Die Société Commerciale de l'Océanie (SCO): die Flotte einer Hamburger Handelsfirma in der östlichen Südsee (1876-1914)

Abstract

Until its expropriation at the beginning of World War I, the Société Commerciale de l’Océanie (SCO), founded in 1876 as a German joint-stock company in Hamburg, engaged in intensive trading with the islands of Eastern Polynesia. This involved the import of manufactured goods and foodstuffs from Europe, the United States and New Zealand, and the export of local products such as copra, cotton, mother-of-pearl shells, vanilla and several other articles. On the most important islands, manufactories and trading posts were in charge of the sale of food and manufactured goods and the purchase of export products. The SCO’s zone of economic influence extended to almost all the inhabited islands of Eastern Polynesia. Since a regular shipping route developed only slowly, and floating sales stores and product collection-points were required in addition to the fixed trading posts, the company operated the largest schooner fleet in the large region consisting of around one hundred widely scattered islands. The trading company also experimented with the construction and use of gasoline schooners, invested in a Lübeck-built wooden steamer, and tried its luck as a sailing-ship company on the routes between San Francisco, Valparaiso and Papeete. The essay examines the reasons for the company to have a fleet of its own - a major investment at that time - and also the size, variety and use of such a fleet.