 In 1917, the atoll was leased to a Papeete company, with three employees producing copra, and raising pigs and chickens and collecting turtles.It was later leased to another copra company and entirely planted with coconut palms.In the same year, Count Felix von Luckner of the famed SMS "Seeadler" visited the island and established a small colony during his voyage to raid Allied shipping in the South Pacific during the First World War.