SAMOAN
FOLK * SONG 		Tofa My Feleni
 
Fa'atui Fuimaono Voa   1889
In 1889, American and German naval vessels in Apia harbour were about to start a colonial war when a hurricane wrecked them all. Survivors on the US ships were rescued by the Samoan villagers, and were later farewelled with this song.
1

Tōfā2 my feleni,
'ole'a 'ou te'a,
'ai folau i le va'a3
a le ali'i pule i Meleke.4
Ne'i galo mai Apia,
si o ta 'ele'ele
'ae manatua mai pea,
le 'aupasese

    Oh, I never will forget you.5
    Samoa e ne'i galo atu
    Oh, I never will forget you,
    Samoa e ne'i galo atu

Fa'afogafoga mai
Samoa 'uma
'ai se'i fai atu
o la'u fa'atusa.
Pei 'o le susana6
i totonu o mauga,
fa'apea la'u pele
'i tāupou 'uma7

Fa'ato'a iloa
se mea faigatā
pe a tēte'a
ma uō fa'apēnā.
E mutimutivale
le alofa tigā
pe a tūla'i
e fa’atōfāi
 Goodbye my friend,
I must now part company with you,
sailing away in the boat
of the ruler of America.
Never forget Apia,
loved place of my home
May the boat's passengers
always remember us.

    Oh, I will never will forget you,
    Samoa cannot be forgotten
    Oh, I never will forget you,
    Samoa cannot be forgotten

Listen
all Samoa
while I tell you
of my comparison.
Like the rare flower
deep in the mountains,
is my beloved
among all the chosen young women

Now I know
what a difficult thing it is
when parting
with a friend like that.
How distressing
the painful love
when he rose
to say farewell.

Changes over the years

1. Here is a 1943 recording, sending Christmas greetings to Samoan members
     of the 28th Maori Battalion. Notice how today's tune has changed since then.
                                    

2. Tofa my feleni. Sometimes Goodbye my feleni is sung, this was being sung as  Tuta-pai mai felini in Apia in 1892 (E. Field "The Life I Loved" 1937)

3. I le va'a (waka) = on the boat. The older version has I le vasa = on the ocean.

4. Le ali'i pule i Meleke = The ruling ariki of America = Rear Admiral L. A. Kimberly.
    When sung as a farewell today is understood to mean going to America.

5. In 1892 this was being sung as O ai nepa will fa-get you. 
     (E. Field "The Life I Loved" 1937)

6. susana - a rare flower. One of the North American flowers
     introduced to Samoa was the Black-Eyed Susan. 

7. An alternative line sung here is 'ai manatua mai pea a Samoa 'uma.  It will be remembered by all Samoans
 
Here is the second verse of that 1943 recording.
 

Chords

 C                      F                   
Tofa my feleni, 'ole'a 'ou te'a
    C                       G
'ai folau i le vasa le ali'i pule i meleke
      C                             F
ne'i galo mai Samoa, si o ta 'ele'ele
      C                               G   C
'ae manatua mai pea, le 'aupasese

C                           F          C                         G
Oh, I never will forget you, Samoa e ne'i galo atu
C                                   F           C         G               C
Goodbye, I never will forget you, Samoa e ne'i galo atu


4th Verse - no longer used (J. W. Love, 1985)

Ne‘i ‘e te’e
pe to’atāma’i,
Ina ta lei tusa
ma le māsani.
Tatao lea pito
‘i le fa‘alagilagi,
Fa‘amolemole
fai vave sou tali
 Don't you be offputting
or wrathful,
For I'm not yet equal
or accustomed.
Suppress this tendency
toward scolding,
Please make haste
with your response.

Samoan leadership

There are four leading families in the Samoan Islands, Tupua Tamasese, Malietoa, Mata'afa and Tuimaleali'ifano, each lead by a Tama-a-Aiga, who is responsible for the well-being of the extended family and the protection of its customary land. One of the four tama-a-ainga is chosen as head of state (king/queen).

