French gunboat Zélée

Present at Papeete during a devastating hurricane in February 1906, Zélée's commander was asked to assist with rescue efforts on the quarantine island of Motauta, but refused due to the high risk involved. Instead he lent the island's station master an open boat and left him with the task of finding men to man it.

At the outbreak of World War I, Zélée was stationed at Papeete and took part in the first French naval action of the war. The German cargo ship Walkure had been loading a cargo of phosphates at Makatea, an island 147 miles (237 km) from Tahiti. Zélée approached her, raised the French flag, and demanded her surrender. The German captain had not yet learned of the state of war between Germany and France and at first thought the entire situation was a joke and invited Zélée's commanding officer aboard for dinner; instead, Zélée took Walkure as a prize and brought her back to Tahiti.

On 22 September 1914, the Imperial German Navy armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau entered the port of Papeete. They sank Zélée and Walkure and bombarded the port. Zélée was raised, her guns removed and then scuttled as a blockship for the harbour on 29 September.[1]

• American Society of Naval Engineers (1898). "Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Incorporated". Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Inc. American Society of Naval Engineers. 10: 887. ISSN 0099-7056. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
• "10,000 MAY BE DEAD - PACIFIC ISLES SINK - Cyclone Spreads Destruction In the Society and Other Groups. WHOLE VILLAGES WIPED OUT Wind 120 Miles an Hour and Waves 65 Feet High -- Americans Suffer. - View Article - NYTimes.com" (PDF). query.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
• American Forestry Association (1915). American Forestry. Vol. 21. American Forestry Association. p. 554. Retrieved 2015-11-09.