A unique hand made book ‘An Epic Of The Sea’, ‘Well Done Calliope!’ by Lee Fore Brace, dated December 28th 1935, the gilt impressed lettered covers enclosing hand typed pages, two original watercolours and five vintage photographs, the book detailing the events at Apia, Samoa, from March 12th to 17th 1889 when a hurricane destroyed the American warships 'Trenton’, ‘Nipsic’ and ‘Vandalia’ and the German warships ‘Adler’, ‘Ever’ and ‘Olga’ and the remarkable story of the survival of the British warship ‘Calliope’. The book giving historical background to German influence in Samoa by supplying guns, powder and shot in exchange for land. This colonising policy was typically German and as it had proved eminently suitable and successful in other fields, it would have been successful in Samoa if the leading chiefs had not petitioned the governments of the United States and Great Britain to intervene on their behalf, resulting in the deployment of ships to Apia and the subsequent loss. The front page including dedication to ‘The Honourable Eliot R Davis M.L.C. Chairman of the Executive Auckland Territorial Association’. 28 x 22 cm