Calliope was diverted from the China Station to the Australia Station as German and American competition over Samoa intensified. A strong contemporary impression held that German agents were encouraging rebellion against the indigenous government so intervention could be presented as protection of international interests. The resulting naval confrontation packed seven warships and six merchant vessels into Apia Harbor, an anchorage best suited to about four ships and bounded by reefs. When the barometer fell on 14 March 1889, the ships were trapped by an onshore cyclone with violent wind, rain, current, and waves. Engines had to run merely to reduce the rate at which anchors dragged toward land, while vessels collided, grounded, or sank. The disaster's human and material costs were inseparable from imperial powers choosing to concentrate force in a hazardous harbor.
Chapter · 37:34-42:12
Samoa's imperial crisis crowds Apia Harbor
German, American, and British competition over Samoa puts Calliope and rival squadrons into an anchorage dangerously overcrowded when the 1889 cyclone arrives.