Month: October 2021

Cook Islands

Sunset

Cook Is. sunset 

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Cook Island flag with the union flag which denotes the historical link with the UK, and the fifteen stars represent each of the islands that make up the Cook Islands.

map

The map will give you an idea of the location of the Cook Island – they are three and a half flying hours from Auckland. You can see a read mark that I have placed on the northern island of New Zealand that indicates the approximate location of Auckland.

The capital of the Cook Island is on the island of Rarotonga and is called Avarua. 
The total land mass of all fifteen islands adds up to 240 square kms (93 sq miles). The ocean economic zone under the Cook Is control is 1.96 million square kms (757 sq miles).

A spot of trivia Captain Cook visited the islands in 1773 and 1777 and he named one of the islands as Hervey Is. and later the whole group was known as the Hervey Is.

The change in name came about because of the Russians in the 1820’s.

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Adam Johann von Krusenstern  1777-1846

Adam Johann von Krusenstern was a Baltic German Admiral, born in Estonia from a Swedish aristocratic family, who had remained in Estonia after Estonia became part of Russia in 1787.
He joined the Russian Imperial navy, and even served six years in the Royal Navy, but in 1803 he in command of one ship in company with another Russian ship sailed around the world via Cape Horn, the north Pacific, and Cape of Good Hope. In his report to Tsar Alexandra, he referred to the Hervey Is as the Cook Is. to honour Captain Cook.

His work was translated in to English and later into Dutch, French, Spanish, Danish and Italian. Hervey Is. had become Cook Is.

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The above is a picture of the Padua. Launched in 1926 for F. Laeisz of Hamburg and was the last of the P-Line (so name due to all the ships in this line began with ‘P’). The ship sailed under the German flag of the day – 

Flag_of_Germany_(3-2_aspect_ratio).svg the Weimar Republic, and later

1920px-War_Ensign_of_Germany_(1938–1945).svg  under the Nazi flag, and later again

1280px-Merchant_flag_of_Germany_(1946–1949).svg the Merchant navy flag of Germany from 1946 – 1949

images in 1946 she was surrendered to the USSR and became part of the Russian navy. She was renamed Kruzenshtern after Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern. 

188px-Flag_of_Russia.svg her flag today, & if you wish to know more click here.

Back to the Cook Is.

I flew from Sydney direct to Rarotonga in March 1987, the flight time being five hours forty minutes.
I left on a Sunday and arrived at 7.00 pm on Saturday – perhaps a time warp Captain Kirk, which gave me two Sundays in that week.

cyclone-shelters-all-need-a-ramp

It had only been three months since the Cook Is had been devastated by Cyclone Sally and the 190 km winds.
From December 1986 through to January 1987 Hurricane Sally swept across Rarotonga and cause a lot of damage.

Our agent was the only IATA agent on the island, which came in handy for Skypak, plus it was one of the few buildings undamaged by the cyclone being brick and steel.

rar The island had one tarmac road that circumnavigated the island, and I was driven the twenty miles (32 km) around the island in forty minutes and saw the rebuilding of life in the Cook Is. The people were all very friendly and as we were not in any rush to complete the journey, I was happy to wave to anyone who waved at me. 
The population of the island at that time was about 9,000 people and I think I waved at most of the islanders. My arm ached by the time we returned to the office.

NAvaruaTownAvarua was a quiet place in 1987.

The acceptable currency was either New Zealand dollars or Cook Is. dollars. I think there is a saying in the USA, that if anything is not correct it is as bad as a three-dollar bill. The saying has not translated to the Cook Is.

3 dollar

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I found the above currency in one of my books that I used as a bookmark – the book was

Aggie

club-raro-resort

I stayed in a small resort just outside of Avarua called Cook Is Raro Club, I found the above from their web page – it has changed a lot since 1987. While I was there the reconstruction was in full swing. 

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Bedrooms were like a small chalet, very pleasant and the sound of the sea could be heard.

coral-beach-lagoon-52971-crop  

Our agent had arranged for me to be a temporary member of the local fishing club. The idea of the club was not sitting on a riverbank with rod and line but chasing the marlin deep sea.
After studying the photographs around the wall of the club it looked an exciting trip, but due to my limited time I only saw the members in the evening and had to refuse their offers of a fishing trip

fishing-club-reopens-we-had-a-lot-of-catching-up-to-do

In 1987 the club was a much smaller building among overgrown trees and grass and you could not see the sea from the club due to the undergrowth – what a change today.
The Cook Is. has become a holiday island, but thirty-five years ago it was a quiet back water. Few people could afford to visit, unlike now with cheap holiday flights, and not just from New Zealand and Australia. (Pre covid of course) 

Entertainment in the evening was limited and it was a long walk to Avarua from the resort and quite hot even in the evening.

