VII - The Journal of Lieutenant Charles Knowles in the River Niger, 1864

Summary

Command of a ‘gunboat’ in the nineteenth century provided valuable experience for the Royal Navy's junior officers. On the West Africa station the duties carried out by such vessels included intercepting slave runners at sea, close blockade of slave ports, exploration, trade security and the furtherance of British foreign policy in the region. One of these vessels, HMS Investigator, was built for, and spent its entire short career on the West Africa station. Amongst its many tasks was an annual ascent of the Niger River in support of the Niger Expedition primarily under Dr Baikie based at Lokoja, the settlement at the confluence of the Niger and Benue Rivers.

The Niger Expeditions of 1854 and 1857 were reviewed in a Foreign Office note which summarised the purposes of the expeditions as being:

first organised with a view to ascertain if it would be profitable to navigate the river and if so how far, whether it would be practicable to develop a legitimate trade and by doing so to strike at the root of the foreign slave trade and generally to prepare the minds of the native chiefs for entering commercial relations with European traders.

By 1864 the Foreign Office considered that the work of Dr Baikie, who had been resident at Lokoja since 1857, had largely achieved the purposes and expectations outlined above, and it was time for him to be relieved. In consequence, Investigator, under the command of Lieutenant Charles George Frederick Knowles, was ordered to take Lieutenant Henry S. Bourchier, Royal Marine Light Infantry to Lokoja to take command there in Baikie's stead. In addition to Bourchier, Investigator carried other passengers, the most important being Bishop Samuel Crowther, the first consecrated African bishop, who was being taken to his diocese on the Niger. The site of Crowther's first church is today marked by a white cross on the banks of the Niger opposite modern Lokoja.

Throughout Investigator's ascent of the Niger in 1864, Knowles kept a detailed journal containing a narrative of the voyage and a comprehensive study of the people met and places visited. A résumé of the ascent was published in the Royal Geographical Society journal in January 1865. The original of Knowles's journal is held in the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, and it is this that is reproduced in part here.

Exploration of the Niger River

The Niger River's history is well documented.