Hausner Gábor szerk.: A Hadtörténeti Múzeum Értesítője = Acta Musei Militaris in Hungaria. 9. (Budapest, 2007)

ÉRTEKEZÉSEK, TANULMÁNYOK - SZOLECZKY EMESE - CS. LENGYEL BEATRIX: „Az emberevő Canibálok is megjelentek" Az 1896-os Albatros-szerencsétlenség egy túlélő szemével

„AND THEN THE CANNIBALS APPEARED" THE AXBATROS EXPEDITION OF 1896, AS SEEN BY A SURVIVOR In 1896, the Dunántúli Protestáns Lap („Transdanubian Protestant Journal") published a somewhat unusual article, embroidered and dramatised, according to the taste of the period. In a letter written to his family, Seaman Kálmán Neupor, the younger brother of the Reverend Béla Neupor, gave account of a tragedy, which he had been an eyewitness and survivor of three days before, in the island of Guadalcanal. In the course of its scientific mission, the imperial and royal warship ALBATROS sent a land detachment off to the island, where it was attacked by the natives, who massacred the leader, geologist Baron Heinrich Foullon von Norbeck and some of the seamen in his escort brutally, while several other members of the detachment, including Neupor, were severely wounded. The latter survived the adventure by escaping from the island in a forced march, leaving their dead comrades behind. The news of the event became known all over the world, making the expedition notorious. The issue resulted in domestic and international crises, owing to a clash of British, German and Austro-Hungarian interests in the region. Several documents and reports were classified from the beginning, as the expedition, apart from its scientific tasks, was also aimed at searching for nickel, an essential material of Austro-Hungarian ammunitions industry and coin production. The expedition was financed by the Krupp Company from the background. The suspicious conditions of the geologist's death (caused by a bullet wound, although the natives were fighting with stone-axes), led to strict investigation, the documents of which were also classified. Nevertheless, the ALBATROS incident gained notoriety in its time. In 1901, the crew of the imperial and royal corvette LEOPARD erected a stone cross in the scene of the accident, which can be seen even today. In 1911, the mortal remains of the victims were sent home with military honours, to be laid at rest in the Naval Church (Madonna del Mare) of Pola. The Hungarian public, however, was not aware of the fact that Hungarians too were members of both the expedition and the land detachment. Neupor's letter, published in its accurate form for the first time, makes it clear that Wageman, who was the first to notice the natives' attack and who saved others' lives by his shots, was „a Hungarian boy." One of the fallen, Cadet Armand de Beaufort was born in Nagyvárad, (today: Oradea, Romania) and his uncle, a military officer, was notified of his nephew's death as a resident of Pozsony (today: Bratislava, Slovakia). The letter of Kálmán Neupor, written in Hungarian on the spot, together with some photographs, was acquired by the Military History Museum less than a decade ago. Karen Winter's book published only a few pictures in connection with the expedition, and the photos of the Neupor bequest are not identical with those. Furthermore, the museum's material includes a unique picture that portrays the survivors of the incident in Guadalcanal. This is one of the reasons for publishing the photographs, despite their poor condition.