SMS Cormoran Commemorated on Guam

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. October 14, 2008

TUMON, Guam, April 11, 2007. The SMS Cormoran, which was scuttled at the start of World War I in Guam's Apra Harbor, was commemorated by two very moving memorial ceremonies on Saturday, April 7, 2007. The first ceremony took place at sea above the site of where the Cormoran has rested for the past 90 years; the second took place in the US Naval Cemetery at the memorial built by Cormoran survivors and the gravesites of the six sailors who perished on April 7, 1917 as the vessel sank.

The wreath laying ceremony at sea, or "Koronan Tasi," was made extra special by the participation of an authentic outrigger canoe from the Caroline Island of Satawal. This tiny atoll played an important part in the Cormoran's history by using their canoes to obtain and report information to the Cormoran about the location of Japanese ships in the area. The Japanese had chased the Cormoran throughout Pacific and the Satawalese saved the crew on numerous occasions through the use of their canoes. On Saturday, a crew from Satawal sailed their outrigger canoe over the Cormoran's final resting place and laid the wreath at sea. The wreath itself was a gift from the Arizona Memorial Museum Association.

Coconuts were also laid at sea as a tribute to the people of Lamotrek, who fed the crew of the SMS Cormoran for two months by supplying them with two coconuts per crewmember per day. Coconut oil was also used as a fuel additive by the Cormoran, which enabled it to leave the Caroline Islands, sailing towards the Marianas. Without the assistance of the islanders of Satawal and Lamotrek, the SMS Cormoran would not have ultimately made it to Guam, where she remains to this day.

The memorial service at sea was conducted by Historian, Toni Ramirez of the Department of Parks & Recreation, in both Chamorro, the native language of Guam, and English. Ramirez was the main organizer of all the commemoration ceremonies and events, spending countless months conducting research and interviews to tell the story of the SMS Cormoran accurately and with respect. Ramirez continues to conduct lectures on the Cormoran at the T. Stell Newman Visitor Center, War in the Pacific National Historical Park, located at the Main Entrance of Naval Station in Piti until April 15th.

"Koronon Tanu," the ceremony at the Cormoran memorial site at the US Naval Cemetery took place later in the afternoon. The memorial began with Ramirez giving a brief history of how the SMS Cormoran came to Guam in 1914 and its subsequent scuttling at the beginning of World War I. The Guam Territorial Band followed, playing the US National Anthem, the Chamorro Hymn, and the German National Anthem with the beautiful Pacific Ocean as a backdrop. Members of Guam's German community attended, along with government officials, community members, and select crew from the Navy's HCS-25 squadron, which cares and maintains the US Naval Cemetery in Hagat~na.

At the cemetery, German visitor Werner Uhl was given the honor of placing the wreath on the memorial built by survivors of the Cormoran. Representatives from Guam's German community placed a coconut upon each of the six graves, in remembrance of the crew's affinity for the fruit that once saved them from starvation. Guam residents also came to pay their respects; Sirena Lagua~na laid small woven praying angels on each grave and Gillian Hardman brought flowers for each of the six sailors.

The commemoration events for the SMS Cormoran continue through April 15th with a photo exhibit and display of relics brought up from the Cormoran, before such pilfering was prohibited and prior to its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. For more information, contact the Department of Parks and Recreation at 475-6296.