[China. Japan] Travel album of German navy officer on the SMS Gneisenau

1910-1913. Album containing approx. 300 gelatin silver prints, various sizes (5 x 7 to 12 x 16 cm). Incl. views of Shanghai, Yokohoma and Bombay, as well as extensive photographic documentation of construction work at Qingdao, then a German military base (1898-1914) undergoing development into a city by the German army. The album also features onboard scenes, including Prince Heinrich and Prince Waldemar von Preußen. Supplemented with a few postcards from Japan and China, an original Imperial Navy flag (60 x 40 cm) and various military documents. Housed in Chinese lacquered albums (spines dam.).

The album was made by Karl Kaeding and includes his soldier identification (1919), his "Taufurkunde" certifying his service aboard the SMS Gneisenau (1913) and his permit to leave the internment camp at Bergen (1917). The albums are dedicated to French lieutenant Robert Flichy and include his brevet. *From 1910 to 1914 the SMS Gneisenau patrolled East Asia where she was to observe the rising tensions in China, Japan and Siberia and protect German interests (especially the German home port at Qingdao). After the outbreak of WWI she was sent across the Pacific in order to rendezvous with the rest of the German fleet, but was intercepted by the British and eventually sunk at the battle of the Falkland Islands. Most of its crew perished in the battle and the remaining were captured by the British. This presumably included the maker of the album Karl Kaedig, who eventually ended up in the internment camp in Bergen.