TJ

At the harbour I did enjoy a beer or two with our agent at Trader Jacks. It had been damaged by the cyclone, but the beer was cold and conversation with the locals was always interesting. Oddly enough the damage to the place gave it a strange air of history. I believe that it was closed and had to be rebuilt. It was reopened in 1989, and as far as I know still going strong.Trader 1

A cold beer and a cool breeze what more could be better.

The above pictures of Trader Jacks are of the modern buildings, rather than how things were when I visited Rarotonga. Trader Jacks had only been open about six months before Cyclone Sally visited the Cook Is. 

sunsett

The Cook Islands are well worth a visit if you get the chance to be wandering around the Pacific.

Tonga- the The Friendly Is.

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The flag of Tonga.

The red cross of the flag indicates Christianity, approximately 97 % of Tongans are Christian, the white is for purity and the red field is in memory of Christ’s blood shed at His crucifixion. 

The Kingdom of Tonga consists of 176 islands and the largest is Tongatapu and the capital Nuk’alofa is located on this island.

It is 36 years since I last visited Tonga and how things have changed. When I visited, I had to fly to Fiji for a connection to Tonga.
I stayed at the International Dateline Hotel; from memory it was the only (international style) hotel in town. It was a grey concrete hotel with little to encourage anyone to visit. When I was there it had 24 rooms, but I believe they have since expanded the number of rooms. The swimming pool was always empty, and it was a depressing hotel.
At that time TV had not arrived in Tonga and satellite TV was in the future. Fortunately, I was seldom without a book.

hotel

The Dateline Hotel today – what a change!

I was met by our agent and the ride into town from the airport to the hotel took about 40 minutes. Our agent was the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. They also handled for Air New Zealand, Pacific Forum Line (shipping company), tour buses & hotel bookings, for tourists. Our agent had three offices in the high street, all interconnected but each ‘selling’ a different product.

1980

The main street, which is Taufa’ahau Road early 1980’s, had not changed much when I visited in 1986. 

There was one main street (sealed road) leading to the harbour, the picture above was taken in 1980 and the scene was as I remembered in 1986.

Being the agent for Air New Zealand meant that Union Steam Ship had tarmac access, so we had the fastest clearance and delivery of any courier company. The agent had one delivery person because the customers who used our services took the package to the office, so that saved costs!

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The sign over the shop on the left is the Air New Zealand logo.

At that time the Tongan economy was based on exporting bananas and other fruits to New Zealand. Tourism was growing and the revenue from tourism and remittances from Tongans working overseas produced more than twice the revenue of Tonga’s export earnings.

From a western aspect they were a poor country, but I never heard any complaints and everyone I met were optimistic and happy – Captain Cook was correct when he referred to Tonga as the Friendly Is.             

Captain Cook visited Tonga three times between 1773 and 1777.
About 1827 the Wesleyan Methodists missionaries arrived and began converting the Tongans to Christianity.

George_Tupou_I,_c._1880s

In 1833 they converted the main chief of the islands Taufa’ahau Tupou, (this is his picture) who became King George Tupou 1st in 1845, and he reigned until his death in 1893, when he was 95 years old.

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Shirley Waldemar Baker, 1836-1903

Shirley Waldemar Baker was an Englishman who was born in London in 1836. He stowed away on an Australia bound ship to get to Melbourne to take part in the gold rush.
After working in the goldfields, he became a teacher at a Wesleyan school, and later became ordained as a Wesleyan minister and was sent to Tonga as a missionary.
He became involved with the councils to King George Tupou, who later made Baker Prime Minister in 1880.
Under Baker’s influence Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 and remains so today.

When King George Tupou died the Tongan people had a problem because their King had outlived his children, so the crown passed to his great grandson. 

800px-George_Tupou_II_of_Tonga

The above is King George Tupou II, taken in 1895, he was the great grandson of George Tupou – he was 19 when he came to the throne in 1893.

In 1900 Tonga became a British protected State, which meant that Britain would protect Tonga, and block any interference by other powers, but Britain would not interfere with the domestic running of the country.
The Kingdom of Tong was never colonised, and this relationship between Britain and Tong lasted until 1970, when Tonga joined the Commonwealth.

