Michael
C. Rockefeller, 23-year-old son of New York Governor Nelson
Rockefeller, arrived in West New Guinea in 1961 as part of the
Harvard Peabody expedition, to study and film the Baliem Valley
Dani. He shot still for the group, and rolled sound for the
documentary film Dead Birds. Rockefeller had a chance to briefly
visit the area near Agats, and was amazed by the Asmat sculpture
he saw. After short trip back home, he returned to obtain as
many pieces as he could for an exhibit in New York at the Museum
of Primitive Art. His partner on this collection trip was Rene
Wassing, a Dutch expert familiar with Asmat art who was to help
Rockefeller choose the best pieces. The two hired a couple of
Asmat guides, Simon and Leo, and obtained an outboard-powered
catamaran. Rockefeller, who was also shown around by Adrian
A. Gerbrands, bought a number of fine carvings.
But in Saturday, November 18, disaster struck. Crossing the
mouth of Betsj River at the change of tide, their boat capsized.
Simon and Leo swam ashore to get help, and the collectors spent
the night on their upended craft. The next morning, Rockefeller
became impatient. Although Wassing urged him not to go, the
young man was determined, and seeing the shore several miles
away he emptied the gas tank, strapped it and an empty jerry
can together with his belt, and headed for shore. It was the
last anyone saw of him. Wassing was soon rescued, because Simon
and Leo had made to shore and gone for help, but Michael was
nowhere to be found. Governor Rockefeller and Michael's twin
sister, Mary Strawbridge, flew to Agasts to direct the search
effort, attracting some 75 reporters in their wake. The press
had a field day, reporting that Michael had been eaten by cannibals.
No trace of him was found, and Governor Rockefeller and Strawbridge
returned to the United States, grief-stricken.
"I don't know what happened to him," Wassing later told a reporter.
"But I am almost certain that he didn't get to shore. Even if
you are only 30 feet from the shore, you don't stand a chance
against that abnormally heavy tide". Although the rough seas
in particular (the crocodile and shark hazards are overstated)
mitigate against Michael having ever reached shore, it is possible
that the press headlines were correct. After all, the guides
made it, and Rockefeller was an excellent swimmer. Proponents
of the theory that Rockefeller was killed by the Asmat offer
some intriguing circumstantial evidence. Several years earlier,
Dutch police sent to investigate ahead-hunting incident killed
the chief, two warriors and two women in the village of Otsjanep,
on the Ewta River south of the Betsj. It would have been conventional
for the village to avenge these deaths. Any member of the white
"tribe" who came along would have made a suitable victim. Given
the strong tide, it is impossible to determine exactly where
he may have come ashore. But it is possible that he landed in
Otsjanep's sago fields, which where in the area. Ajam, then
chief of Otsjanep, was the son of a man killed by the Dutch
police in 1958. Moreover Rockefeller, who had visited Otsjanep
earlier to commission some carrying, had then brought a long
men from Omadesep as guides, unaware that the two tribes were
the bitterest of enemies. |
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