A controversey involving the U.S., Great Britain, and Germanhy over the Samoan Islands in the Pacific ocean threatened to break out into armed conflict. In 1889 warships of the three nations converged in the region, reflecting the three powers' interest in the civil war being fought on the islands. A showdown among the naval vessels in the harbor of Apia was averted only when a fierce storm destroyed all the warships except one English vessel. On April 29 a conference opened in Berlin and on June 14 the three nations agreed on a treaty that provided for a three-power protectorate to guarantee Samoan independence.