Note that there's (allegedly) also a "
Rudolf Habenicht, Leutnant auf der 'Möwe', trug zwischen 1899 und 1901" ... (a guy also mentioned
here, on p.8, and/alt.
here, unpaginated, though on p. "7/29"), who clearly sailed the waters around, and visited, New Guinea.
And in
this book (on p.265) we find a "Habenicht", listed among the:
Seekadetten an Bord S. M. S. „Wurthemberg" (in 1894). The list of similar examples goes on, and on, and on ...
From what I've seen this far, I'd still be searching for a
Kapitän/Captain "
P. Habenicht", as mentioned in the OD itself, in context of the
SMS Planet (
here), and "Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, or "Deutsch-Neuguinea", "New Guinea", Otto Finsch", etc., etc. ... (until proven otherwise, of course).
("Planet" is truly a hopeless/useless word to search for! Sigh.)
But beware that we do find a "P. Habenicht" listed among the contributors of
Zeitschrift für Oologie und Ornithologie (1909–1910)
here, but he's "B. Habenicht" in the text itself (on p.93, and in the Table of content). I assume this certain "P." Habenicht" is not "our guy", but simply (indeed) a typo.
Either way; one source in particular that might be worth looking into (for anyone who does know German) is;
Abhandlungen des Haburgischen Kolonialinstituts (Band XIV , Reihe B. Völkerkunde, Kulturgeschichte und Sprachen. Band 9). Südseearbeiten (Gewerbe- und kunstfleiss, tauschmittel und ...), by Otto Finsch himself (from 1914,
here), where "Korv.-kapitän Habenicht" is mentioned repeatedly (for example;
here).
As always, when dealing with German texts (as well as a possibly German, or even Dutch guy), without understanding neither the "lingo", nor the contexts of what 's written, it's seriously hard (for me) to value most of all that I can find. Habenicht sure doesn't seems like an uncommon name.
Note that you will get 335 hits on BHL alone, when searching for "Habenicht", and still 147 hits for the time frame "1901-1925" (and I simply haven't found time to check them all); but apparently (after a quick search) we will find; "H. Habenicht", "K. Habenicht", "A. Habenicht" ... and onwards.
However, in the book
German New Guinea, A Bibliography edited by Peter Sack (1980), we find one reference that could/might be of some value/help (on p.125):
Habenicht.
1912, Lotungen und ozeanographische Beobachtungen S.M.S. "Planet" in der Sudsee 1911. ANNALEN DER HYDROGRAPHIE: 40l.
🧩
Björn
PS. I any case; "our guy" is
not to be confused with the mapmaker (also Naturalist, and collector) Hermann Habenicht who made several Charts of the World, in about the same Era (a guy that frequently pops up while searching/Googling for any Habenicht), mostly in context with Africa.
