The Nauruan Civil War was fought from 1878 to 1888, between forces loyal to incumbent King Aweida of Nauru and those seeking to depose him in favour of a rival claimant.

For the majority of the war, the loyalists and the rebels found themselves in a stalemate, with one side controlling the northern and the other the southern part of the island.

When the British captain John Fearn came to Nauru in 1798, the island had been avoided by sailors, due to its notoriety as a station for pirates.

Six years later, an Auckland-dwelling British sea captain named Frederick Moss came in his schooner, the Buster, landing on Nauru while his ship was being reloaded with copra.

The war helped neither the island's copra production nor the interests and security of the German merchants, who had established cacao plantations and other agricultural enterprises.

The armed German seamen met with Harris and returned with the first European settlers, as well as a Christian missionary from the Gilbert Islands.