第54章 THE HURRICANE(1)

MARCH 1889

THE so-called harbour of Apia is formed in part by a recess of the coast-line at Matautu,in part by the slim peninsula of Mulinuu,and in part by the fresh waters of the Mulivai and Vaisingano.The barrier reef -that singular breakwater that makes so much of the circuit of Pacific islands -is carried far to sea at Matautu and Mulinuu;inside of these two horns it runs sharply landward,and between them it is burst or dissolved by the fresh water.The shape of the enclosed anchorage may be compared to a high-shouldered jar or bottle with a funnel mouth.Its sides are almost everywhere of coral;for the reef not only bounds it to seaward and forms the neck and mouth,but skirting about the beach,it forms the bottom also.As in the bottle of commerce,the bottom is re-entrant,and the shore-reef runs prominently forth into the basin and makes a dangerous cape opposite the fairway of the entrance.

Danger is,therefore,on all hands.The entrance gapes three cables wide at the narrowest,and the formidable surf of the Pacific thunders both outside and in.There are days when speech is difficult in the chambers of shore-side houses;days when no boat can land,and when men are broken by stroke of sea against the wharves.As I write these words,three miles in the mountains,and with the land-breeze still blowing from the island summit,the sound of that vexed harbour hums in my ears.Such a creek in my native coast of Scotland would scarce be dignified with the mark of an anchor in the chart;but in the favoured climate of Samoa,and with the mechanical regularity of the winds in the Pacific,it forms,for ten or eleven months out of the twelve,a safe if hardly a commodious port.The ill-found island traders ride there with their insufficient moorings the year through,and discharge,and are loaded,without apprehension.Of danger,when it comes,the glass gives timely warning;and that any modern warship,furnished with the power of steam,should have been lost in Apia,belongs not so much to nautical as to political history.

The weather throughout all that winter (the turbulent summer of the islands)was unusually fine,and the circumstance had been commented on as providential,when so many Samoans were lying on their weapons in the bush.By February it began to break in occasional gales.On February 10th a German brigantine was driven ashore.On the 14th the same misfortune befell an American brigantine and a schooner.On both these days,and again on the 7th March,the men-of-war must steam to their anchors.And it was in this last month,the most dangerous of the twelve,that man's animosities crowded that indentation of the reef with costly,populous,and vulnerable ships.

I have shown,perhaps already at too great a length,how violently passion ran upon the spot;how high this series of blunders and mishaps had heated the resentment of the Germans against all other nationalities and of all other nationalities against the Germans.

But there was one country beyond the borders of Samoa where the question had aroused a scarce less angry sentiment.The breach of the Washington Congress,the evidence of Sewall before a sub-committee on foreign relations,the proposal to try Klein before a military court,and the rags of Captain Hamilton's flag,had combined to stir the people of the States to an unwonted fervour.

Germany was for the time the abhorred of nations.Germans in America publicly disowned the country of their birth.In Honolulu,so near the scene of action,German and American young men fell to blows in the street.In the same city,from no traceable source,and upon no possible authority,there arose a rumour of tragic news to arrive by the next occasion,that the NIPSIC had opened fire on the ADLER,and the ADLER had sunk her on the first reply.

Punctually on the day appointed,the news came;and the two nations,instead of being plunged into war,could only mingle tears over the loss of heroes.

By the second week in March three American ships were in Apia bay,-the NIPSIC,the VANDALIA,and the TRENTON,carrying the flag of Rear-Admiral Kimberley;three German,-the ADLER,the EBER,and the OLGA;and one British,-the CALLIOPE,Captain Kane.Six merchant-men,ranging from twenty-five up to five hundred tons,and a number of small craft,further encumbered the anchorage.Its capacity is estimated by Captain Kane at four large ships;and the latest arrivals,the VANDALIA and TRENTON,were in consequence excluded,and lay without in the passage.Of the seven war-ships,the seaworthiness of two was questionable:the TRENTON'S,from an original defect in her construction,often reported,never remedied -her hawse-pipes leading in on the berth-deck;the EBER'S,from an injury to her screw in the blow of February 14th.In this overcrowding of ships in an open entry of the reef,even the eye of the landsman could spy danger;and Captain-Lieutenant Wallis of the EBER openly blamed and lamented,not many hours before the catastrophe,their helpless posture.Temper once more triumphed.

The army of Mataafa still hung imminent behind the town;the German quarter was still daily garrisoned with fifty sailors from the squadron;what was yet more influential,Germany and the States,at least in Apia bay,were on the brink of war,viewed each other with looks of hatred,and scarce observed the letter of civility.On the day of the admiral's arrival,Knappe failed to call on him,and on the morrow called on him while he was on shore.The slight was remarked and resented,and the two squadrons clung more obstinately to their dangerous station.