This photograph belongs to a collection taken by seaman Claus Franzen on board the German Imperial Navy’s SMS Bismarck during its first cruise though the Pacific in 1879–80. The photographs record stopovers at Society Islands, Rarotonga, Samoa and Sydney, where the ship’s arrival in Sydney was timed for the opening of the Garden Palace and the Sydney International Exhibition in September 1879. Upon his return, in 1880, Franzen printed his photos and bound them into a sumptuous photograph album which was presented to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.