Conflict

In the 19th century American, German and British interests set up coconut, coffee and cotton plantations in Samoa, and by the mid 1880s, British interests owned about 100,000 hectares of Samoa's 340,000 hectares, Americans owned 85,000 and Germans 32,000. Phillips Report 1894

When the king of Tonga died, Iosefo of the Mata'afa family was the most popular choice to replace him, but German traders preferred Laupepa of the Malietoa family. In 1886 fighting broke out between Samoans over whether Laupepa or Iosefo would be the new king. Mata'afa's Iosefo was the more popular and won more battles, but a German gunboat intervened in support of Malietoa's Laupepa, and in the process it accidentally shelled buildings on an American plantation. So bigger and bigger naval ships from America, Germany, and then Great Britain, crowded into the tiny and exposed Apia harbour.

Hurricane


View from Muliva'ai Point before the hurricane
On the 9th of March 1889 the largest vessel, the 3,900 ton USS Trenton arrived flying the flag of Rear Admiral Kimberly, and anchored at the restricted mouth of the harbour. There were now 6 merchant sailing vessels and several smaller coastal craft, plus seven big steam/sail warships; one British, three German and three American, all crowded into the reef-bound harbour.

Then on the 13th, the ships' barometers began dropping rapidly eventually reaching 985 mbar, and navigation officers warned they must head out to sea to avoid being wrecked by the high winds. But Admiral Kimberly refused to let neither his battle fleet leave port, nor any US merchant vessel, and the German commander followed suit.

The high winds broke the anchor cables of the ships and they crashed into each other then capsized and started breaking up, or were ran ashore, except the HMS Calliope. This British ship, with its 4000 horsepower engine fired by bitumenous coal from Westport NZ, managed to steam out of the narrow harbour entrance in the face of 150 kph winds and mountainous waves. All the other vessels ended up on the reef at the south end of the harbour.

Rescue

These other warships were forced onto the rocks by the great winds and huge waves, and they started breaking up, drowning more than 90 on the German vessels and 50 on the American ones, leaving hundreds more American seamen clinging to the battered hulk of the Trenton (left) about 100 metres offshore.

Seeing the danger these men were in, high chief Seumanatafa summoned his men to the shore, where they formed a human chain across the raging waters to the Trenton, heroically rescuing more than 350 men, whom his wife Fa’atulia led the village women in reviving.

These rescued men spent several months recuperating in the homes of villagers in Apia. When they left to return to the USA, Faatui Fuimaono Voa composed this song as a farewell to his American friends, and it eventually became established as Samoa's farewell anthem.

The hurricane abruptly ended the conflict, and Malietoa Laupepa was appointed king.








NEW ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG 		The Hurricane Jumper
Alan Knight   2020

Am In those days of conquest we C watched and we G wondered,
How Am swiftly the old ways gave C way to the G new.
And the Am tall ships we sailed in grew C sleeker and G faster
the Am further to sail as the Em empire Am grew.

Now a sailor needs canvas above his head filling
it's rigging we trust on each towering mast.
But the admirals dreamed of the steam engine's glory
and slowly our ships they grew fast beating hearts.

Chorus
So C let your sails fill with the G wind's deadly fury
and Am stoke up the fires when the C hurricanes G blow,
for 'The Am Jumper' will ride any C storm you can G send her
with a Am coal driven heart that's a' Em beating Am below.

There were two of her class built to sail down the sea lanes
our trade to protect to the ends of the line.
The barque rigged Calliope near three thousand long tons
of steel bounded timber and rigging so fine.

While under her deck there lay two great steam engines
all driving their power into one single screw.
And all round her keel she was bounded in copper
and never a ship sailed so straight or so true.
Chorus

When first we set sail in eighteen eighty seven,
to Singapore Station our orders they came.
Then off to New Zealand to lay in provisions,
and into the dry dock that bore our ships' name.

Let's all bless the day when we got to New Zealand,
eight days 'cross the Tasman it took us to roll.
And there on the quay side at Devonport harbour
we filled up her bunkers with fine Stockton coal.

Chorus

In March '89 boys that coal was our saviour
on that black day in Apia as the storm it drew near.
Full thirteen fine ships in that small crowded mooring
and every ship's master made plans to sail clear.

