Samoan Natives in the Hurricane of 1889.

Possibly born in Melbourne Australia and died there aged 103, but there are a number of Blacklocks on the internet and I may be recalling data for a different person. Married the Samoan Apele Tietie and had a number of children. Was born British and naturalized American in 1880.

Details obtained from the internet. Image Source: Andrew, Thomas, 1855-1939. Andrew, Thomas, 1855-1939: [The American Vice-consul General's house, "Matamoana" (Sea-View), Samoa]. Cusack-Smith, Thomas Berry (Sir), 1859-1929: Photographs of Samoa. Ref: PA1-o-546-19. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22649916

The family name is French, from Brittany. Was with Gordon at Khartoum and sent out of the city to carry out assistance to invalids a few days before the entire garrison was massacred, so was fortunate to escape. Died in Oxford, England.

Details obtained from the internet.

Was suspended in 1889 after his "unauthorised" actions against the Samoan people, and heavily criticised in many quarters for them, but was reinstated in 1894.

Details obtained from the internet.

Wrote a compelling account of the storm from his viewpoint on the beach. Helped many German and American sailors out of the surf. His life was plagued by gambling and alcohol addiction, and he had numerous affairs. One of these was with Cordelia Botkin, who, when Dunning ended the affair and returned to his wife, murdered Dunning's wife and sister-in-law with arsenic-poisoned chocolates.

Details obtained from a contact Lynn Ludlow in California. Film short: IMD. A Wiki page about the murder.

A very brave and courageous man who, with many unknown and un-named fellow Samoans, tried desperately to give assistance to the crewman of both American and German vessels in the storm. I think his name means "strong eyes". Despite his heroic assistance to the foreigners in his land during the storm, many of those same foreigners engaged in battle with him and his follows only a few years later. Mata'afa was ultimately victorious, but his country remained under German rule until 1914, when it was annexed by New Zealand at the start of World War One. It finally achieved independence, the first island nation in the Pacific to do so, in 1962. It was re-named Malotutu'atasi o Samoa, the Independent State of Samoa.

Details obtained from this Wiki Page.

H J Moors (c.1854-1926)

Born c. 1854 in Detroit in the United States, died 1926 in Samoa. The following text from the "Sydney Morning Herald of Tuesday, March 16th, 1926" reads: "A cable message was received in Sydney yesterday announcing the death on Saturday last of Mr H J Moors, at Apia, Samoa. The late Mr Moors was a merchant, and had a large business at Apia, which has been established for many years. He was a frequent visitor to Sydney where he was also very well known He was a personal friend of the late Robert Louis Stevenson, and was author of the book entitled "With Stevenson In Samoa." Mr. Moors settled In Samoa In 1879, having come from the United States. He was about 72 years of age."

Details obtained from this Web Page.

See also this article from the The San Francisco Call, Saturday, April 15th, 1899 with respect to the coming conflict later that year.

A resident of American Samoa, who was visiting his friend in Apia when he was on the pilot boat Lily that was run down by USS Nipsic during the storm, and who was sadly drowned.

Details obtained from the internet, and the family web page which presently (March 2017) appears to be removed. I have left the link in, in case it gets restored.

Another very brave and courageous man who also, with many unknown and un-named fellow Samoans, tried desperately to give assistance to the crewman of both American and German vessels in the storm, at considerable risk to their own. He and his wife were devout Christians.

I have tried unsuccessfully to find out more about this gentleman. There are a great many references to the family name on the internet, but every link to a person seems to end in the dreaded "404 Error" or "nothingness". There seems to be a lot about a number of person's disputed claims to rights to be heirs to the name, which I presume to be very important. It seems unlikely I will get anything detailed about the man, his history and his family, which is a shame.

Image obtained from the publication The Story of Laulii, A Daughter of Samoa, page 168.