On Tuesday the 19th June the
Columbine brig and the Alburkha were towed out to sea by the Quorra,
which vessel returned to Milford to wait the arrival of Lander, and
then to sail immediately for Porto Praga on the African coast, the
place of rendezvous.
From the unfortunate issue of the expedition we are excluded from the
general information, which would otherwise have been obtained, had
Lander survived to communicate the result of his researches on his
return to England. We know that he was bound in honour not to send
public intelligence, except to the owners of the vessels employed,
and therefore all the information that can be gleaned, is from his
private letters to his friends and relatives, and that even would be
necessarily confined to the news of his personal situation. The
expedition was expected to enter the Niger in six or seven weeks, and
to return to England in about nine months.
On Sunday the 7th October, the expedition reached Cape Coast Castle
in seventy-two days after sailing from Milford Haven, after having
touched at the isle De Los, Sierra Leone and other points for a
supply of fuel for the two steamers. Some cases of fever had taken
place, but as yet no death had occurred. At Cape Coast, the governor
Maclean and the officers of the garrison treated their visitors with
the utmost kindness and hospitality. Here Lander fortunately secured
the services of his old tried servant Pascoe, as well as Jowdie, and
two natives of the Eboe country, who were likely to be of great
service to the expedition, one of them being the son of a chief, and
both intelligent, with a slight knowledge of the English language.
The Alburkha, of which vessel some fears were entertained, was found
to work admirably, exceeding the expectations of her commander and
the other officers attached to the expedition. They sailed from Cape
Coast Castle about the middle of October, for the river Nun, and
proceeded direct from that river to the river Niger.
At the meeting of the geographical society of London in the month of
June 1833, the following letter was read, addressed to R. W. Ray,
esquire, from Richard Lander, dated - -
Niger Expedition, River Nun, October 26, 1832.
I have the honour to inform you that the expedition under my command
arrived here on the 20th instant, all well. I found on my arrival
here that the captain of the Liverpool brig Susan, had paid king Boy.
I hope you will be pleased to honour the bill. I have made king Boy a
handsome present from the ordnance stores you were good enough to
supply me with, and he accompanies me to the Eboe country to settle
the palaver with king Obie.
