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Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the
Finschhafen was surveyed in 1884 by the German scientist and explorer
Pacific Wrecks information
Populated places in Morobe Province {{MorobeProvince-geo-stub
Huon Peninsula
Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The peninsula is dominated by the steep Saruwaged and Finisterr ...
in Morobe Province
Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands ...
of Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U.S. Navy men.
History
The area was charted by the British navigator CaptainJohn Moresby
Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby.
Life and career
Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset ...
in 1873–74.
Finschhafen was surveyed in 1884 by the German scientist and explorer Otto Finsch
Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earned him a doctorate ...
who gave his name to the town. A town was built in 1885 as part of the colony of German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
and was named after the discoverer (-hafen = -harbour). In 1886, Johann Flierl
Johann Flierl (16 April 1858 – 30 September 1947) was a pioneer Lutheran missionary in New Guinea. He established mission schools and organised the construction of roads and communication between otherwise remote interior locations. Under his l ...
and two other Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
missionaries settled in the area, creating a Mission station at Simbang. A malaria epidemic in 1891 caused the town to be abandoned by the German plantation owners and government officials. It was resettled afterward and was claimed by the Germans in 1894. It was finally abandoned in 1901.
Finschhafen was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
on 10 March 1942 during World War II. Australian forces recaptured the town during the Huon Peninsula campaign
The Huon Peninsula campaign was a series of battles fought in north-eastern Papua New Guinea in 1943–1944 during the Second World War. The campaign formed the initial part of an offensive that the Allies launched in the Pacific in late 1943 ...
on 2 October 1943. The US built Naval Base Finschhafen
Naval Base Finschhafen was a United States Navy base built during World War II at Finschhafen on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The US Navy built a PT boat base, Dreger Harbor PT Boat Base, boat repair depot, and ...
in 1943-1944.
On 2 February 2012, the passenger boat MV ''Rabaul Queen'', which had 350 or more passengers on board, sank away from the town, killing six people, injuring seven, and leaving at least 100 but possibly over 300 missing.
Climate
Finschhafen has atropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...
(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round. Unlike many places in Papua New Guinea, Finschhafen and the southern part of Huon Peninsula
Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The peninsula is dominated by the steep Saruwaged and Finisterr ...
experience a rainfall maximum during the south-east monsoon (low sun season) because the Huon mountains block the north-westerly winds during the high sun season. The variation in Finschhafen is more than Lae because of stronger rain-shadow from the north-west monsoon winds.
See also
* Finschhafen District * Finschhafen Urban LLG *Battle of Finschhafen
The Battle of Finschhafen was part of the Huon Peninsula campaign in New Guinea during World War II and was fought between Australian and Japanese forces. The fighting took place between 22 September and 24 October 1943 following the landing a ...
*
References
External links
Pacific Wrecks information
Populated places in Morobe Province {{MorobeProvince-geo-stub