Papālagi want Sāmoa’s land - freehold

Invincible Strangers 3 - Chapter 1

Sixteen kilometres west of Faleolo International Airport there is a five kilometre square island. Apolima, a whelk-like volcano cone, sits on the100 metre deep 18 kilometre long submarine plateau connecting Sāmoa’s Savai’i and ‘Upolu islands. Too young for a sheltering coral reef coast, Apolima is home to 70 souls, living inside its crater, surviving on fishing and from gardens. Its name, meaning ‘almost within grasp of the hand; implies welcome even if its sole access, a cliff gap straight out to the open Pacific Ocean, is defended by a whirlpool and a demon moray eel. On 5 September 1888, a German gunboat, Adler, was standing off that fissure.