Description
The real-life story of the events that inspired the classic film The African Queen chronicles the exploits and adventures of Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, the oldest lieutenant commander in the British Navy, who was given the task of trekking overland with two gunboats, Mimi and Toutou, to defeat the Germans on Lake Tanganyika during the First World War. Reprint.
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When the First World War breaks out, the British navy is committed to engaging the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship—even if the body of water in question is a remote African lake and the enemy an intimidating fleet of German steamers. The leader of this improbable mission is Geoffrey Spicer-Simson whose navy career thus far had been distinguished by two sinkings. His seemingly impossible charge: to trek overland through the African bush hauling Mimi and Toutou—two forty-foot mahogany gunboats–with a band of cantankerous, insubordinate Scotsmen, Irishmen and Englishmen to defeat the Germans on Lake Tanganyika. With its powerfully evoked landscape, cast of hilariously colorful characters and remarkable story of hubris, ingenuity and perseverance, this incredibly bizarre story–inspiration for the classic film The African Queen–is history at its most entertaining and absorbing.
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