SMS Albatros hoists the German flag over Kosrae, with Kubary as interpreter.

What happened

In 1885 Germany was raising its flag on islands across the Carolines, which Spain also claimed. The warship SMS Albatros, under Captain Max Plüddemann, did so on Kosrae with the naturalist John Kubary as interpreter; four days later Pope Leo XIII proposed that the Carolines belong to Spain, with Germany keeping free trade there.