Savage Harvest

by Carl Hoffman

  168 van de Waal received a radio call: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

  168 It was dark and the sea was quiet: Ibid.

  168 He was asleep in the men’s house: Ben van Oers, HN magazine (December 1996), National Archive of the Netherlands.

  168 “Fire has fallen from the heavens”: Ibid.

  168 Wim van de Waal was in it: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011; also confirmed by Dutch cables, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  169 “Mike is gone,” Wassing said: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

  169 And now he was there, in the family home: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 4.

  169 “wary and watching”: Ibid.

  169 He held a yellow cablegram in his hands: Ibid.

  169 Nelson received a radio telephone call from Hollandia: “Rockefeller in Honolulu,” New York Times, November 21, 1961.

  169 “I’m headed out there,” he told reporters: Ibid.

  170 “I am extremely sorry to hear about your son”: Ibid.

  170 chartered a Pan American Boeing 707: “Rockefeller Search Joined by Natives,” New York Times, November 25, 1961.

  170 “We found ourselves within a new group”: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 7.

  18. NOVEMBER 1961

  172 “In connection with the enormous publicity”: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cable 7425 to Ministry of the Interior, Hollandia, November 21, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  173 “As a consequence of the tragic disappearance”: Ibid.

  174 On Monday, November 20, a Dutch DeHavilland Beaver: The search is detailed in cables and telexes between government officials and military personnel in the Netherlands and New Guinea at the National Archive of the Netherlands in The Hague.

  174 A PBY Catalina flying boat was brought in from Lae: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cable 7425 to Ministry of the Interior, Hollandia, November 21, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  174 Ken Dresser and missionary pilot Betty Greene: “Explorer Sought in Crocodile-Infested Jungle,” New York Times, November 22, 1961.

  174 The Dutch patrol boats Tasman, Eendracht, and Snellius: Government cables, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  174 In Biak a Dutch marine tied gerry cans to his waist: Ibid.

  174 As a test, the navy dropped gerry cans into the water: Ibid.

  174 cabled that he was overwhelmed: Ibid.

  174 Nelson and Mary paused briefly in Biak: Ibid.

  175 “My daughter Mary and I are very satisfied”: “Gouverneur Rockefeller naar erauke vertrokken (2)” (press report summary), November 23, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  175 “a flat, ugly little settlement”: Peter Hastings, “The Press, the Press, the Awful Press,” The Bulletin, December 23, 1961.

  176 “The story we had all arrived to report”: Ibid.

  176 “He was,” remebered Broekhuijse: Author’s interview with Jan Broekhuijse, Nieuwkoop, Netherlands, December 2011.

  176 “For the first time in my life”: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 18.

  176 “The coastline here is dismal”: Letter from Eliot Elisofon (undated, recipient unknown), Eliot Elisofon Papers, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas–Austin.

  177 René Wassing was trotted out: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 19.

  177 “mirrored my own deep anxiety”: Ibid., p. 20.

  177 “I can provide patrol planes”: CINC American Pacific Fleet, Netherlands naval communications cable to CINC Netherlands Navy New Guinea, November 23, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  177 “I am considering your kind offer”: Admiral Netherlands New Guinea, Netherlands naval communications cable to CINC American Pacific Fleet, November 23, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  177 “The Indonesian minister of Foreign Affairs has suggested Friday”: Reuters, November 24, 1961, in collection of press clippings sent by the attaché for New Guinea affairs, Dutch embassy, Canberra, Australia, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  178 “After consultations with Governor Nelson Rockefeller”: COSTRING Netherlands naval communications cable to BDZ, November 24, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  178 officials in Hollandia had “abandoned all hope”: Associated Press, November 23, 1961, in collection of press clippings sent by the attaché for New Guinea affairs, Dutch embassy, Canberra, Austrailia, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  178 “There is no longer any hope of finding”: “Dutch Rejoin Navy Hunt,” New York Times, November 24, 1961.

  178 “I’m a realist,” the governor said: “Rockefeller Hunt Joined by Natives,” New York Times, November 25, 1961.

