Samoan crisis

Coordinates: 13°50′00″S 171°50′00″W / 13.8333°S 171.8333°W / -13.8333; -171.8333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Samoan crisis
Part of
Apia Harbour, Samoa, Pacific Ocean
Result Both squadrons wrecked
Belligerents  United States German Empire German EmpireCommanders and leaders Lewis Kimberly German Empire FritzeStrength 1 sloop-of-war
1 steamer
1 gunboat 200 marines 3 gunboats 150 marinesCasualties and losses 62 killed
1 sloop-of-war sunk
1 steamer sunk
1 gunboat grounded ~73 killed
1 gunboat sunk
2 gunboats grounded
  • The British in the cruiser HMS Calliope participated as mediators, and the ship sustained fair damage.
  • Several merchant ships were also wrecked during the cyclone.

The Samoan crisis was a standoff between the

First Samoan Civil War.[1]

Background

In 1878, the United States acquired a

Pago Pago, on the island of Tutuila, in exchange for providing guarantees of protection to Samoa. The German Empire on the other hand desired concessions at the harbor at Apia, on the island of Upolu.[2]

Incident

The incident involved three U.S. Navy warships (the sloop-of-war USS Vandalia, the screw steamer USS Trenton, and the gunboat USS Nipsic) and three German warships (the gunboats SMS Adler and SMS Eber and the corvette SMS Olga), which kept each other at bay over several months in Apia Harbour, which was monitored by the British corvette HMS Calliope.

The standoff ended when the

Tripartite Convention of 1899, which partitioned the Samoan Islands into American Samoa and German Samoa.[4]

Legacy

Walter LaFeber said that the incident made some 'reticent Americans' realise the power implications of expansion in the South Pacific.[5]

  • An eyewitness drawing taken from a sketch by an officer on the Calliope.
    An eyewitness drawing taken from a sketch by an officer on the Calliope.
  • SMS Adler, knocked over on the beach, 1889.
    SMS Adler, knocked over on the beach, 1889.
  • SMS Adler, view of her deck, 1889.
    SMS Adler, view of her deck, 1889.
  • The wreck of SMS Adler, circa 1938
    The wreck of SMS Adler, circa 1938
  • The wreck of USS Nipsic′
    The wreck of USS Nipsic′
  • Wrecked ships in Apia Harbour. German gunboat SMS Eber is on the beach, the stern of USS Trenton is at the right, and the sunken USS Vandalia is alongside. SMS Adler is on her side in the center distance.
    Wrecked ships in Apia Harbour. German gunboat SMS Eber is on the beach, the stern of USS Trenton is at the right, and the sunken USS Vandalia is alongside. SMS Adler is on her side in the center distance.
  • Wrecked vessels at Apia Harbour, Upolu, Samoa, during salvage efforts soon after the storm. The view looks about northward, with USS Trenton and the sunken USS Vandalia to the left and the beached German corvette Olga at right. The wreckage just off Trenton's stern may be from the German gunboat Eber, which was destroyed when she struck the harbor reef during the hurricane.
    Wrecked vessels at Apia Harbour, Upolu, Samoa, during salvage efforts soon after the storm. The view looks about northward, with USS Trenton and the sunken USS Vandalia to the left and the beached German corvette Olga at right. The wreckage just off Trenton's stern may be from the German gunboat Eber, which was destroyed when she struck the harbor reef during the hurricane.
  • A view of the sunken USS Vandalia from the deck of USS Trenton.
    A view of the sunken USS Vandalia from the deck of USS Trenton.
  • Another angle of the wrecked warships.
    Another angle of the wrecked warships.
  • Wrecked warships off Apia
    Wrecked warships off Apia
  • Apia and the beach covered in driftwood and debris from the wrecked warships.
    Apia and the beach covered in driftwood and debris from the wrecked warships.
  • Salvaged guns from the wrecked American ships at Apia
    Salvaged guns from the wrecked American ships at Apia
  • A memorial at Mare Island Naval Yard for the Americans who were killed in the cyclone.
    A memorial at Mare Island Naval Yard for the Americans who were killed in the cyclone.
  • Illustrated London News for 27 April 1889; artist's conception of HMS Calliope being cheered on by the crew of USS Trenton as Calliope escapes from Apia Harbour. Calliope actually passed to the port of Trenton.
    Illustrated London News
     for 27 April 1889; artist's conception of HMS Calliope being cheered on by the crew of USS Trenton as Calliope escapes from Apia Harbour. Calliope actually passed to the port of Trenton.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9781851099511
    .
  2. ISBN 9780199891061
    . Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  3. ISBN 1-4264-0754-8
    .
  4. ^ Ryden, George Herbert. The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa. New York: Octagon Books, 1975. (Reprint by special arrangement with Yale University Press. Originally published at New Haven: Yale University Press, 1928), p. 574; the Tripartite Convention (United States, Germany, Great Britain) was signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900
  5. ^ LaFeber, Walter (1963). "The Strategic Formulation". The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860-1898. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 122–123.

Further reading

13°50′00″S 171°50′00″W / 13.8333°S 171.8333°W / -13.8333; -171.8333

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