A curse on their pride though, for no man would break first,
and make for the sea as the hurricane grew.
The Germans and Yankees stayed fast to their anchors,
but Calliope's captain he called to his crew;

Chorus II
'Let our sails fill with the wind's deadly fury
now stoke up the fires and make ready to go,
for this ship she will ride any storm you can send her
with that coal-driven heart you hear beating below!'

The Calliope shook as she strained 'gainst her anchors,
we aimed for the ocean we barely could see,
then at last Captain Kane gave the orders to cut loose
our anchor chains, setting our mighty ship free.

It might have been minutes it might have been hours
that we fought our way clear of Apia's shoal.
And for two days at sea we rode out that fierce storm,
pushed on by the heat of that dark Stockton coal.

Chorus

By the time we returned to Samoa's small harbour
those other twelve ships were all wrecked on the shore.
Two hundred were lost to the hurricane's fury
two hundred brave seamen who'll sail home no more.

We gave help where we could then we sailed back to Sydney,
Our ship brought us through and lost only one soul.
And when 'Hurricane Jumper' she made Garden Island
we all raised a toast to that fine Stockton coal!

Chorus II

And we raised a toast to those two hundred seamen
who drowned there that day for no cause they could see.
For they won't be the last while men still have the notion,
of painting their flags on the pitiless sea.

Chorus

HMS Calliope

The 19th century British Empire was the most extensive on Earth, and Britain protected that empire and its trade routes with the world's largest navy. Calliope and its sister ship Calypso were corvettes designed to operate across the vast distances of Britain's maritime empire and not have to rely on dry docks for maintenance. Since steel hulls were subject to fouling and could not easily be cleaned, the established practice of copper sheathing was extended to protect them; the metal plating of the hull was timber-cased and coppered below the waterline.

Its 4-cylinder, compound-expansion,
J. and G. Rennie steam engine was supplied with steam by six boilers and developed 4,023  horsepower. This engine was 50% more powerful than those on previous vessels, giving an extra 2 kph of speed, a difference that would be crucial in the disaster that made Calliope famous. The engine drove a single feathering screw, and enabled the vessel to reach a speed of 28 kph with forced draught.

  A 3-cylinder expansion engine is shown here.

It was also a fully rigged sailing ship, allowing sustained service in areas where coaling stations were far apart. It was activated  for service in January 1887 when the vessel was placed in commission for the China Station. Captain Henry Kane took Calliope to Singapore, then Australia, and at the end of that year it was the first vessel to enter the new Calliope Dock at Auckland.

In March 1889, it joined the competing squadrons of the Imperial German and United States navies at Apia, in order to keep the peace there. Apia harbour was small and nearly surrounded by reefs. Fit for about four ships, the anchorage was holding seven warships and six merchant vessels when the barometer began to fall. Over the next two days winds of 130–185 kph blew directly into the anchorage, trapping the ships. Operating their engines at full speed, ships nevertheless dragged their anchors and were driven landward. Vessels collided and were thrown on the reefs or ashore, and some sank. Calliope, still riding at anchor and only 6 metres away from the coral reef, was hit by one ship and narrowly missed by another, so Captain Kane began an attempt to escape.  Ahead were two US warships, to starboard were other warships. There was only a narrow opening between the vessels on one side and the reef on the other. With the rudder at times within 2 metres of the reef, Captain Kane saw an opening and drove forward, cheered on by seamen on the adjacent USS Trenton.

Making for the narrow harbour mouth, the British ship's bow and stern alternately rose and plunged, the propeller at times spinning in air, requiring a careful hand on the throttle to keep the shaft from running away to destruction. There were ten men on the wheel and more below handling relieving tackle on the tiller to assist in maintaining control of the rudder. Taking two hours to travel less than one kilometre to the harbour mouth, they finally escaped the anchorage into the open sea.

After returning to Apia harbour and assisting with rescue work, Captain Kane then took his ship to Sydney, where they received a hero's welcome. The narrowness of Calliope's escape, the excellence of the engines and the dedication of the crew, the seamanship of Captain Kane and officers, trusting only in their ship and themselves, and the encouragement and respect given to them by other seamen made Calliope famous.
Summarised from Wikipedia

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Placed on folksong.org.nz in April 2021
Hurricane Jumper added October 2023