  178 “If Michael reached shore”: Ibid.

  178 “for having inspired so much loyalty and affection”: Ibid.

  178 “Rockefeller enthusiastic about rescue action”: Hollandia, telegram to Department of Interior, The Hague, November 25, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  179 two Australian army Bell 47 G2-A helicopters: Captain Dick Knight, “The Search for Michael Rockefeller,” Fourays Journal 1, no. 1 (March 1995), available at: http://beckerhelicopters.com/oscar/oscar-joins-the-army/Oscar-looks-for-rockefeller.html.

  179 ninety miles along the coast and six miles inland: Ibid.

  179 “a torrid, hostile wilderness”: Ibid.

  179 a red Johnson gasoline can for an outboard engine: Dutch naval communications to Ministry of Interior, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  179 The tank was shown to Wassing: “Rockefeller Search Joined by Natives,” New York Times, November 25, 1961.

  179 Nelson looking like he was at a country club: Photos in OSC Archives.

  179 “Is this yours”: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

  180 They landed briefly in the Catalina: Morgan, Beginning with the End, pp. 30–31.

  19. NOVEMBER 1961

  182 First, sharks rarely attack humans: Author’s interview with George H. Burgess, Gainesville, FL, August 2012.

  183 Van Kessel immediately sent his assistant: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.

  183 Gabriel saw nothing out of the ordinary: Ibid.

  183 Van Kessel followed him: Ibid.

  183 Van Kessel linked up with the Tasman: Ibid.

  183 Gabriel, meanwhile, spent the entire day: Ibid.

  184 The villagers fled into the jungle: Ibid.; author’s interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012.

  184 the village emptied at the sight: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962; author’s interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012.

  184 They said they knew nothing of Michael: Ibid.

  184 In Atsj, von Peij watched as ship after ship: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.

  184 In Atsj, von Peij waited a week to let: Ibid.

  185 “There are some men who want to meet you”: Ibid.

  185 “Let them come,” he said: Ibid.

  20. DECEMBER 1961

  186 van Kessel started hearing: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.

  186 van Kessel sent Gabriel back to Otsjanep: Ibid.

  187 “We saw a fierce giant snake”: Ibid.

  187 But Bere went on a rampage: Ibid.

  187 Van Kessel sent a canoe: Ibid.

  187 “Men of Otsjanep,” Gabriel told them: Ibid.

  187 Pep had a new dagger: Ibid.

  187 He “saw they were acting”: Ibid.

  187 Van Kessel wasn’t sure: Ibid.

  188 On December 9, von Peij arrived in Omadesep: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.

  188 He felt unsettled: Ibid.

  188 in walked four men: I
bid.

  188 They wore shorts: Ibid.

  188 “Okay,” von Peij said, “tell me your story”: Ibid.

  188 Bit by bit, it spilled out: Ibid.

  189 “Was he wearing glasses”: Ibid.

  189 Their answer burned in his memory: Ibid.

  189 “Fin-tsjem aotepetsj ara”: Ibid.

  189 “What about his thigh bones”: Ibid.

  189 Pep had one thigh bone, Ajim the other: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.

  189 The killings in Otsjanep almost four years earlier: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.

  189 Von Peij was overwhelmed: Ibid.

  189 “Nda kapak to”: Ibid.

  190 Von Peij scratched a note: Ibid.

  190 On December 12, van Kessel arrived in Agats: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.

  190 On December 15, back in Basim, van Kessel: Ibid.

  191 Gabriel took the note that night to Nijoff: Ibid.

  191 Five days later, on December 20, Ajim, Fin: Ibid.

  191 “THEY DID NOT DENY THE MURDER,” van Kessel wrote: Ibid.

  191 “Resident Merauke [Eibrink Jansen] received through controller Agats”: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cable 7740 to Ministry of Internal Affairs, December 21, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  22. JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH 1962

  206 On December 20, 1961, one month after Michael disappeared: P. J. Platteel, cable to Dutch embassy, Canberra, Australia, December 20, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  207 “The entire area has been extensively searched”: P. J. Platteel telegram to Nelson Rockefeller, December 21, 1961, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  207 “All of us in the family will be eternally grateful”: “New Guinea Dutch End Search for Rockefeller’s Missing Son,” New York Times, December 22, 1961.

