SMS PANTHER sinks Haitian CRETE A PIEROT

[Mariner]

In 1902 a naval action took place off the Haitian coast where the German gunboat SMS PANTHER sank the Haitian gunboat CRETE A PIEROT. There is scant information written in English on this action. I found a little bit of info in an excellent book on the history of Haiti. Another good source was the New York Times
archives, whiched yielded 10 articles written about the battle in its immediate aftermath. It provided accounts of the action and the political reactions of other countries. Overall, it is not a lot of in depth information. And the NY Times articles were written by reporters, not military experts. Is anyone out there familiar with this minor battle and any information sources on it (English or German)?

Thanks very much.

Kevin

[Peter H]

Hi Kevin

A previous limited discussion on the Caribbean and Germany here:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=87588

Hopefully someone with access to German sources can fill us in more.

Regards,
Peter

[Mariner]

Hello Peter,
Thank you for the site. First time I've read about the "shootout" in Venezuela. Perhaps Hugo Chavez should study history a bit more. Seriously, I have been doing a lot of research on the Kaiserliche Marine over the past year. It is a very interesting subject about which most people (those few with an interest in history) in the US just are not concerned. There isn't much in English besides a handful of books, mostly written by British authors. And most of that is about WW1 or the runup to it. Needless to say, my high school German translation skills have been getting quite the workout. Hoping to see a few more posts.

Thanks again,

Kevin

[JayDee]

The Panther was the gunboat that got Germany in trouble at Agadir in 1911, wasn't it?

[Peter H]

Another version:

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/549.html

The case of Haitian Admiral Hamilton Killick is another outstanding example of Haitian resistance. At the start of the last century, both the U.S. and Germany deployed Caribbean naval squadrons. The United States was planning to build the Panama Canal to tie its Pacific coast to the Eastern seaboard and further penetrate into Latin America. Germany wanted to project its military power to reinforce its commercial and financial push into Haiti.

In 1902, Germany was meddling in a Haitian power struggle, backing one leader while Admiral Killick backed another. Kerns describes what happened on Sep. 6 of that year. There was a major political struggle going on at the time between Nord Alexis and Anténor Firmin over taking power in Port-au-Prince, after the precipitous departure of President Tirésis Simon Sam [1896-1902], Kerns wrote. Admiral Killick, who commanded the patrol ship La Crête-à-Pierrot, supported Firmin and consequently had confiscated a German ship transporting arms and munitions to the provisional Haitian government of Alexis... [which] ordered another German warship, the Panther, to seize the Crête-à-Pierrot. But it didn’t realize the determination and courage of Admiral Killick. At Gonaïves, the Germans had the surprise of their life. When the German ship appeared off the roadstead of the city, Admiral Killick, who was then ashore, hurried on board and ordered his whole crew to abandon the ship. The Germans did not understand this maneuver. Once the [Haitian] sailors were out of danger, Admiral Killick together with Dr. Coles, who also did not want to leave the vessel, wrapped himself in the Haitian flag, like Captain Laporte in 1803, and blew the Crête-à-Pierrot up by firing at the munitions. The German sailors did not even dream of an act so heroic.

Through his self-detonation, Killick not only denied the Germans possession of a Haitian ship and the German munitions it had seized, he also came close to blowing up the Panther, according to one German crewman who wrote a postcard home (Postal History: Germany -- Haiti -- United States at http://home.earthlink.net/~rlcw).

[danebrog]

The article is in some details slightly inaccurate concerning the german involvement, but...

In short word terms the New York Times wrote 1902:
"The Governements we recognize in the countries south of us would be delighted to have
us proceed against their rebels as ´pirates´ and sink and destroy them as enemies of the
human race. They are enemies only of a particular Government, and so long as they
conduct their insurrectionary operations in such a manner as not to interfere with us or
our commercial rights we have no right to interfere with them.

Here you find pictures of the Crete-a-Pierrot and Admiral Killick:
http://public.fotki.com/pikliz/very_old ... tled7.html
http://public.fotki.com/pikliz/very_old ... tled8.html