David Dean O'Keefe

David Dean O'Keefe was an Irish man who arrived in Yap, via Savannah Georgia in 1872 as the captain of a Chinese junk.

Stone Money and "King of Yap"

By quarrying quantities of stone money ("Rai Stones") in Palau and importing it to Yap, where it was a form of currency, this trader and adventurer ingratiated himself with the native chiefs and gained a position of trade dominance, outdistancing and enraging his German competitors.

He is said to have acquired such power on the island that he presumed to deport any native whom he considered undesirable, and he even set up a small private battery in front of his property and caused a salute to be fired whenever one of his ships entered the harbor.

When some Palauan natives in 1880 plundered the wreck of one of his ships, O’Keefe was inclined, in the interest, of good will, not to press his claim for repayment. Great Britain, however, took advantage of the occasion to dispatch warships to Palau to collect an indemnity. The matter was settled in 1883 by a small payment, but not until after the village of Melekeok had been razed by a landing party,

When the German administrators took possession in 1899, they largely stripped O’Keefe of his power.

Development of the Copra Industry, Traders like Cheyne and O’Keefe willingly accepted copra, as well as trepang, mother-of-pearl, and other marketable commodities, but it was the Germans who really developed the copra Industry in Micronesia. Godeffroy and Sons, a Hamburg firm which had been active in Samoa, opened a branch on Yap in 1869. Hernsheim and Company, also of Hamburg, established trading stations on Palau, Woleai, and Yap in 1873, and later took over the Godeffroy interests. The Deutsche Handels und Flantagengesellschaft, the largest German firm in the Pacific trade, also entered the Western Carolines, and in 1885 was operating stations at Palau, Ulithi, and Yap. In 1887 the leading German mercantile firms amalgamated to form the powerful Jaluit Company, which maintained a station on Yap. In 1912 it planned to expand operations in the Western Carolines, and for this purpose organized a subsidiary, the West Caroline Company, with which O’Keefe’s firm was amalgamated.

Texts Dealing with O’Keefe

Butler, Janet B. 2001. “East Meets West: Desperately Seeking David Dean O’Keefe from Savannah to Yap.” http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd_legacy

Dash, Mike. 2011. “David O’Keefe: The King of Hard Currency,” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/david-okeefe-the-king-of-hard-currency-37051930/

Hezel, Francis X. 2008. “The Man Who Was Reputed to Be King: David Dean O’Keefe.” Pohnpei. http://www.micsem.org/pubs/articles/historical/O’Keefe.htm

Linton, Benjamin. 1983. “David Dean O’Keefe.” Volume 11. The Savannah Biographies. Savannah. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sav-bios-lane/169/