George Tupou II died in 1918 and his daughter became Queen – 

Salote_Tupou_III_of_Tonga_in_coronation_robe-crop

Queen Sālote (which mean Charlette in English) 1900-1965.

In September 1939 after the German invasion of Poland, Tonga was one of the first countries to declare war on Germany. 
The people of Tonga funded two Spitfire aircraft for the RAF.

Tonga-Defence_Force_Inspection

Queen Sālote inspecting some of her troops – you might think that her troops were small in height, but Queen Sālote was 6ft 3 inches (191 cm) tall which made many men look small. 

A few days after the attack on Pearl Harbour, Tonga declared war on Japan.
Tongan troops took part in the Guadalcanal campaign as well as the Solomon Island campaign.

Queen Elizabeth’s coronation took place in 1953, and at that time I was nine and can remember the coronation and our house was full of neighbours who did not have a TV.
Dad had hired a TV so that we could watch the ‘show’ – the neighbours were extra.

TV.jpg (2)

Black and white only, and a single station, the BBC.

Those of us who viewed the Coronation will remember Queen Sālote of Tonga riding through London in an open topped carriage.

During the procession it began to rain and those in open carriages pulled awnings over to keep dry. Not Queen Sālote, she sat in her open carriage in the rain waving to the crowds. She was not going to hide from the people.

16.Queen-Salote-Tupoi-III

The roar of the crowd for her staying uncovered in the rain was only beaten by the cheers for the Queen and Churchill.
When Queen Sālote returned to Tonga, and she travelled through the streets of the capital the people were silent. Tongans considered it impolite to cheer and wave at dignitaries.
Queen Sālote had enjoyed the experience of the crowds in London and encouraged her people to do likewise.

Queen Eliz

In December of the Coronation year (1953) Queen Elizabeth visited Tonga as the guest of Queen Sālote and the photograph shows the Royal Tongan tortoise, Tu’i Malila being introduced to Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.
It is said that the tortoise was a present from Captain Cook in 1777 (his last visit to Tonga) and the tortoise always lived in the palace.
The tortoise died in 1966 and I think it is preserved in the Tongan National Centre in Nuka’alofa.

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Tongan Royal Palace.

palace

In the evening of the 2nd of June (Coronation Day) I asked my dad where Tonga was – he dragged the atlas out and we studied it to see how far it was from England. I never dreamt that one day I would visit Tonga – the friendly islands.

I walked the short distance to the harbour and I can remember seeing small cargo ships anchored off shore, similar to these below waiting to be unloaded, or perhaps just waiting and waiting. . .perhaps for their end.  

old cargo ships

shipwreck-remains-old-tanker-panama-260nw-1731727978

When I saw the ships the movie Lord Jim came to mind.

lord

Last year I booked a cruise to visit Tonga and Samoa in early 2022 to show Maureen places of interest, but thanks to Covid the best laid plans . . . . I wonder if the old cargo ships are still waiting.

American Samoa

flag

American Samoa is the only area south of the Equator controlled by the USA, not counting the Antarctic.
 The above is the flag of American Samoa and Pag Pago (pro Pango Pango) is the capital, which is located on the island of Tutuila.

The US had been interested in this part of Samoa from as early as 1839 and when Germany & Great Britain were expanding their influence in the Pacific the US  wanted to block Germany who had taken control of W. Samoa in 1899.

In 1871 the US signed a treaty with the local chieftain for an exclusive use of the harbour, which was one of the deepest in the Pacific. The US wanted to create a coaling station for their steamers. It was also in an area of one of the best whaling areas in the world.

In April 1900 the US flag was raised over Tutuila, which is the name of the island, to stop Germany from expanding their influence, because they had already claimed W. Samoa.

My visit to American Samoa was in 1987, which had been arranged by our W. Samoa agent because TNT Skypak wanted an agency in Pago Pago.

Samoa Air

We flew to American Samoa from Western Samoa, at that time Samoa was called Western Samoa, the name did not change until 1997 when the country became just Samoa.

Some of the passengers on our flight were weighed before being allowed to board, and some of us were not.
As you see the aircraft was small, so every kilo was counted and the Western Samoans are known for their size.
The flight from Apia to Pago Pago was not long, about forty-five minutes, but it was still an international flight. Our baggage was stowed behind the last passenger.
We flew at our maximum height, which was 4,500 feet (about 1370 mtrs) above sea level, and there is a lot of sea to be seen in that 45 minutes.

