1889 Apia cyclone: Difference between revisions

1889 Apia cyclone
cyclone
Formed	bef. March 15, 1889
Dissipated	aft. March 15, 1889

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 22:55, 18 July 2006

The 1889 Apia cyclone was a Pacific tropical storm, which swept across Apia, Samoa on March 15, 1889. The effect on shipping in the harbour was devastating, largely because of what has been described as 'an error of judgement that will forever remain a paradox in human psychology'. ^{[citation needed]}

The Growing Storm

Events ashore had led to upheval in the Pacific nation, and both the United States and Imperial Germany saw this as a potential opportunity to expand their holdings in the Pacific through gunboat diplomacy. In order to be ready should such an opportunity arise, both nations had dispatched squadrons to the town to investigate the sitution and act accordingly. A British ship was also present, ostensibly to observe the actions of the other nations during the Samoan uphevals.

During the days preceding the cyclone of the 15th, increasing signs were visible of the impending disaster. March was cyclone season in this area, and Apia had been hit by a cyclone just three years previously, which the captains of the ships heard about from local people, especially as the weather began to change and the atmospheric pressure began to fall. The captains were experienced Pacific seamen, as were many members of their crews, and they all saw the approaching signs of impending disaster, just as they knew that the only chance they had of riding out the 100mph winds was to take to the open sea.

Apia is an exposed harbour, unprotected by high ground or an enclosing reef. The Northern part of the harbour is open to the Pacific, and thus wind and waves can sweep through the area and drive any shipping which remained in the bay onto the reefs at the Southern end, or toss them right up the beach. However, even though the officers of the various navies were well aware of the necessary procedures in the face of such a threat, none made a move. This has been attributed to jingoism or national pride; none of the men in the harbour were willing to admit in front of the other nation's navies, that they were afraid of the elements, and so refused to take precautions, and refused to allow the merchant ships which accompanied them to move either, leaving thirteen ships, some larger vessels, at anchor close to one another in Apia harbour.

The Cyclone

When the cyclone struck the result was catastrophic. The local people had taken themselves to safety well before the storm struck, but the ships in the bay only began to evacuate at the very last minute, and thus were crowding towards the entrance to the bay when the hurricane hit. Only HMS Calliope escaped, making less than one knot, she dragged her self to the open sea, despite being less than six feet from a reef at one point. Once out at sea she was easily able to ride out the ensing winds. Her survival is attributed to her size (2,227 tons) and her more powerful and modern engines, built only five years before, as compared to the ten or twenty years for many of the other ships.

As for the other ships, chaos reigned in the harbour. The USS Trenton was tossed against the beach in the afternoon, dragged back into the sea and wrecked on a reef at 10pm that evening, although the majority of her crew survived unhurt and were able to participate in the ensuing rescue operation. Vandalia was smashed into the same reef in the early afternoon, and her surviving crew spent a miserable day and night clinging to her rigging before being rescued, by which time 43 of her compliment had drowned. The Nipsic was thrown high on the beach with eight of her crew missing or dead and her internal systems totally wrecked. She would however later be refloated and eventually recontructed in Hawaii.

The German ships fared much worse. The Olga came off best, thrown high onto the beach where she was wrecked but many of her crew survived, escaping onto higher ground. The Adler and Eber were less fortunate, because they were caught at the harbour mouth by the initial blow and were bodily picked up and smashed together before sinking in deep water. 96 men from their crews drowned in the storm, and both ships were totally destroyed. All six of the merchant ships remaining in the harbour were wrecked, and the death toll was well over 200 sailors from several nationalities.

The incident is often cited as a clear example of the dangers of putting national pride before necessity, especially in the face of natural disaster. The incident did not blunt the Pacific ambitions of any of the imperial powers involved in the disaster. However, the Germans and British continued to make territorial gains amongst the Samoan islands and New Guinea, whilst the United States focused on the Philippines and Micronesia, although more care was taken to respect the weather phenomena of the Pacific from this point on.

Ships

USS Trenton	United States	wrecked
USS Nipsic	United States	beached & repaired, 8 dead
USS Vandalia	United States	wrecked, 43 dead
HMS Calliope	British	survived storm
SMS Olga	German	beached & wrecked
SMS Eber	German	wrecked & sunk, see below
SMS Adler	German	wrecked & sunk, 96 dead

Notes

Some unreferenced and early sources claim that the Olga was a Russian ship, and that the Nipsic was Japanese. This is not true, and is probably caused by those names sounding "ethnic" to an uninformed observer.

