Lat: 13 49.7S / Long: 171 45.8W
Lat: 13 26.4S / Long: 172 22.0W
The best part of the Western
Samoans Island of Upolu was the breakfast: Because of our anchorage, along Apia’s
main street, Beach Road, everyday promptly at 8:43 the police band started parading
a few hundred meters distance to the sounds of the most wonderful, uplifting marching
music to hoist the state flag in front of the Prime Minister’s seat of
government.
 |
| As in Burma, the men wear skirts in Samoa, called ‘lavalava'. |
The Rhumbline of Suwarrow
to Samoa is 508 nm, but as the wind came exactly from the east with up to 30
nodes, we had to jibe downwind. And so the route became 735 nm long.
Nevertheless, the trip was comfortable and fast. The strong, steady wind
allowed us continuous sailing.
"Samoa is one of the
most beautiful diamonds in our colonial tiara.'' This sentence of the Imperial
State Secretary von Bulow describes the brief period of German colonization in
Asia. It lasted from 1899 to 1914. Kaiser Wilhelm II had chosen Samoa as the
center of his Pacific conquests and immediately ordered that huge coconut
groves were to be created for the production of copra.
Also the British and
Americans claimed Samoa for themselves. During this time, the imperial gunboat
Adler was stationed in the Bay of Apia ready for combat against the American
and British frigates. Maybe it was an approaching cyclone, which prevented a
world war (at least at an earlier time): While the British and the Americans
immediately course set on the open sea, the Imperial Navy, inexperienced with
tropical cyclones, dropped anchor in the unprotected bay and was set wide on
land by the giant waves and crashed to pieces.
 |
| Shipwrecked Gunboat Adler |
A dramatic diplomatic tug followed
until the British finally gave up and snatched another island and the eastern part
of the islands especially Tutuila with its capital Pago Pago, was given to the
Americans – to which they are still associated to this day, as U.S. fishing and
naval base under the name of ‘American Samoa’.
Apia thrived in the short
period of German colonialism into an international center of merchants from
around the world.
Today the German element
is not very intense, and the Samoans have, as they say, “forgotten” this
chapter of history.
 |
| Apia’s clock tower, built during the German colonial period |
The tasty local beer goes
back to German brewery standards and there is a maritime school, which is
supported by various German ship owners. Some descendants of the then local
German families still live on the island - German names can be found in the
small phone book.
 |
| Only a few buildings from the colonial period are still existent |
Samoa was the last home of
the late Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894) who’s novels Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde have become world famous. His impressive house
with a large front porch and wood paneling is a typical English country estate
of the colonial era.
 |
| "Villa Vailima'' along with its spacious plantation and his tomb is now a museum. |
Stevenson was a great
friend of the Polynesian culture. He recognized the value of local traditions
and campaigned for this to the foreign governments who that time quarreled over
the islands. Because he stood up for their interests, he is still highly respected
by the Samoan people.
In an angry letter to the
London Times in 1889, he described
the situation in Samoa as follows: “…It is quite true that this [island] group
was largely opened up by German enterprise and that the port of Apia is much
the creation of the Godeffroys**(…) Apia was governed till lately by a
tripartite municipality, the American, English and German Consuls (…) then
there came a sudden change in the attitude of Germany (…) - a state of war
declared, all other authority but that of the German representative suspended,
punishment liberally threatened (…) Who is Dr. Knappe [the German Consul], thus
to make peace and war, deal in life and death, and close with a buffet the
mouth of English Consuls? By what process known as diplomacy has he risen from
his one-sixth part of municipal authority to be the Bismarck of a Polynesian
island? (…)”.
** The wealthy Hamburg
merchant Johann Cesar Godeffroy was one of the main figures of the trade in
copra, bananas and cocoa in the South Pacific.
 |
| Robert Louis Stevenson |
Western Samoa is located
in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and consists of two main islands,
Upolu and Savaii, has about 170,000 inhabitants, of whom about 40,000 live in
Apia, the capital. After the Germans the islands came under New Zealand
administration and in 1962, they were to be the first of the Pacific islands to
become independent.
Life in Samoa is easy
going: In Apia two times a day a siren wails, first at 9 am and then at 5 pm
and that's more or less the time period in which the work; but slowly, with
calm. The South Sea islanders think differently: they say to the Europeans:
"You have the (wrist) watches and we have the time.''
 |
| The rattling colorful wooden buses belonging to the street scenery of Samoa. |
A visit of the
"Samoan National Museum'' proved to be not so rich in artifacts and more in
written and photographic information: Lined up in a large room were many big
board panels tables with a documentation of the historical past of Samoa and
the role Germany had once played there. The German Foreign Office supported the
exhibition; all its diagrams, photographs and explanatory texts were entirely
in Samoan language. We thought it was a wonderful idea to sponsor such a
project in a country that has a historical past with Germany. Excellent for
school classes, especially as information about modern Germany was included.
Unfortunately, not a single text was written in English. This way not only we,
but also other tourists would have had something out of it.
We did not have much
opportunity to see much the island of Upolu, as there were administrative
issues to be dealt with.
We needed entry visas to
New Zealand for our Burmese crew, a very complex and complicated process. Again
and again we experience on our journey how difficult it is; we are grateful
that as German we do not have these problems.
We were lucky to get the
visas within three days and through the facilitation of our agent we even got
the Prime Ministers personal permission to anchor on the banks of the
neighboring island of Savaii. There we rented a car and had the opportunity to
explore the island.
 |
| Little piglets roam freely all around the island, although they are fed, they also indulge in what nature has to offer them. |
The design and construction of Samoan houses are unique: They are
usually round or oval in shape with a high thatched roof supported by wooden
posts. Generally they do not have walls to allow a good flow of air, but in the
event of rain and for privacy, woven blinds can be erected temporarily.
The furnishing is almost non-existent. A few mats on the floor, a couple
of colourful pillows, straw chairs and tables are the exception. Accumulation
of wealth is not important here. In passing, you can watch the inhabitants
sleeping or chatting. They are a transparent community that has nothing to hide
and see themselves as one big family.
 |
| The rubbish bags are placed on stelts in order not to attract unwanted animals and insects. |
The Samoan Constitution states: "Samoa is built on God.'' And the
many churches prove that religion is a central part of everyday life, some of
which are surprisingly large.
 |
We visited another church service and were very touched when the pastor held part of his speech in English and addressed us tourists with kind words.
|
 |
| The pastor's wife (right in picture) was happy to have her picture taken with Bosun Aye Mint. |
 |
| Savaii has picturesque beaches. |
 |
| The "Blowholes'' in the south of the island are deep holes in the coral reef, which suck the waves literally and generate meter high fountain. |
 |
| In Samoa we met very friendly children…. |
 |
| …and people. Although it’s a pity that this gentleman didn’t want to show us his traditional Polynesian ‘tattoo pants’ (the tattoo reaches way down to the knees!) |
Our next stop is he
Kingdom of Tonga. Stay tuned!
Please click:
No comments:
Post a Comment