Preparations
The plan of the expedition was to go to Cairo, then to Zanzibar to hire porters, then south of Africa, around the Cape, to the mouth of the Congo, up the Congo by Leopold's steamers, branching off at the Aruwimi River. Stanley intended to establish a camp on the Aruwimi, then go east overland through unknown territory to reach Lake Albert and Equatoria. He then expected that Emin would send the families of Emin's Egyptian employees back along the just-pioneered route, along with a large store of ivory accumulated in Equatoria, while Stanley, Emin, and Emin's soldiers would proceed eastward to Zanzibar. Coincidentally, public doubts over the plan centered around whether it could be achieved; the possibility that Emin might not want to leave seems not to have been considered.
The expedition was the largest and best-equipped to go to Africa; a 28-foot steel boat named the Advance was designed to be divided into 12 sections for carrying over land, and Hiram Maxim presented the expedition with one of his recently invented Maxim guns, which was the first to be brought to Africa. Merely 'exhibiting' the gun was thought to be a scare, which would spare the expedition problems with troublesome natives.
The Relief Committee received 400 applications by hopeful participants. From these, Stanley chose the officers who were to accompany him to Africa:
- James S. Jameson and John Rose Troup had both travelled in Africa before, Jameson as a big game hunter, artist and traveller, Troup as an employee of the Congo Free State.
- Robert H. Nelson, William Bonny, William G. Stairs and Edmund Barttelot were all military men. Barttelot had been doing service in India.
- A. J. Mounteney-Jephson, a young 'gentleman of leisure' coming from the merchant marine, was hired on the quality of his face only, but paid, as did Jameson, £1,000 to the Relief Committee, in order to participate in the expedition.
- The expedition's doctor, Thomas Heazle Parke, was hired in Alexandria, where he did military service, as a last-minute disposition, while the expedition was underway to Zanzibar.
- William Hoffmann was Stanley's personal servant, curiously enough scarcely mentioned at all in Stanley's own account of the events.
Stanley departed London on 21 January 1887 and arrived in Cairo on 27 January. Egyptian objections to the Congo route were overridden by a telegram from Lord Salisbury, and the expedition was permitted to march under the Egyptian flag. Stanley also met with Mason Bey, Schweinfurth, and Junker, who had more up-to-date information about Equatoria.
Stanley left Cairo on 3 February, joined up with expedition members during stops in Suez and Aden, and arrived in Zanzibar on 22 February. The next three days were spent packing for the expedition, loading the Madura, and negotiating; Stanley acted as a representative of Mackinnon in convincing the Sultan of Zanzibar to grant a concession for what later became the Imperial British East Africa Company (I.B.E.A.C.), and made two agreements with Tippu Tib. The first included appointing him as Governor of Stanley Falls, an arrangement much criticized in Europe as a deal with a slave-trader, and the second agreement regarding the provisions of carriers for the expedition. In addition to transporting stores, the carriers were now also expected to bring out some 75 tons of ivory stored in Equatoria. Stanley posted letters to Emin predicting his arrival on Lake Albert around August.
Read more about this topic: Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
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