Samoa was the scene of a power struggle between Germany, desperate for overseas colonies no matter how meaningless to its own strategy; the USA, which had run out of Natives to slaughter and figured out the future of imperialism required boats; and England, who assumed anything that touched the ocean should belong to them.
The ships present in Samoa in 1889 to settle a local power strugglescriptand stake a claim to the islandsscriptwere three German ships (a corvette and two gunboats), three American ships of the "old navy" (The cruiser Trenton, was relatively powerful, but these American ships were made of wood), and the British cruiser Calliope.
Fates of the ships: The Vandalia was wrecked on the reef, and sank when the Trenton slid into her; the Trenton was also damaged beyond repair. The Nipsic maganed to ground itself with less damage and was refloated and repaired. The largest German ship, the Olga, also was stranded but salvaged, but the Adler ended up on its side and was left on the reefs, and the Eber was shattered into pieces. Only the Calliope was able to fight its way out of the harbor and weather the typhoon in the open seas; reportedly the crew of the struggling Trenton cheered the British ship as it escaped. Multiple civilian ships were also destroyed. Over a hundred died, combining German and American casualties.
Samoa's political future was first to be goverened by a three-power coalition 'advising' the native kingdom, then to be split ten years later between east (American) and west (German) territories after another civil war and an Anglo-American intervention. (The Germans lost their side in WWI, the Americans retain theirs).
MORE DETAILS ON THE EVENT
Impressive photos of the ships and wreckage are at this navy historical website
This detailed website on the storm has information on the civilian ships present, a map and accounts of the collisions between the ships during the storm
A website describing the political crisis
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