Our Samoan agent and I acted as OBCs (on board couriers) carrying documents from Australia, New Zealand and Samoa. Our new man in Pago Pago was an accountant who already had three businesses as well as being a public accountant, so he now had to learn the international courier industry jargon, because we were carrying his first consignments.

We landed at Tafuna Airport (airline code PPG), which is about seven miles (11 km) from the city.
The road to the city wound round the base of the mountain, which only allowed one lane of traffic in each direction. The road was very crowded and narrow so trying to pass the vehicle in front was not recommended. The journey took us over half an hour and the humidity was off the scale, plus the vehicle was not air-conditioned so within minutes of leaving the airport we were dripping with perspiration.
My first impression of American Samoa was not positive due to the very poor maintenance of such an important road between the airport and the city.
In 1987 the population of Tutuila Island was about 36,000.

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The hotel that our Samoan agent had booked looked very inviting, the Rainmaker Hotel, which used to be called the Pacific’s Intercontinental Hotel.

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The above is from an early advert for the hotel – it was not as attractive when I visited, but it was the only hotel on the island! 

The hotel began life in 1965 and was refurbished after a US fighter plane crashed into it in 1980. The accident cost the lives of six servicemen and two tourists.

1200px-RAINMAKER_HOTEL,_PAGO_PAGO,_AMERICAN_SAMOA  A shot of the hotel when closed.

After a nice cold shower, I was given a tour of the town by our new agent. It was interesting, but my over whelming memory is the smell of fish. It did not matter where you were I could smell fish. Pago Pago housed the fourth largest tuna processing works in the world. 
The canning of fish and pet food, with the processing of fish bones and skin into fish meal did not help the atmosphere of the island.

Pan Am

In 1946 Pan American Airlines started a service from the US to Sydney via Pago Pago using a DC4.

DC7

In 1956 Pan Am updated to a DC7 

DC3

In 1959 Polynesian Airlines (Apia based) began a service between W. Samoa and American Samoa using a DC3.

This is how the rich and famous arrived at Aggie Grey’s Hotel in Apia.

Once again, even though the fish smell was strong I still found joy visiting places that I had read about, so of course I had to follow in Somerset Maugham’s footsteps as I had read Rain, which he wrote while in American Samoa.

Somerset Maugham - CopySomerset Maugham 1874 – 1965

Somerset Maugham was visiting the Pacific Islands in 1916. His ship Sonoma arrived in Pago Pago where he left the ship and took up residence in a guesthouse.

1920px-SADIE_THOMPSON_BUILDING This is the guest house were Somerset Maughan and his companion stayed for six weeks while he wrote the outline of a short story called Miss Thompson.

He used some of the passengers on the Sonoma as models for character in his story. There was a single lady travelling on her own, who became Miss Sadie Thompson in Maughan’s book. 

Sometime later when he was finalising his story from notes, while staying at a Hollywood hotel, he met an American playwright who was roaming around the hotel one night because he could not sleep. His name was John Colton and Maugham thought he would offer his new story to Colton to read, and perhaps it would help him to sleep.

The following morning Colton wanted to buy the story and turn it in to a play. Somerset Maugham agreed, but Colton did not have enough money to buy the rights, so Maughan offered his hand and said we split any profits 50 – 50 and John Colton agreed. 

While in America Somerset Maughan was also trying to find someone to buy his story. A magazine called The Smart Set bought the story.

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It was published in 1921, which opened a new avenue for Maughan’s work.

Later when Miss Thompson was to be included in a book of Somerset Maughan’s short stories the title was changed to Rain. 

It was as Rain that the play ran in New York for 608 performances between November 1922 and May 1924.

In 1928 it was made into a silent film with Gloria Swanson in the lead part.

Gloria

In 1932 it was Joan Crawford who had the lead part in a film called ‘Rain’.

Later it was June HavocJune_Havocwho played Sadie Thompson

and in 1953 Miss Sadie Thompson was played by

Sadie

Rita Hayworth

Blue Pacific Blues

Click on the link for a little bit of the film and Rita Hayworth singing . . or you might give a round of applause to Jo Ann Geer, who did all of Rita Hayworth’s singing.

RitaThe guesthouse (now renamed) where Somerset Maughan stayed in 1916 has become so famous that they have a sign outside.

sign

On the first picture of the guest house, you will see a yellow sign, I cropped it out for clarity. 

