by Kevin Patience
One of the strangest naval stories to come out of the First World War
concerned the despatch of two wooden motor boats to Central Africa in June
1915, to destroy three German gunboats. It read more like a saga from the
"Boy's Own Paper" than a naval operation.
In 1915 the colony of German East Africa held complete
naval supremacy on Lake Tanganyika on its western border with three armed
vessels the Hedwig von Wissman (60 tons) Kingani (45 tons) and the Graf
von Goetzen (1,000 tons). All three had been brought in sections to Dar es
Salaam the capital and railed to Kigoma where they had been assembled and
launched.
Following the disastrous attempt by the allies to invade
the colony at Tanga in November 1914 it was not until 1915 that they were
in a position to consider a second invasion attempt by land. The main
thrust would come from British East Africa on the eastern side of Lake
Victoria, with the Belgians moving in from the Belgian Congo in the west.
It became obvious that the strategic importance of Lake Tanganyika lay in
the German's ability to move troops and supplies at will along its four
hundred mile length and so be able to land behind the invading allied
forces.
In command of the German forces was Lt. Col. Paul von
Lettow-Vorbeck, who within days of the outbreak of the war had ordered the
Wissman to destroy the Belgian steamer Del Commune and two other vessels
to the south in Northern Rhodesia thus removing any threat to his naval
supremacy.
This undisputed control of the lake came to the attention
of a big game hunter John Lee operating in the area, who drew up a plan
for the destruction of the three vessels. Arriving in London he obtained
an interview with the First Sea Lord, Sir Henry Jackson where he explained
his plan to lead a naval expedition with an armed motor boat to the lake
via South Africa. His theory being that a lightly armed fast vessel would
be able to damage the enemy sufficiently to disable it without incurring
serious damage to itself. Sir Henry listened impassively and the following
day declared "It is both the duty and the tradition of the Royal Navy to
engage the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship"
The distances involved were impressive:
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London to Capetown by ship 6,100 miles |
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By rail to
Fulgurate 2,700 miles |
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Through bush and forest to Sankisia 120 miles |
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By rail to Bukama on the Lualaba river 15 miles |
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By river to Kabalo 200 miles |
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By rail to Lukuga on Lake Tanganyika 175 miles |
With full approval of the Admiralty, Foreign and Colonial Office, Lee
began the search for suitable vessels and found the ideal craft in a pair
of Thorneycroft twin engined forty foot motor boats originally designed
for the Greek Air Force. The two launches were fitted with a 3 pounder gun
on the foredeck and a maxim in the stern. The former could only be fired
dead ahead or the recoil would capsize the boat or tear the gun out of the
deck.
Overall command of the expedition was given to the slightly eccentric
Lt. Cmdr. Spicer-Simson who set about organising equipment and stores
including two traction engines and trailers for the boats. Simson named
the boats H.M.S. Cat and Dog which didn't exactly amuse their Lordships
and later renamed them Mimi and Toutou which did not bode well with 'jolly
jack' who saw an immediate disaster in the making.
By June 1915 the party of four officers and twenty four seamen departed
from London on the first leg of their trans Africa safari. They arrived in
Capetown on 2nd July and proceeded by rail to Fungurume where by 15th
August they were ready to depart on the most difficult section. Two
traction engines, trailers and boats as well as nearly fifty tons of
supplies had been assembled and a large number of native helpers
recruited. The overland section would require a track to be cut through
the bush as well as the building of numerous bridges.
The journey took over a month, and involved constructing one hundred and
fifty bridges and hauling the boats across a mountain range. An almost
impossible feat without the addition of nearly fifty oxen. It was an
eventful trip during which they fought a bush fire, rebuilt the trailers
and nearly lost one of the boats when the tow wire broke. The weight of
the trailers caused antbear burrows to collapse and almost wreck the
projecting propellers and rudders. It was not long before the expedition
was nicknamed 'Harry Tates Navy' by the ratings after a contemporary
music hall comedian. The boats arrived at Sankisia on 28th September and
were loaded on to a narrow gauge railway that would take them down to the
Lualaba river.
It being the dry season the river was sluggish with large sandbanks and it
was evident that the boats would ground downstream. Empty oil drums were
lashed to the sides to reduce the draft. While the boats were being
modified, stores were being sent on ahead in a variety of craft including
dug out canoes and pontoons. The two boats set off down river towed by two
barges propelled by native paddlers. The journey was not without incident.
