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00:00Central Africa, 1915.
00:30A small band of British soldiers marches through the jungle on a bizarre and secret mission.
00:50In Europe, the First World War has become a murderous stalemate, but the clash of kings
00:56and empires reaches far beyond Flanders.
01:00To a pivotal naval battle for control of the Great Lakes of Africa.
01:11In command of the British expedition is Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Basil Spicer Simpson, an
01:17officer whom the fates of war will label a hero, a madman, and a god.
01:25The First World War
01:55June 1915.
01:56Under the guidance of South African John Lee, 400 African laborers are hacking a highway
02:07through the unbroken rainforest.
02:08150 miles of manual labor in the tropical heat.
02:12Lee's bush road leads across jungles, through swamps and over mountains to the Great Lakes of Africa.
02:19Tanganyika, Victoria, Mayasa.
02:20Two already are in British hands, but Tanganyika is the jewel of the German Empire.
02:26A prize that London desperately needs to turn the tide of the African war.
02:27A prize that London desperately needs to turn the tide of the African war.
02:33420 miles in length.
02:34420 miles in length.
02:35It is a vital lifeline.
02:36It is a lifeline needed to arm and supply a jungle army.
03:07controls the surrounding territories.
03:14One man rules her waters.
03:17Capitan Gustav Zimmer of the Imperial German Navy
03:20commands a powerful marine unit of 150 men.
03:26His fleet of three heavily armed gunboats
03:29has obliterated the puny armada of the Belgian Congo.
03:38To win the battle for Central Africa,
03:40Zimmer's Navy must be defeated.
03:48Yet for the job of destroying him,
03:51the Royal Navy selects a former military surveyor
03:53who has never led a brigade into battle.
03:58Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Basil Spicer Simpson
04:00is an old Africa hand
04:02who has spent the first year of the war
04:05behind a desk in London.
04:07I'd like to take charge of the expedition, sir.
04:12I have four years in Gambia, sir,
04:14and I have extensive knowledge of small river craft.
04:17Mike Simpson?
04:18Then chance, not choice,
04:20gives him an opportunity for greatness.
04:22Why did we go to Tanganyika?
04:31Because the Germans, with four ships on the lake,
04:34were commanding the lake.
04:36And by means of these steamers
04:37were able to supply their troops on the frontiers
04:39with provisions and munitions.
04:41It was important that this should be stopped.
04:49Spicer's orders are almost surreal.
04:52London wants him to towed his own toy navy
04:54from England to Central Africa.
04:55A pair of 40-foot motorboats
05:02to be dismantled and freighted to Cape Town.
05:08Then tugged overland by steam tractor to the Congo,
05:11a trek of over 9,000 miles.
05:13With Zimmer's gunships waiting at the other end.
05:28Spicer assembles the team.
05:30Well, gentlemen, here is our route.
05:33Former architect of the Rhodesian Railway,
05:35Paddy Wainwright, is the chief engineer.
05:37Tropical disease specialist Dr. Hawthor Hanschel
05:43will be the medical officer.
05:47As a casual friend of Spicer's,
05:49Dr. Hanschel knows Spicer is not your average leader.
05:53Spicer Simpson was a vain man,
05:56worthy of ridicule,
05:57and on occasion great admiration at the same time.
06:02This paradox was only possible
06:04because of the very nature
06:05of Spicer Simpson's own behavior,
06:08which was quite often bizarre.
06:1128 men will make the journey.
06:14They are gunners, mechanics, and engineers.
06:19Not one has ever served under Spicer.
06:24The plan to take Tanganyika from the Germans
06:26is a simple one.
06:29Get to Tanganyika and destroy the German fleet
06:31by stealth and surprise.
06:33But their own warships are converted supply boats.
06:39The two boats taken to Africa by the expedition
06:42were not at all suitable as they were.
06:44But they were the only ones obtainable at the time.
06:47My orders were to get away at once.
06:49Spicer gives his mahogany warships names befitting pleasure boats.
07:01HMS Mimi and Tutu are quick.
07:03Top speed, 20 miles per hour.
07:09Spicer tests them on the Thames
07:11and has a three-pound hotchkiss gun mounted in the fore
07:17and a .303 Maxim in the rear.
07:21June 15, 1915, stage one.
07:36The Naval Africa expedition leaves England
07:38on a 6,100-mile voyage for the Cape Colony.
07:42While Spicer and his men enjoy a placid southbound cruise,
07:57John Lee's army of African tribesmen
07:59hacks its way north.
08:00By early July at Cape Town in British South Africa,
08:21the caravan transfers from ship to train.
08:24July 19, 1915.
08:33Stage two.
08:37The entire expedition, consisting of men, boats,
08:41and hundreds of boxes of supplies,
08:42are moved north by rail.
08:51At Fungurumi in the Belgian Congo,
08:53they will meet up with Lee.
09:012,700 miles of European-built railways
09:05pierce the heart of a colonized continent.
09:16After two weeks,
09:19Spicer and his men reach the village of Fungurumi as expected.
09:22Morale is high.
09:23Morale is high.
09:23But then, just as his expedition is about to begin
09:52its overland odyssey, Spicer fires the man who blazed the trail.