Now back to the Rainmaker Hotel – and the surrounds – the ‘mountain’ that dominates Pag Pago is the cause of the high amount of rain that drenches the town, so even though the mountain is called Mt Pioa it is more commonly known as the Rainmaker Mountain, hence the name of the hotel.
Pago Pago harbour has the highest rainfall of any harbour in the world.

The Rainmaker Hotel had 250 rooms and was THE place to stay, with famous guests such as Marlon Brando, William Holden etc who were on their way to Aggie Grey’s in Apia.

failed

The Rainmaker Hotel fell into disrepair and became derelict, and was demolished in 2015

BUT . . . there is always but . . . 

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Sadie Thomason Inn flourished

and

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Sadie’s by the Sea flourishes

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I wonder what Somerset Maughan would have thought of Sadie’s today,
but sex sells, because Sadie Thomason was a deported prostitute from Hawaii, which is why she was on the Sonoma.

Tusitala part two

1986

In 1926 Aggie married Charles Grey

When one reads the history of Samoa, particularly through the 1800s to the mid-1900s the list of characters that flowed in and around Apia, the capital of Samoa, would keep a Hollywood producer in work for years.

Aggie grew up across the road from the International Hotel and one day, when she was a child, she saw carpenters dismantling the wooden building very carefully. This strange happening was mentioned to her father who told Aggie and her sisters that a Mr Hetherington had bought the building and planned to rebuild it on the bank of the Vaisigano river.

The International Hotel was rebuilt exactly as it was originally in 1870.

There was a character known locally as ‘Obliging Bob’ for his good manners and how he managed the International Hotel.

Robert Easthope (aka Obliging Bob) was born in England (Cumberland) in 1848.
At an early age he picked life at sea as his career and ended up in Samoa in 1894. By February 1896 he was managing a hotel called Club Hotel followed by The Tivoli and then the International, which was the most popular at that time.

Tivoli

His nick name came about because he was well mannered, and nothing was too much trouble. He would use his own boats to ferry his guests to their ship, which would be moored in the harbour before sailing.

When he died in 1932 at 84 years old, he was the oldest British resident in Samoa.
Billy Hughes, the slave trader used to drink in the International Hotel before it moved to its present location. When I visited this hotel Billy Hughes would have recognised the outside, nothing had changed.

 

AG 1989

On my second trip to Apia, I stayed at Aggie Grey’s again and it had changed somewhat. This time I was not shown to the fale as I expected, but taken upstairs to the ‘new’ extension, which was airconditioned and overlooked the sea. It was a pleasant hotel room, but not as ‘Samoan’ as the fale. The above picture is the ‘new’ hotel.

A little bit more about Aggie Grey – when she was a child she watched the International Hotel be rebuilt, but little did she know of her future connection with this hotel. 

Charlie and Aggie were great entertainers, but there was a problem, Charlie was a gambler, and they had three children, plus Aggie’s four children from her first marriage. Her entrepreneur skills showed early because when she was in her early twenties, she opened the Cosmopolitan Club. 

Later in 1933 she borrowed £200 to buy the old British Club, which was renamed ‘Aggies’ through which she sold illegal alcohol because the New Zealand Government, who controlled Western Samoa, declared the island to be ‘dry’.  The ‘dryness’ included Europeans as well as the local islanders. The Europeans were not happy.

The British Club had been the old International Hotel. 

To get around the problem of ‘dryness’ the NZ Government authorised the medical officer in Samoa to issue ‘points’ to the Europeans and depending on your position in society and rank, you were allocated ‘points’ on a monthly basis. Technically the points were for the use of alcohol for medical purposes. This system went on until after 1960!

beer

Today Samoa has its own brewery bought from Germany.

In 1942 the Americans arrived due to the war in the Pacific and Maggie opened a snack bar selling coffee and burgers from a location next to the current hotel, and she also operated a sandwich cart around the streets. Things were picking up – but in 1943 her husband Charlie, died. She was now on her own with children to feed, so had to come up with an income.
She moved the business in to the old British Club, which was now called Aggies, and Aggie Grey’s was born.

From this location besides the food, they also sold ‘bush gin’ which was a palm toddy at $2 a bottle.
The toddy was created from the coconut palm tree and a local would climb thirty feet (nine meters) up the palm tree to tap into the sap, and allow it to drip in to a glass jar.

Barley-Water-Benefits-For-Skin-Hair-Health

The tree sap looked like barley water.   

The liquid had a fizzy tang to it . . . 