  207 Van Kessel and von Peij named fifteen men: Van Kessel, report to Tillemans, January 23, 1962.

  208 Van Kessel had been pushing for a trip home: Herman Tillemans, letter to Cornelius van Kessel, December 27, 1961, OSC Archives.

  209 “From the Resident I got approval to see”: Ibid.

  209 “I wrote my bishop”: Author’s interview with Hubertus von Peij, Tilburg, Netherlands, December 2011.

  209 “In the matter of Mr. M. Rockefeller”: Herman Tillemans, letter to Hubertus von Peij and Cornelius van Kessel, February 1, 1962, OSC Archives.

  209 “What is most puzzling to me,” Sowada wrote: Alphonse Sowada, letter to Herman Tillemans, February 22, 1962, OSC Archives.

  210 “I received your letter in relation to”: Hubertus von Peij, letter to Herman Tillemans, February 3, 1962, OSC Archives.

  211 “Everywhere it’s assumed that”: Herman Tillemans, letter to F. R. J. Eibrink Jensen, February 14, 1962, OSC Archives.

  211 “I want to ask you to make clear to Father van Kessel”: Herman Tillemans, letter to the Provencial, February 25, 1962, OSC Archives.

  211 “I rely on you to forbid van Kessel”: Herman Tillemans, letter to the Provencial, February 28, 1961, OSC Archives.

  212 December 2011 report by the Dutch Conference of Bishops: “Catholic Church Involved in Abuse of Dutch Children, Report Finds,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2011.

  212 the most common punishment was a quiet transfer: Ibid.

  212 On March 4, Father van de Wouw sent Gabriel: Anton van de Wouw, letter to Herman Tillemans, March 4, 1962, OSC Archives.

  212 “Gab did not pick up anything in Ocenep”: Anton van de Wouw, letter to Herman Tillemans, March 23, 1962, OSC Archives.

  212 “If you get new information on the case of Rockefeller”: Herman Tillemans, letter to Anton van de Wouw, April 4, 1962, OSC Archives.

  213 a Dutch priest working in Asmat, W. Hekman: “Zendeling Hekman: Rockefeller Jr. is opgegeten; Wraak tegen moorden van politie,” De Waarheid, March 29, 1962.

  213 “Press reports from the Netherlands”: Dutch embassy in Washington, DC, cable to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, March 27, 1962, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  213 “Similar rumors also circulated”: Ibid.

  214 Nevertheless, the denials did the trick: “Rockefeller Not Eaten by Cannibals,” Canberra Times, March 29, 1962.

  214 “It must have been strange for the people there”: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

  215 “The answer,” van de Wouw wrote: Anton van de Wouw, letter to Herman Tillemans, May 15, 1962, OSC Archives.

  216 Van de Wouw also reported that Otsjanep: Ibid.

  216 “I needed proof, not just names”: Author’s interview with Wim van de Waal, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, December 2011.

  216 “He was very afraid”: Ibid.

  23. NOVEMBER 2012

  223 latitude and longitude of where Wassing: Dutch Navy, telexes, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  224 Gananath Obeyesekere called “cannibal talk”: Gananath Obeyesekere, The Man-Eating Myth and Human Sacrifice in the South Seas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005).

  228 In the most striking example: Frank Trenkenschuh, “Cargo Cult in Asmat: Examples and Prospects,” in Trenkenschuh, ed., An Asmat Sketchbook Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 59–65.

  228 valued by insurance appraisers in August 1962: Insurance of the Michael Rockefeller Asmat Collection, Museum of Primitive Art, MMA Archives.

  228 In 2012 the Met hosted six million visitors: Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Metropolitan Museum Announces 6.26 Million Attendance,” July 16, 2012, available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/news/2012/attendance.

  229 the lovely canoe that holds prominence in the Met: Author’s interview with Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress, Agats, Papua, December 2012.