Swarms of tsetse flies descended and inflicted painful stings, while from
time to time the boats grounded and had to be manhandled over the
shallows. Two weeks after beginning the river journey they arrived at
Kabalo where the boats were loaded on to wagons for the final leg of the
journey to the lake at Lukuga. Preparations at the lake took a further
month before Toutou was launched on 22nd December, Mimi followed next
morning.
The morning of the 26th, a Sunday dawned bright and clear when round the
headland appeared the Kingani. The naval party were at church service and
Simson watched the vessel growing larger and completed the service before
dismissing the men to man the launches. Kingani sailed blissfully past
before Mimi and Toutou gave chase followed by two support vessels. On
shore a large crowd of natives watched as the drama unfolded. Observing
the two launches closing in astern, Kingani piled on the coal but her nine
knots was too slow. The Germans opened fire at Mimi but her speed and manoevrability saved the day. A lucky shot from Toutou scored a direct hit
on Kingani's foredeck and the ship slowed to a stop. The ensign came down
and a white cloth was seen being waved. Kingani had surrendered. The shell
had killed the Captain and two crew. Kingani was beached for repairs and
later renamed H.M.S. Fifi by Simson. The crew refused to call it Fifi,
instead they referred to it as Fyefye
Details of the successful action were sent to London and the Admiralty
satisfied with the state of play promoted Simson to Commander. A second
message received read out to the assembled hands at a special parade
stated 'His Majesty's congratulations to his most remote expedition'.
The loss of the Kingani worried the Germans but it was not until 9th
February that the Wissman appeared and was promptly pursued by Mimi and Fifi. A three hour duel ensued with Mimi harassing the larger better armed Wissman until the Fifi could catch up. A lucky shot from Fifi's heavier
gun hit the engine room and the vessel stopped and began to settle by the
head. The crew abandoned ship and ten minutes later it sank.
On return to shore Simson was hailed a hero by the natives but his
eccentric ways had not endeared him to his crew. At sunset he paraded for
his evening shower and to the amazement of all was seen to be covered in
enormous tatoos which fascinated the natives. Following the sinking of the Wissman he was hailed by the natives as some kind of God. The following
morning the crew were speechless when the Graf von Gotzen sailed past and
Simson refused to act, he was quite content to rest on his laurels.
There followed weeks of inactivity during which Simson
was away from the base. He appeared to have lost his
nerve when he returned in May and
played little further part in naval operations on the lake having fallen
foul of the allied army commanders. When asked by one of them whether he
could attack the Gotzen he replied not with success. Unbeknown to him
Gotzen had been fitted with a 4.1 inch gun from the cruiser
Königsberg
sunk in July the previous year, which would have destroyed any thing the
allies had on the lake.
Eventually he returned to England under the guise of being medically
unfit. Back in the Admiralty he succeeded in turning a rather shameful
ending to his own advantage. When news of the expedition became public
knowledge he was asked to lecture and happily basked in the limelight.
Despite Simson's odd behaviour he was awarded the D.S.O. and the
expedition earned 3 D.S.C.'s and 12 D.S.M.'s. for as a contemporary writer
put it, "No single achievement during World War I was distinguished by
more bizarre features than the successfully executed undertaking of 28
daring men who transported a 'ready-made' navy overland through the wilds
of Africa to destroy an enemy flotilla on Lake Tanganyika." John Lee whose
idea it was in the first place received nothing.
As to the Mimi, Fifi and Toutou, Mimi appears to have been taken out and
scuttled off Kaleme in the 1920's while Fifi was transferred to Kigoma and
when the replacement steamer was commissioned, it was taken out and
scuttled on 19th October 1924. Toutou was railed to Victoria Docks, Cape
Town where it could be seen with a polished plate that read "This launch
served in the East African Campaign as an armed cruiser. Captured and sank
two German gunboats with assistance of sister launch Mimi."
The Gotzen was scuttled when the allied invasion of German East Africa
began, having greased all the machinery, the Germans took the ship out of
and sunk it not far from Kigoma. It lay on the bottom until 1924 when a
Royal Navy salvage team refloated the ship. Refurbished and renamed Liemba
it still plies the lake today having been modernised with twin diesels to
replace the original steam reciprocating machinery.
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