German Pirates and Hawaiian Patriots: The Sinking of the SS Aztec and the United States Entry into the First World War

Abstract

Because of their extensive U-boat campaign, the depiction of Germans as ruthless pirates opposed to democracy and the freedom of the seas had become a ubiquitous and potent trope in Allied propaganda and media throughout the First World War. In Hawai‘i, the debate over how to address German “piracy” against merchant vessels culminated on April 1, 1917, when a German U-boat sank the SS Aztec off the coast of France, killing five Native Hawaiians. A large memorial service was organized in Honolulu on April 22 to honor these fallen heroes and vilify Germany. Though it was a genuine expression of mourning, the memorial also served as political theater and propaganda. As part of a deliberate Americanization process that animated the war effort in Hawai‘i, territorial politicians stressed to the Hawaiian community that Germany had “murdered” some of their own. Hence, the primary ambitions of the service were twofold: to rally support for the war effort amongst Hawaii’s general population and, more specifically, to target Native Hawaiian men for potential recruitment into the military. Using previously neglected Hawaiian language sources, this paper provides biographical sketches of the five Hawaiian victims and one survivor of the Aztec tragedy to highlight the vital role that Hawaiians had played in securing supply chains across the Atlantic Ocean during the First World War. Second, this paper explores how the Aztec memorial service’s portrayal of Germany as a criminal pirate state underscored Hawai‘i’s strategic importance as the United States’ Pacific frontier.