National Geographic: The Jungle Navy Page #2

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to manage well."

Two months after leaving London,

Spicer's navy-on-wheels is joined

by the steam engines

that will pull the boats through the forest.

The tractors are built for level

country furrows

- but ahead of them lie some of

Africa's most forbidding peaks.

But this strange caravan is

being shadowed

by Zimmer's African spies -

"we knew that the English

intended to challenge

our supremacy of the lake.

We also knew that the Belgians

were building a boat.

Where they were building, or

wanted to build, was unknown."

If Spicer and his men make it to

Lake Tanganyika, Zimmer vows,

they will not leave Africa alive.

August 18, 1915.

Stage Three.

forgiving terrain

on Earth await the British troopers

- a wild land of disease and

sudden death.

At first light, Geoffrey Spicer

leads his men out of camp.

"There were no roads such as we

call roads in this country,

and except for about 25 miles

the whole route ran through the

thick African forest."

The dry season will last only

a few more weeks

- then the autumn rains will come

- if mud swallows the tractors,

Spicer's mission... and his only

shot at glory -

will be over before it begins.

The steam tractors are in the lead,

each hauling one of Spicer's

little ships,

and ten tons of wood for the

insatiable engines.

Four hundred Africans... men and

women

- carry water, food, ammunition,

medicine

- a procession that stretches for

nearly two miles.

On the first day, at the first river

crossing,

Mimi and her tractor nearly

tumble into the current.

It is the first test of Spicer's

leadership.

Undaunted, Spicer has chief engineer

Wainwright come up with a plan.

Wainwright has more trees cut,

reinforces the bridge,

and the convoy plods forward.

"The work was completed at 2:30 p.m.

and the trailers were towed across

and a start was made along

the road at 3.

good progress was made along

the road

and at 6 p.m. a camp was formed

for the night."

Spicer knows there are more than

The path they are following

continues uphill for 60 miles,

then they reach the Mitumba

Mountains, a 6,400 foot range.

Day by day, mile by mile, the former

desk officer grows more confident

- his boasts more outrageous...

the men love him.

"...he appealed immensely to

the ratings...

They all appreciate a commanding

officer who's a bit mad, eccentric.

And he was obviously mad.

Therefore he was marvelous.

"I'd say he could not refrain from

telling absurd stories

about his prowess at shooting

the lions he'd shot,

although I'd never heard of any

lions in Gambia."

The caravan survives on the skill

of its African hunters,

living off wild buck and guinea fowl.

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