So for some weeks the warships of Australia and New Zealand were alertly at work, chasing the nimble Germans in and out among those thousand islands of the South Seas. British and French and Japanese vessels took up the difficult hunt with them, but in that vast wilderness of waters, with such innumerable creeks and bays and obscure hiding-places to skulk in, it was far easier to lose the wily enemy than to find him. In due course, however, the Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst were cornered and accounted for; but the Emden remained at large and ran a long and brilliantly triumphant career before it was trapped and beaten at last in a desperate fight with the Australian battle cruiser, the Sydney.
Meanwhile, on the 30th August, 1914, the island of Samoa was captured without opposition by the combined fleets of Australasia, Britain, and France, under the command of Rear-Admiral Patey. When the fleets arrived off the island, the Admiral sent an officer ashore with a letter to the Acting Governor, Herr S. N. Rimburg, saying:
"I have the honour to inform you that I am off the port of Apia with an overwhelming force, and in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, I will not open fire if you surrender immediately. I therefore summon you to surrender to me forthwith the town of Apia and the Imperial possessions under your control. An answer must be delivered within half an hour to the bearer."
To some of us now there seems a touch of unconscious humour in Herr Rimburg's reply, when we remember how the ships of his own nation bombarded unfortified English towns without giving them any preliminary warning at all, for this is the letter that Admiral Patey's messenger brought back:
"According to the principles of the rights of nations, especially of the agreements of the second Hague Peace Conference, the bombardment of our harbours and protectorates is forbidden, as is the threat to do so. I therefore respectfully protest against your Excellency's proposal. But to avoid the military measures you propose, I have given orders for the wireless telegraph station to be demolished and that no resistance shall be offered."
It always went against the grain with many Britishers that the last home of Stevenson, the island that has his grave on one of its hill-tops, should ever have been ceded to the Germans, and the news that it had been recovered from them was an occasion for enthusiastic rejoicing on that sentimental ground, as well as because it meant that a valuable colony had been added to the Empire. One very pleasant circumstance in connection with this bloodless victory was that the French and British residents in the Samoan Islands bore testimony to the kindness with which they had been treated by the German authorities and spontaneously petitioned the conquerors to show special consideration to the German ex-Governor and his officials, and the request was met at once in the friendliest possible spirit. It almost seemed as if the gracious, humane influence of Tusitala were still potent in the very atmosphere of the place. Colonel Robert Logan, the new British Administrator of Samoa, took up residence with his staff at Stevenson's own house "Vailima," which had been occupied by the German Governor, Dr. Schultz, and says in his report:
"I conferred with the German heads of departments and their subordinates, and, as they have given their parole to do nothing inimical to British interests and to carry out their duties loyally, I have retained them, with two exceptions, in their respective offices at the same salaries as they were previously receiving."
Equally pleasant, too, in connection with the capture of Samoa, were certain details mentioned concerning the appointment of Mr. Williams to the post of Deputy-Administrator of the island of Savali. "Mr. Williams has been in the islands for over forty years," wrote Colonel Logan, "and from the inception of German rule in Samoa until the declaration of war acted in the capacity of Deputy Administrator of Savali, under the German Government. On the declaration of war he was given the option of resigning his British citizenship or being relieved of his office, and he chose the latter alternative, although this entailed the loss of his pension."
The transfer of Samoa being arranged in this humane, reasonable fashion, the allied fleets departed to continue their other business, leaving a garrison of some 2,000 New Zealand troops at Apia in charge of the islands. A fortnight later those roving ships of the German Pacific squadron came round that way and shelled Apia, and were energetically shelled in return; but the firing did not last long; there was no attempt at a landing, very little damage was done, and ever since the New Zealanders have remained in peaceable possession of their first trophy.
In the interval, on the 11th September, at 7 in the morning, the Australian squadron occupied Herbertshohe, the principal town in the island of New Pomerania, which is the largest island of the Bismarck Archipelago. It was discovered by Captain Cook, who named it New Britain, but the British Government never formally took possession of it, and in 1884 Germany seized and rechristened it, and at the same time annexed half of the neighbouring island of New Guinea and changed its name to Kaiser Wilhelmsland. The remainder of New Guinea had long been shared betwixt the Dutch and the British, and there was profound dissatisfaction in Australia when the Germans were thus allowed to steal a march on us. There was already a feeling abroad that they were hankering after world-dominion and were dangerous neighbours. This uneasiness had been lulled by the passing of years, but the aggressive boastfulness of Germany and the outbreak of the war had naturally revived it and sharpened it to more than its first acuteness, and the knowledge that this menace to her peace had been finally removed was received throughout Australia with a lively satisfaction that was echoed from every quarter of the Empire.