martin Schultz, pianist and vocalist Charles Lascelles, Eugene Van Reed who was the first Consul General of the then independent

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

to the Court of the

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his positio ...

, and Imperial Japanese military officer Yabe Kisaboro. After a night on board the vessel now stuck on the reef, the passengers and crew reached the shore with very limited supplies such as some

bedding Bedding, also known as bedclothes or bed linen, is the materials laid above the mattress of a bed for hygiene, warmth, protection of the mattress, and decorative effect. Bedding is the removable and washable portion of a human sleeping environm ...

, a

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

, several bags of

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

and some

keg A keg is a small barrel. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is coated with plastic on th ...

s of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

. After three days of searching and digging on the island for water the crew was able to recover a 200-gallon water tank from the wrecked ship. Valuable cargo was also recovered and buried on the island including some of the 1,000 flasks of mercury (quicksilver), as well as

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s and

precious stones A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

valued at $93,943.08. After three weeks with a dwindling water supply and no sign of rescue, the passengers and crew decided to leave Wake and attempt to sail to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

(the center of the then

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

colony of the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

) on the two remaining boats from ''Libelle''. The 22 passengers and some of the crew sailed in the 22 foot

longboat A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boat ...

under the command of the first mate Rudolf Kausch and the remainder of the crew sailed with Captain Tobias in the 20 foot

gig Gig or GIG may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Gig'' (Circle Jerks album) (1992) * ''Gig'' (Northern Pikes album) (1993) * ''The Gig'', a 1985 film written and directed by Frank D. Gilroy * GIG, a character in ''Hot Wheels AcceleRacers'' ...

. On April 8, 1866, after thirteen days of frequent

squall A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed lasting minutes, as opposed to a wind gust, which lasts for only seconds. They are usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to the ...

s, short rations, and tropical sun, the longboat reached Guam. The gig, commanded by the captain, was lost at sea."The wreck of the Libelle and other early European visitors to Wake Island", ''Spennemann, D. H. R.'', Micronesian Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 4:108–123, 2005

Treasure and cargo salvage

The Spanish Governor of the

, Francisco Moscoso y Lara, welcomed and provided aid to ''Libelle'' shipwreck survivors on Guam. He also ordered the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Ana'', owned and commanded by his son-in-law George H. Johnston, to be dispatched with the first mate Kausch to search for the missing gig and then sail on to Wake Island to confirm the

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

story and recover the buried

treasure Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...

. ''Ana'' departed Guam on April 10 and, after two days at Wake Island, found and salvaged the buried coins and precious stones as well as a small quantity of the quicksilver. Over the next two years other ships sailed to the shipwreck site to conduct salvage operations. In January 1867, the American schooner, ''Caroline Mills'' brought a

diving suit A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit may also incorporate a breathing gas supply (such as for a standard diving dress or atmospheric diving suit). but in most cases the te ...

, then commonly known as "submarine armour", to ''Libelle'' wreck site. Only a few flasks of quicksilver were recovered using the diving suit so Captain Nickols decided to abandon the effort. On May 9, 1867, the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Hokulele'' from

, with a party headed by Thomas R. Foster, arrived at Wake and was joined by a

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The Chinese captain did not reveal his ship's name. Together the two ships recovered 495 flasks of the quicksilver with 247 flasks going to ''Hokulele''. In October 1867, the Honolulu schooner ''Moi Wahine'' arrived at Wake and Captain English, Thomas R. Foster (who also sailed with ''Hokulele'') and nine Hawaiian

divers Diver or divers may refer to: *Diving (sport), the sport of performing acrobatics while jumping or falling into water *Practitioner of underwater diving, including: **scuba diving, **freediving, **surface-supplied diving, **saturation diving, a ...

were landed on the island with part of their supplies. Captain Zenas Bent, first mate Mr. White and seven Hawaiian seamen remained on board the ship. In the evening on the second day, when the winds picked up and shifted, the crew of the schooner pulled anchor and put out to sea to avoid striking the reef. The next day ''Moi Wahine'' did not return having perished in a

gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).distilling water. With plenty of

potable water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ag ...

, fish, birds and eggs, the men were able to survive and live without serious inconvenience. After five months, the British brig ''Cleo'' arrived at Wake, rescued the

castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left a ...

s and recovered 240 flasks of quicksilver, some

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

and chain."Libelle Wreckers", ''Hawaiian Gazette'', Honolulu, Wednesday, May 27, 1868, pg. 1

References

{{1866 shipwrecks 1864 ships Ships built in Bremen (state) Barques Maritime incidents in March 1866 Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Merchant ships of the Hanseatic League