Schäffer affair

The Schäffer affair was a diplomatic episode instigated in 1815 by Georg Anton Schäffer who attempted to seize the Kingdom of Hawaii for the Russian Empire. After two years, his scheme failed and he returned to Germany.

While on a trading expedition to the Kingdom, the Russian-American Company (RAC) vessel Bering ran aground during a storm at Waimea on Kauai in January 1815. Kauai chieftain Kaumualii seized the company goods on board. Schäffer was sent later that year from Russian America to recover the lost property, where he spent the following two years courting native leaders to overthrow Kamehameha I.

Kaumualii, who sought outside help in his rivalry with King Kamehameha, invited Schäffer to his island and convinced him that the RAC could easily colonize Hawaii. Schäffer then planned a naval assault on the islands. His actions were not sanctioned by RAC governor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, who gave no instructions beyond either regaining the company's goods or compensation for them in sandalwood, although Baranov gave orders to conquer Kauai for Russia in the event of conflict.

Mounting resistance of Native Hawaiians and American traders forced Schäffer to admit defeat and leave Hawaii in July 1817, before his triumphant reports from Kauai reached the Russian court. The Company recognized a loss of no less than 200,000 rubles but continued entertaining "the Hawaiian project" until 1821. The Company then sued Schäffer for damages, but after an inconclusive legal standoff found it easier to let him go back to Germany.

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