Shelling: 'No village is too remote'

Invincible Strangers 7 - Chapter 2.1

Anglo-Americans were keen to bombard civilians. At one o’clock on 15 March, Kautz opened fire. A six inch shell from Philadelphia went over Mulinu’ū and into Vaiusu. Philadelphia’s third shell destroyed a canoe. No record was kept of what happened to the people in or near it. Firing continued every few minutes. At around 4pm, Porpoise went out five kilometres, passing Philadelphia whose crew gave them a cheer as its band struck up ‘God Save the Queen’. Once out past Mulinu’ū and in Ross’ report, ‘began dropping shells on Vaiusu, and made beautiful shooting. I hear that the American officers admired it greatly, and they chipped in from the Philadelphia with deadly accuracy.’ He quoted a messenger at the English consulate: ‘My word, Porpoise break plenty at Vaiusu; smash all the huts, smash houses and set 'em on fire, kill lots Samoans.’