The ''Markomannia'' incident was a conflict between Haitian rebels and the German Empire in 1902, sparked by the boarding of the

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

steamer ''Markomannia'' by rebel naval forces.

Incident

The ''Markomannia'' (3335 BRT, 1890) was a steamer of the

Hamburg America Line The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...

on the West Indies-Hamburg route, commanded by Captain Nansen. On 2 September 1902 she was stopped off the Haitian port of

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ht, Kap Ayisyen; "Haitian Cape"), typically spelled Cape Haitien in English and often locally referred to as or , is a commune of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the department of Nord. Previousl ...

by the Haitian gunboat '' Crête-à-Pierrot'' and searched for contraband. The ''Crête à Pierrot'' was under the control of

Anténor Firmin Joseph Auguste Anténor Firmin (18 October 1850 – 19 September 1911), better known as Anténor Firmin, was a Haitian people, Haitian barrister and philosopher, pioneering anthropology, anthropologist, journalist, and politician. Firmin is best k ...

's faction, which was rebelling against the provisional government of president Boissond Canal. The commander of the ''Pierrot'' was rebel admiral

Hammerton Killick Hammerton Killick (April 18, 1856 – September 6, 1902) was an admiral in the Haitian Navy. He was killed in the 1902 Firmin rebellion when he refused to surrender his ship to the German warship . A naval base in Port-au-Prince is named after ...

. Killick assumed that the ''Markommania'' was carrying weapons and supplies to government forces. She was thus searched by a boarding party and, despite protests from Nansen and the German consul in Cap-Haïtien, transferred the weapons and supplies on board to the ''Pierrot''. The ''Markomannia'' was then allowed to continue her voyage, delayed but undamaged.

Battle between SMS ''Panther'' and ''Crete-à-Pierrot''

German residents had already been harmed in Haiti's civil war and so after the incident the German minister-resident in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, Francsen, immediately called in a German warship. The

Kaiserliche Marine {{italic title The adjective ''kaiserlich'' means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the ''Kaiser'' ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control. The term wa ...

sent the SMS ''Panther'' to find the rebel ship. Admiral Killick evacuated his crew and blew up the aft magazines of ''Crête-à-Pierrot'', which was by then under fire from the ''Panther'' commanded by Richard Eckermann. Killick and four crewmen went down with the ship. There were concerns about how the United States would view the action in the context of the

Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was a United States foreign policy position that opposed European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It held that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers was a potentially hostile act ...

. But despite legal advice describing the sinking as "illegal and excessive", the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

endorsed the action. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' declared that "Germany was quite within her rights in doing a little housecleaning on her own account".

Aftermath

Bibliography

* o.V.: ''Die Vernichtung des haitianischen Rebellenkreuzers "Crete à Pierrot" durch S.M.Kbt. "Panther"'', in: ''Marine-Rundschau'', 13. Jg., 1902, S. 1189-1197. * Fritz Otto Busch: ''Traditionshandbuch der Kriegsmarine'', München/Berlin 1937, S. 114. * Gerhard Wiechmann: ''Die preußisch-deutsche Marine in Lateinamerika 1866-1914. Eine Studie deutscher Kanonenbootpolitik'', Bremen 2002, S. 72-80.

External links

Le navire "La Crete a Pierrot".
Pikliz.com, 28. February 2006
Die ''Markomannia'' on the Miramar Ships Index

{{1902 shipwrecks Imperial German Navy Republic of Haiti (1859–1957) 1902 in Germany Military history of Latin America Conflicts in 1902 Foreign relations of the German Empire Battles involving Haiti Naval battles involving Germany Maritime incidents in 1902 1902 in the German colonial empire