The times., 1898-07-17
1t Destroyed American and Ger.
man Ships Of War.
IMPORTANT BIT OF HISTORY
1t Is Recalled by n Samoan Kings
Return From Exiie-An Event to
Which Robert Louis Stevenson
Ascribed the Founding of the
Modern Navy of the United States
-Germany in Samoa.

troll Samoan affairs. England, Germany
and the United States, agreed to allow
him TO return. 1t was through him, ten
years ago, that this country and Ger
many were on the verge of war when
the great hurricane wrecked the war
| ships in Apia harbor. The following
| facts are compiled from Stevenson's
| book:
| BY the Vaccinations of the Germans,
| Tamasese, puppet. had been declared
King. Mataafa, supported by a strong
| Samoan party. had recourse TO arms
against Tamasese's Government The
| Germans came to his assistance and set
an armed force ashore from the war
ships. and there was a battle in which
| ffty-six Germans fell Mataafa, sum-
| moned board the German warship
| Adler, declined TO go. Martial law was
| declared and an English vessel was
! searched for contraband of war More
! over, certain territorial rights of the
| Americans and British suffered infringe
| ment, and the Americans in particular
| were wroth, for the Germans had been
| for some time carrying matters with too
| high a hand in a government supposed
| 10 be subject equally TO British, German
| and American control. Three American
/ ships and three German ships faced
each other grimly In Apia Bay,
| while one British ship looked on not
| with indifference. Once the German gun
| ports had been lowered-and put up again
| The temper of the American sailors was
| far from peaceful. War hung on a hair
| trigger, and then came the hurricane
| The ships in Apia Bay in March. 1889
| were the Nipsic, Vandalia and Trenton,
4 A ~
| the Adler, Eber and Olga, German, under
| Capt. Fritze. and the Calliope. British.
under Capt. Kane. On March 10 there
was drop in the barometer to warn
| the boldest of ships off a lee shore but
! fighting blood was up. and. blow high or
| blow low, the Americans and Germans
| lay sullenly at anchor, each determined
not to leave the bay to the other though
destruction rose in their path With
| Capt. Kane there was less reason for
staying, but he, 100, stuck 10 his an
| chorage. BY daybreak of March l6. the
vessels in the little bOttle-shaped harbOr
were plungiEg in a fearful sea. In the
narrow entrance TO the harbor the Tren-
| ton was holding her position. Inside.
America and Germany had come together
| In an unforeseen manner for the Adler
and the Nipsic, in those contracted quar-
| tiers. had bumped. and the Olga. too, had
rubbed against the Adler All had suf-
| fered, though not seriously; but the third
German ship. the Eber, had dragged her
! anchor, struck a coral reef and gone
| down with all on board save four, who
| escaped. Seventy-six were drowned. An
| hour later the Nipsic drove in clear of
the reef and beached on sand spit,
some of her crew being lost in the at
tempt to get ashore.
Next came the Adler. for no anchor
could hold against such a sea. Straight
| down upon the reef. where already the
/ body OF the Eber's unfortunates were be-
! Ing battered on the coral, she bore; but
/ more fortunate than her sister ship she
/ was lifted clean UP upon the reef where
! she lay with broken back flung so high
| that in calm weather the swell barely
| dampens her skeleton On shore Ma
| taafa's men were under arms, but in the
| extremity of their foes they came gal
| lanty forward TO help in the rescue. and
| did yeoman work. They reached the
wreck by the most valiant efforts and
| brought back a line, but il was broken.
and not until the following day were the
crew rescued by life lines. Twenty had
been lost.
Meantime the Calliope. menaced .by. the
drifting Vandalla and the Olga. both of
! which were dragging their anchors. cast
| pooze, and stalking everything on the
power of her engines. made for the open
sea. Literally foot by foot she forged
ahead in the teeth of the racing noun
| tains of waves and found the Trenton
in her way. OF what followed Stevenson
| writes:
I'm the fairway of the entrance the flag
ship Trenton still held on Her rudder
| was broken, her wheel carried away.
| within she was flooded with water from
| the epeccant hawsepipes; she had Just made
the signal fire extinguished' and lay help
less awaiting the inevitable end Be
tween this melancholy hulk and exter-
nal reef Kane must find path. Steering
| within fifty yards of the reef (for which
she was actually headed, and her fore
! yard passing on the other hand over the
| Trenton's quarter as she rolled. the Cal
| liope steered between the rival dangers.
! came 10 the wind triumphantly and was
once more pointed for the sea and safety
! Not often in naval history was there a
| moment of more sickening peril. and il
was dignified by one of those incidents
that reconcile the chronicler with his
otherwise abhorrent task. From the
| doomed flagship the Americans hailed the
success of the English with a cheer. II
was led by the old admiral in person. rang
| out over the storm with holiday vigOT.
| and was answered by the Calliope with
an emotion easily conceived.
1t was in reference TO this gallant cour-
| t2SE tnat OdpI Name, Oi HIS IEluIl II Will
the only ship which survived the hurri-
| cane. wrote TO Admiral Kimberley and re-
ceived the reply:
1--WE could not have been gladder If it
| had been one of our ships, for in a time
like that blood is thicker than water. "
The Trenton was near her doom. Short
ly after the Calliope fought her way out
the Vandalia crashed upon the reef ano
settled. her captain and forty-two of hel
| r1 The TrantOr
| parted her cables at o'clock in the af-
ternoon of the 10Th and bore down toward
the same spot, not directly, but stagger-
ing like a drunken giant 10 the distress
of the Olga, which lodged the bigger shiT
as best she could, but, though skillfuliy
handled, she could not avoid the Ameri-
can and they came together. Under
steam and sail the German captain beach
ed his ship safely on sand. The Trenton
going slowly, approached the Vandalia
and by means of rockets got ropes &
the men on her sister ships masts anC
took them off before she herself settled
alongside the Vandalia and pounded
there. Only one man was lost from th'
Trenton, and it was characteristic of IN,
American admirars spirit that he had III
the band and sent the strains of Hail
Columbia blaring through the storm.
On the morning of March II Mataafa
warriors were again forward in the worl
of rescue, for which both America ant
Germany rewarded them with gifts late
on. But now there were chances of trou
bic again.
The Americans and Germans were to
gether on the beach. Not even the ter
rihle experience of the hurricane and tn,
fate of their comrades and wrecked war
ships had subdued their fighting blood
Admiral Kimberley formed camp, had hi
quarter sentinelled. and gave strict order
that any man disregardIng a challeng
should be shot dead. Furthermore, he CAV
+Lnt ha ctrnr no ctn 4.