Beginning in 1907 the German colonial administration began land reforms and required newly created owners to perform 15 days of labor per year for public works in lieu of taxes.

That same evening, Samuel, a lower ranking section chief (Sou Madau en Sokehs [master of the ocean][1]), persuaded all in this work gang to refuse further labor.

[2] Governor Albert Hahl at Rabaul dispatched the small cruiser Cormoran and the survey ship Planet with 163 newly hired Melanesian police recruits aboard.

[4] The new light cruiser Emden had docked at Tsingtao at Jiaozhou Bay on 17 September 1910 after a journey from Germany and was the latest addition to the Imperial Navy's East Asia Squadron.

The ship then made several show-the-flag cruises to Japan and Hong Kong and patrolled north Pacific island possessions of the German Empire.

[5] As the senior naval officer at the scene, Emden's captain, Lieutenant Commander Waldemar Vollerthun on 13 January 1911 ordered the main batteries of the cruisers to fire on the rebel fortification.

Under the ad hoc command of territorial commissioner Hermann Kersting,[6] an assault formation of sailors armed with rifles and 30 Melanesian police, led by naval Lieutenant Edgar von Spiegel from Cormoran[7] and junior officers from Emden captured the hideout and forced the Sokehs to flee.

The rebels fought using guerrilla tactics and offered bitter and stubborn resistance, but lack of food, non-cooperation by the other Pohnpei chiefs and tribes, and continual movement and flight exhausted the Sokehs warriors.

The court convicted 17 for two main offenses: (a) the murder of four German officials and five island boatmen, and (b) for insurrection, and condemned them to death; 12 received multi-year sentences at hard labor, seven were acquitted and set free.