Burning Sāmoa’s villages and boats

Invincible Strangers 9 - Chapter 2.3

Gaunt’s force headed out to burn Vaimoso on the town’s western side. At nearby Lotopā the Red Tops went into breadfruit and banana plantations that had thick jungle around it.

‘It was a splendid place for an ambush,’ Ross said. Soon enough the sides found each other. The White Tops were believed to be in a stone fort. Gaunt was ordered to use his men to clear it out. First the Colt and a Nordenfeldt blasted away. The fort was empty other than for an old rifle and a recently opened bottle of German lager.

Gaunt’s younger brother Lance arrived in Sāmoa, claiming to represent the Age of Melbourne. They never published his stories. When he headed home via Auckland, he gave interviews saying that the ‘rebels’ surrounded Āpia but fighting was hampered by the dense jungle. His brother’s 140 ‘trained natives’ would follow him anywhere. He claimed Guy was known as ‘taitarou’ – which he translated, extravagantly, as ‘the great leader’. The younger brother went down what was to be a well-worn colonial path: ‘The Samoan is an essentially unreliable person and he always likes to be on the strongest side.’

A British Royal Navy Maxim machine gun crew in Sāmoa. Natlibrary NZ