References

Thornton, J.M., Men of War 1770-1970, Argus Books, Great Britain: 1978. ISBN 0852426100.
Regan, Geoffrey, Naval Blunders, Andre Deutch, Great Britain: 1993. ISBN 0223999787.

This article about or related to tropical cyclones is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 | hurricane season=[[Pre-1980 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons]]
 }}
-The '''1889 Apia cyclone''' was a [[Pacific]] [[tropical storm]], which swept across [[Apia, Samoa]] on the [[March 15]], [[1889]]. The effect on shipping in the harbour was devastating, largely because of what has been described as 'an error of judgement that will forever remain a paradox in human psychology'.
+The '''1889 Apia cyclone''' was a [[Pacific]] [[tropical storm]], which swept across [[Apia, Samoa]] on [[March 15]], [[1889]]. The effect on shipping in the harbour was devastating, largely because of what has been described as 'an error of judgement that will forever remain a paradox in human psychology'. {{fact}}
 ==The Growing Storm==
-Events ashore had led to major upheval in the tiny Pacific nation, and both the [[United States]] and Imperial [[Germany]] saw this as a potential opportunity to expand their holdings in the Pacific through [[gunboat diplomacy]]. In order to be ready should such an opportunity arise, both nations had despatched small squadrons to the town to investigate the sitution and act accordingly. A British ship was also present, ostensibly to observe the actions of the other nations during the Samoan uphevals.
+Events ashore had led to upheval in the Pacific nation, and both the [[United States]] and Imperial [[Germany]] saw this as a potential opportunity to expand their holdings in the Pacific through [[gunboat diplomacy]]. In order to be ready should such an opportunity arise, both nations had dispatched squadrons to the town to investigate the sitution and act accordingly. A British ship was also present, ostensibly to observe the actions of the other nations during the Samoan uphevals.
-During the days preceding the cyclone of the 15th, increasing signs were visible of the impending disaster. March was cyclone season in this area, and Apia had been hit by a particulaly vicious one just three years previously, which the captains of the ships would have heard about from local people, especially as the weather began to change and the [[barometer]] level began to rapidly fall. The captains were all experienced Pacific seamen, as were many members of their crews, and they all would have seen the approaching signs of impending disaster, just as they knew full well that the only chance they had of riding out the 100mph winds was to take to the open sea.
+During the days preceding the cyclone of the 15th, increasing signs were visible of the impending disaster. March was cyclone season in this area, and Apia had been hit by a cyclone just three years previously, which the captains of the ships heard about from local people, especially as the weather began to change and the [[atmospheric pressure]] began to fall. The captains were experienced Pacific seamen, as were many members of their crews, and they all saw the approaching signs of impending disaster, just as they knew that the only chance they had of riding out the 100mph winds was to take to the open sea.
-Apia is a small exposed harbour, unprotected by high ground or an enclosing reef. The Northern part of the harbour is wide open to the Pacific, and thus wind and waves could sweep through the area and drive any shipping which remained in the bay onto the reefs at the Southern end, or toss them right up the beach. However, even though the experienced and intelligent officers of the various navies were well aware of the necessary procedures in the face of such a threat, none made a move. This has been attributed to [[jingoism]] or national pride; none of the men in the harbour were willing to admit in front of the other nation's navies, that they were afraid of the elements, and so refused to take precautions, and refused to allow the merchant ships which accompanied them to move either, leaving thirteen ships, some quite large, at anchor close to one another in Apia harbour.
+Apia is an exposed harbour, unprotected by high ground or an enclosing reef. The Northern part of the harbour is open to the Pacific, and thus wind and waves can sweep through the area and drive any shipping which remained in the bay onto the reefs at the Southern end, or toss them right up the beach. However, even though the officers of the various navies were well aware of the necessary procedures in the face of such a threat, none made a move. This has been attributed to [[jingoism]] or national pride; none of the men in the harbour were willing to admit in front of the other nation's navies, that they were afraid of the elements, and so refused to take precautions, and refused to allow the merchant ships which accompanied them to move either, leaving thirteen ships, some larger vessels, at anchor close to one another in Apia harbour.
 ==The Cyclone==