Wiley

There was an unfortunate incident due to ‘bush gin.’ The Admiral Wiley Pictured above) was anchored in the harbour and unloading stores. The Captain went ashore for a few glasses of bush gin, which caused him to become unsteady.
It was dark and the only way the captain could return to his ship was via a native boat, but the instructions were that native boats were not allowed near military ships. The watch keeping sailor on the ship could not believe that the person in the native craft was his captain.
After a long argument the sailor allowed the captain to board and the Captain went to his cabin.
The captain still full of bush gin, was as mad as anything at the idea of being refused to board his own ship, so he left his cabin and started firing his pistols at the sailor. The sailor had no choice but to return fire and killed his Captain.

The First Mate was told to take command and to be prepare for sailing. The problem was that the First Mate worked in haberdashery before he had joined the navy and had taken a six week crash course in commanding a merchant ship – he was incapable of taking the ship to sea, so the ship had to wait for a competent merchant seaman officer to arrive and take the ship to sea.

During the time that the Americans were located in Samoa they had to place military police outside Aggie Grey’s premises because officers would arrive in jeeps but when they wished to drive back to their ship or barracks, they would find that the jeep had been stacked on rocks because the wheels were missing, the petrol had been syphoned and parts of the engine were missing.
The local Samoan society believed that everything that they owned was available for anyone to use, so it was not theft but a cultural problem for the Americans.   

The war was over and James A Mitchener a naval historical officer wrote

Tales of the south pacific

This edition was published in 1947

Michener became friendly with Aggie, and I believe that she contributed her ideas during the editing process.
I must admit that reading his book while wandering around the South Pacific added to the experience for me.
One might say that James A. Mitchener became the Tusitala of the 20th Century Pacific Islands.

James-Michener

   James A. Mitchener 1907 -1997

In 1952 ‘Return to Paradise’ a Mitchener story was turned in to a film and Gary Cooper played the lead role. The American crew stayed at Aggies and at the Casino run by Aggie’s sister, there were a total of fifty Americans, but in every other aspect the US film company used local Samoans and the dancing girls (Samoan dancing) were trained under Aggie. 

roberta-haynes

Roberta Haynes 1927 – 2019

Aggie also directed and trained Roberta Haynes in her dance sequences. 

Roberta Haynes’ ashes were taken back to Samoa by her son and interred at a chapel at the Return to Paradise resort in 2019.

If you wish to see a short piece of the film click below.

Return to Paradise

In addition to Gary Cooper 1901-1961 gary-cooper-2  who was awarded three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe and a number of other awards,

  Aggie Grey’s hotel has been visited by

Dorothy Lamour 1914 – 1996,  dorothy-lamour-6 She received a citation from the US Government for selling $300 million worth of War Bonds during WW2. She was known as the ‘Bond Bombshell’. 

 

Marlon Brando 1925-2004,  marlon-brando Two Academy Awards, Three BAFTAs, Two Golden Globes.

 

Raymond Burr 1917-1993, raymond-burrTwo Emmy awards & and a stamp issue by Canadian Postthumb_raymond-burr-canada-stamp

 

Robert Morley 1908-1992, Robert Morley  CBE, but he declined a Knighthood

 

William Holden 1918-1981  WILLIAMHolden Academy award winner

to name a few.

The above were film actors, who became famous due to their ability to entertain, even though they did not have Facebook, Tick Tock, , Instagram, Linkedin, Youtube nor did they Twitter on & on . . . but they were good at their job and entertained us.

When Gary Cooper was seriously ill and close to death amongst the huge number of well-wisher’s cards & letters there was a telegrams from Queen Elizabeth and the Pope, and a phone call from President John F. Kennedy, Gary Cooper was famous, they even used his name in this song. 

Putting on the Ritz

In 1971 Aggie was ‘stamped’ with success (please excuse the pun)

stamp

Aggie

Aggie died in 1988 at 91 years of age.

Her son took over the running of the company and in 2013 Aggie Grey’s hotel was sold to Chinese investors for US$50 million and is now operated by the Sheraton Hotel Group. Aggie Grey’s Hotel is now known as the Sheraton Samoa with a subtitle ‘Aggie Grey’. 

Hotel sold

The hotel was rebuilt after major damage during the cyclone in 2012 when the Vaisigano River (which I have mentioned earlier) flooded the hotel up to the third floor (American) or second floor if you are British.

Sheraton

The hotel re-opened for business in July 2016