  229 “to evoke in part the spirit of Asmat life”: Metropolitan Museum of Art, press release, September 11, 1962, MMA Archives.

  229 “When an Asmat warrior is slain by an enemy villager”: Ibid.

  230 who answered in June: Anton van de Wouw, letter to Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 26, 1962, MMA Archives.

  230 a letter van Kessel himself wrote: Cornelius van Kessel, letter to Robert Goldwater, July 3, 1974, MMA Archives.

  230 letters between Rockefeller’s lawyers and the Netherlands: Letters between Rockefeller attorneys at Milbank, Tweed, Hope and Hadley and the Dutch government, February 8, April 18, May 3, June 6, and July 6, 1962, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  230 valuing his estate: “Rockefeller Son Ruled Dead; Estate Valued at $660,000,” New York Times, February 2, 1964.

  231 “It would be of great assistance”: William Jackson of Milbank, Tweed, Hope and Hadley, letter to Dutch consul general in New York, February 8, 1962, National Archive of the Netherlands.

  232 had explained his findings in a letter: Machlin, The Search for Michael Rockefeller, p. 193.

  232 “When Mr. Whitlam remarked that the disappearance”: New York Times, May 8, 1975.

  232 “I discovered something odd”: Frank Monte, The Spying Game: My Extraordinary Life as a Private Investigator (Sydney, Australia: Vapula Press, 2003), p. 180.

  233 “Rumors and stories of Michael’s having made it to shore”: Morgan, Beginning with the End, p. 36.

  234 “The family refuses to believe any version of the story”: Author’s telephone interview with Peter Matthiessen, November 2011.

  24. NOVEMBER 2012

  249 Pirien itself was divided into five: Author’s interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012.

  249 Indonesian government officials burned all the jeus: Frank Trenkenschuh, “Some Additional Notes on Zegwaard from a 1970 Vantage,” in Trenkenschuh, ed., An Asmat Sketchbook Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 31–36.

  250 Father Jan Smit was shot to death: Frank Trenkenschuh, “An Outline of Asmat History in Perspective,” in Trenkenschuh, ed., An Asmat Sketchbook Nos. 1 and 2, p. 32.

  250
Only in the early 1970s did Indonesia begin softening: Ibid., pp. 31–36.

  252 Fumeripitsj drummed the Asmat to life: Gerbrands, ed., The Asmat: The Journal of Michael Clark Rockefeller, p. 21.

  257 “Throughout my life . . . I have been searching”: Schneebaum, Secret Places, p. 3.

  25. DECEMBER 2012

  260 “Kami is my love”: Kosmos Kokai, song translated by Amates Owun.

  261 “Bis is my wife”: Ibid.

  266 Fin replaced Osom as the head of the Otsjanep jeu: Author’s interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012.

  269 Van de Wouw’s photos are heartrending: OSC Archives.

  269 By early November 1962: The journals of Anton van de Wouw, De Kasuarinenjust (1962–1969), OSC Archives.

  269 “Now and then you could see dogs”: Ibid.

  271 Australian army helicopters had been dispatched: Ibid.; author’s interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012.

  272 who had taken over the dead men’s leadership positions: Author’s interview with Kosmos Kokai, Basim and Pirien Village, Papua, February 2012.

  274 tensions in Otsjanep reached a crescendo: Anton van de Wouw, De Kasuarinenjust (1962–1969), OSC Archives.

  275 Ajim was shot by an arrow: Ibid.

  275 demanded the shooter’s nine-year-old sister: Ibid.

  275 “Somebody has to interfere,” he wrote: Ibid.

  275 “the two sides of the villages are not yet back together”: Ibid.

  Select Bibliography

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  Arens, William. The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthrophagy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.

  Avramescu, Catalin. An Intellectual History of Cannibalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.

  Bickford Berzock, Kathleen, and Christa Clarke, eds. Representing Africa in American Art Museums. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.

  Chichester, Sir Francis. Gipsy Moth Circles the World. New York: Coward-McCann, 1968.

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