Samoa and its Story/6
THE BRITISH CAPTURE OF SAMOA
The coup de main of August, 1914, resulting in the lowering of the German flag after fourteen years, is so recent as to need little space here. Under secret instructions from the Imperial Government a contingent was organised in New Zealand, and left Wellington for Apia on August 14th in the troopships Moeraki and Monowai. The expedition, commanded by Col. Robert Logan, with Lieut.-Col. Fulton, of the Indian Army, second in command, consisted of 1384 officers and men, recruited from the Territorial forces of New Zealand, with artillery consisting of two 15-pounder and two 6-pounder guns, manned by the D Battery N.Z. Field Artillery, and four Maxims manned by the Fifth Wellington Regiment. Lieut.-Col. Fulton (2nd Ghurkas) was in command of the Moeraki’s half of the force, and Lieut.-Col. C. H. Turner, of Wellington, commanded on the Monowai. Off North New Zealand the troopships were picked up by the British cruisers Pyramus, Psyche, and Philomel. The expedition called at Noumea, New Caledonia, and the Australian Commonwealth battle-cruiser Australia and the cruiser Melbourne, and the French armoured cruiser Montcalm joined off the coast and completed the squadron. The eight ships arrived at Apia. viâ Fiji, on Saturday morning, August 29th. Every preparation was made to overcome resistance, but the occupation was bloodless. The German Governor, Dr. Schultz, submitted peacefully to the Royal Navy and the New Zealand Force, he and other officials were deported in the Monowai to Fiji, and later to Auckland, the German flag was hauled down by a soldier in khaki, and on the morning of Sunday, August 30th (Samoan time) the British flag was hoisted above the German Government offices, and saluted by the troops and by the guns of H.M.S. Psyche. Colonel Logan read a proclamation in the presence of a large gathering of Europeans and Samoans, declaring that “the New Zealand Government of His Britannic Majesty King George the Fifth now
Photo (protected) by Mr. Malcolm Ross, F.R.G.S.
The landing of the troops at Apia, Samoa
occupy for His Majesty all the German territories situated in the islands of the Samoan Group.”
Apia was placed under military law, entrenchments were made by the New Zealand soldiers, who pitched camp on the racecourse, to strengthen their position on the beach, against any possible German landing force. Colonel Logan assumed office as military governor, with Lieutenant-Colonel Fulton in command of the troops, and the Australian and New Zealand fleet sailed for New Zealand. New Zealand thus has the honour and satisfaction of being the first British colony to seize and occupy with its forces a land under a foreign flag. This expedition in which Australia’s naval co-operation was of very great service, was quickly followed up by the Commonwealth’s warships, under Admiral Patey, capturing the seat of German Government in the
A South Sea trading schooner
Bismarck Archipelago, and a force occupying German Papua, or Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land, thus extinguishing German rule in the Islands of the South Pacific.
The Germans had established a powerful wireless station at Apia. This was seized by Colonel Logan’s force and carefully guarded. The station will form an important link in the great singing spark that girdles the earth. The Pacific, once the loneliest of oceans, is now dotted over with wireless stations, from the Chatham Islands in the south to Honolulu in the north, and from Norfolk Island eastwards across the great stretch of water to Apia and Tahiti and to the Marquesas, the romantic scenes of Herman Melville’s “Typee”; and the learned men of the native peoples may recall in the light of new-gotten knowledge the old Promethean legend of their Polynesian deified ancestor Mahuika, who had magic fire at his finger tips.
A contingent of 250 Maoris is to be sent to Apia to do garrison duty, a soldierly task which will be congenial to the New Zealand branch of Polynesian warrior-stock.
The future of Samoa is, of course, as yet unsettled, but one thing is certain, and that is that it will never again be suffered to fall into German hands as it did in 1900. Under the unsatisfactory old tripartite system of government it was a source of trouble to all the Powers concerned, almost wholly through German intrigues and the natives’ dislike for the Teuton. But under the British flag things will be very different since the Samoan, even under German rule, has never disguised his preference for the British flag. Should it be New Zealand’s fortune and responsibility to send its officials to administer Samoan affairs permanently the natives may be relied upon to remain thoroughly loyal to the Union Jack. At present various civil posts of importance are filled by members of the Expeditionary Force. A force of Samoans, officered by New Zealanders, would be a sufficient garrison when the war is over and accounts are finally adjusted.