Geoffrey Spicer-Simson - "Simson's Circus"

"Simson's Circus"

In April 1915, the Admiralty learned that Germany was preparing to launch the Graf von Götzen onto Lake Tanganyika. The Götzen was much larger than any other vessel on the lake and would give German forces supremacy across its entire length. With control of the Lake, Germany could easily move troops and materials to supports its efforts in and around German East Africa. To counter the Götzen, two small, fast and well armed motorboats would be sent from Britain.

Spicer-Simson had experience in Africa and was fluent in French and German, so the Admiralty overlooked his undistinguished record and selected him to lead the expedition. His commanders saw nothing to lose in sending him to what was considered a sideshow to the events in Europe.

The two motorboats, which Spicer-Simson named Mimi and Toutou, were loaded aboard the SS Llanstephen Castle on 15 June along with the expedition′s equipment and supplies. Two special trailers and cradles were also brought along to allow them to be transported by rail or overland. The first leg of Mimi and Toutou′s 10,000 mi (16,000 km) journey was completed after 17 days at sea and their arrival at the Cape of Good Hope.

From Cape Town, they and the men of the expedition traveled north by railway through Bulawayo to Elisabethville, where they arrived on 26 July. After traveling to the railhead at Fungurume, they were detrained and dragged 146 mi (235 km) through the bush by teams of oxen and steam tractors to the beginnings of the railway from Sankisia to Bukama. At Bukama, the boats and stores were unloaded and prepared for a voyage down the Lualaba River. The Lualaba was running low, and Mimi and Toutou had to be paddled fifty-six miles upstream, once running aground fourteen times in just twelve miles. They spent seventeen days on the Lualaba before reaching Kabalo. From there, the last 175 miles of the journey to Lake Tanganyika was completed by railroad. The expedition, known by that point as "Simson's Circus" for all it had been through, arrived at the Belgian lake port of Lukuga on 24 October 1915.