Robert Rasch

Ludwig August Robert Rasch (1852 – 31 October 1938) was a German sailor who became the first resident administrator of Nauru. Arriving on the island in 1884 during a period of civil unrest, he played a key role in facilitating the German annexation of Nauru. He lived most of his life on Nauru, where he married a 15-year-old girl and raised a family with her.

Biography Rasch was born in Königsberg in East Prussia in 1852. He emigrated to the United States and worked as a sailor for Crawford of San Francisco, sailing between the US and Pacific Islands. He was shipwrecked off Kosrae in 1883, after which he gave up sailing and moved to Nauru, where he worked as a trader on behalf of Hernsheim & Co.

Rasch returned to Germany in 1912 for a holiday. However, the outbreak of World War I prevented him from returning to Nauru until 1922, during which time Ebagon had died.