Samoan crisis

The Samoan Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, Germany and Great Britain from 1887–1889 over control of the Samoan Islands during the Samoan Civil War. At the height of the confrontation three American warships, Vandalia, USS Trenton and USS Nipsic were wrecked along with the three German warships SMS Adler, SMS Olga, and SMS Eber. The six ships confronted each other in a tense standoff over several months in Apia harbour which was monitored by the British warship HMS Calliope. On 15 and 16 March the 1889 Apia cyclone wrecked all six United States and German warships in the harbour, ending the standoff. Calliope was able to escape the harbour and survive the storm. Robert Louis Stevenson witnessed the storm and its...