-When the cyclone struck the result was a catastrophe. The local people had taken themselves to safety well before the storm struck, but the ships in the bay only began to move at the very last minute, and thus were crowding towards the entrance to the bay when the hurricane hit. Only HMS ''Calliope'' escaped, making less than one [[knot]], she dragged her self to the open sea, despite being less than six feet from a reef at one point. Once out at sea she was easily able to ride out the ensing winds. Her survival is attributed to her size (2,227 tons) and her more powerful and modern engines, built only five years before, as compared to ten or event twenty years for many of the other ships.
+When the cyclone struck the result was catastrophic. The local people had taken themselves to safety well before the storm struck, but the ships in the bay only began to evacuate at the very last minute, and thus were crowding towards the entrance to the bay when the hurricane hit. Only HMS ''Calliope'' escaped, making less than one [[knot]], she dragged her self to the open sea, despite being less than six feet from a reef at one point. Once out at sea she was easily able to ride out the ensing winds. Her survival is attributed to her size (2,227 tons) and her more powerful and modern engines, built only five years before, as compared to the ten or twenty years for many of the other ships.
-As for the other ships, chaos reigned in the harbour. The USS ''Trenton'' was tossed against the beach in the afternoon, dragged back into the sea and wrecked on a reef at 10pm that evening, although the majority of her crew survived unhurt and were able to participate in the ensuing rescue operation. ''Vandalia'' was smashed into the same reef in the early afternoon, and her surviving crew spent a miserable day and night clinging to her rigging before being rescued, by which time 43 of her complented had drowned. The ''Nipsic'' was thrown high on the beach with eight of her crew missing or dead and her internal systems totally wrecked. She would however later be refloated and eventually recontructed in [[Hawaii]].
+As for the other ships, chaos reigned in the harbour. The USS ''Trenton'' was tossed against the beach in the afternoon, dragged back into the sea and wrecked on a reef at 10pm that evening, although the majority of her crew survived unhurt and were able to participate in the ensuing rescue operation. ''Vandalia'' was smashed into the same reef in the early afternoon, and her surviving crew spent a miserable day and night clinging to her rigging before being rescued, by which time 43 of her compliment had drowned. The ''Nipsic'' was thrown high on the beach with eight of her crew missing or dead and her internal systems totally wrecked. She would however later be refloated and eventually recontructed in [[Hawaii]].
-The German ships fared much worse. The ''Olga'' came off best, thrown high onto the beach where she was totally wrecked but many of her crew survived, escaping onto higher ground. The ''Adler'' and ''Eber'' were much less fortunate, because they were caught at the harbour mouth by the initial blow and were bodily picked up and smashed together before sinking in deep water. 96 men from their crews drowned in the storm, and both ships were totally destroyed. All six of the merchant ships remaining  in the harbour were all wrecked, and the eventual death toll was well over 200 sailors from several nationalities.
+The German ships fared much worse. The ''Olga'' came off best, thrown high onto the beach where she was wrecked but many of her crew survived, escaping onto higher ground. The ''Adler'' and ''Eber'' were less fortunate, because they were caught at the harbour mouth by the initial blow and were bodily picked up and smashed together before sinking in deep water. 96 men from their crews drowned in the storm, and both ships were totally destroyed. All six of the merchant ships remaining  in the harbour were wrecked, and the death toll was well over 200 sailors from several nationalities.
-The incident is often sited as a clear example of the dangers of putting national pride before necessity, especially in the face of [[natural disaster]]. The incident did not blunt the Pacific ambitions of any of the imperial powers involved in the disaster however, the Germans and British making territorial gains amongst the Samoan islands and New Guinea, whilst the United States focused on the [[Philippines]] and [[Micronesia]], although more care was taken to respect the weather phenomena of the Pacific from this point on.
+The incident is often cited as a clear example of the dangers of putting national pride before necessity, especially in the face of [[natural disaster]]. The incident did not blunt the Pacific ambitions of any of the imperial powers involved in the disaster. However, the Germans and British continued to make territorial gains amongst the Samoan islands and New Guinea, whilst the United States focused on the [[Philippines]] and [[Micronesia]], although more care was taken to respect the weather phenomena of the Pacific from this point on.
 ==Ships==