10:10He dismisses John Lee and offers no explanation to his men.
10:21He alone will lead his men across the burning plains, into a jungle few Europeans have crossed
10:29since the days of Stanley and Livingston.
10:36To prepare the boats for their waterless voyage, engineer Wainwright orders them stripped of
10:41all fittings.
10:46Propellers dismounted.
10:47The axles of the carrying wagons reinforced to carry the eight-and-a-half-ton loads.
11:00While final preparations are being made, a critical member of the team arrives by a
11:06rather odd means.
11:08Ex-policeman Arthur Dudley has peddled 200 miles over jungle trails to reach the expedition.
11:14His role, to organize and lead the African laborers transporting the supplies.
11:24Dunley was Royal Navy Reserve.
11:26He'd served in the Boer War, now he was fooling about in Rhodesia doing transport work.
11:31But he was capable, just the sort of fellow for that.
11:35Just enough sea knowledge, and just enough military training to manage well.
11:47Two months after leaving London, Spicer's navy on wheels is joined by the steam engines
11:52that will pull the boats through the forest.
11:57The tractors are built for level country furrows, but ahead of them, lie some of Africa's most
12:03forbidding peaks.
12:20Yes, these wheels will hold.
12:21You're going to be a little on the low side, but we're going to do our best.
12:28Call the men over.
12:29Pretty good, sir.
12:30Pretty good.
12:31Jeffrey, there's one thing I wanted to mention to you.
12:32The traction engine is taking an awful lot of water.
12:34An awful lot of water.
12:35An awful lot of water.
12:36I don't think you're going to have quite enough for the men's quarter day.
12:43But this strange caravan is being shadowed by Zimmer's African spies.
12:49We knew that the English intended to challenge our supremacy of the lake.
12:58We also knew that the Belgians were building a boat.
13:01Where they were building or wanted to build was unknown.
13:09If Spicer and his men make it to Lake Tanganyika, Zimmer vows they will not leave Africa alive.
13:16It's the name of the answer.
13:17The island of the lake to enjoy the lake.
13:18The sea with the sea is studying again.
13:19The sea with the sea with the sea.
13:21The sea with the sea with the sea, but it's not interesting.
13:22August 18, 1915, Stage 3, 150 miles of some of the least forgiving terrain on earth await
13:36the British troopers. A wild land of disease and sudden death. At first light, Jeffrey
13:49Spicer leads his man out of camp. There were no roads such as we call roads in this country.
13:59Except for about 25 miles, the whole route ran through thick African forest. The dry
14:16season will last only a few more weeks. Then the autumn rains will come. If mud swallows
14:29the tractors, Spicer's mission and his only shot at glory will be over before it begins.
14:38The steam tractors are in the lead. Each hauling one of Spicer's little ships and ten tons of wood for the insatiable engines.
14:51Four hundred Africans, men and women, carry water, food, ammunition, medicine. A procession that stretches for nearly two miles.
15:04On the first day at the first river crossing, Mimi and her tractor nearly tumble into the current.
15:19It is the first test of Spicer's leadership.
15:32Undaunted, Spicer has Chief Engineer Wainwright come up with a plan.
15:37Wainwright has more trees cut, reinforces the bridge and the convoy plods forward.
15:44The work was completed at 2.30pm and the trailers were towed across and a start was made along the road at 3.
15:51Good progress was made along the road and at 6pm a camp was formed for the night.
15:59Spicer knows there are more than 140 rivers and gorges still to cross.
16:05The path they are following continues uphill for 60 miles.
16:12Then they reach the Matumba Mountains, a 6,400 foot range.
16:18Day by day, mile by mile, the former desk officer grows more confident, his boasts more outrageous.
16:34The men love him.
16:37He appealed immensely to the ratings.
16:39They all appreciate a commanding officer who is a bit mad.
16:42Eccentric.
16:44And he was obviously mad.
16:47Therefore he was marvellous.
16:49Wild animals, boys.
16:50That's the worry.
16:52No idea what it's like until you've faced a man-eating cat.
16:57I'd say he could not refrain from telling absurd stories about his prowess at shooting the lions he'd shot.
17:07Although I'd never heard of any lions in Gambia.
17:10The caravan survives on the skill of his African hunters.
17:26Living off wild buck and guinea fowl.
17:31As for water, Hanshell and a team of Africans find the nearest water source.
17:41Much of the water is for the steam tractors.
17:48The rest is filtered, boiled, then filtered twice more, and used for tea, cooking, and the next day's water rations.
18:10The steam engines are insatiable consumers of water and firewood.
18:16Advance parties prepare storage caches of lumber.
18:23The journey through the bush was divided up into three 50-mile stages.
18:28At the end of each stage was built a depot to keep the sun off the provisions and ammunition.
18:33The Englishmen, many of them new to Africa, fear lions and crocodiles.
18:53But Dr. Hanshell's duty is keeping the men healthy in a region plagued by unseen killers.
19:00One very valuable thing was the paymaster.
19:04He began to get some boils on his shoulders, and out of the boils popped worms.
19:06Big maggots, rather.
19:08The men all saw this, I showed it, and I said,
19:10Now see, here you are going through a country where the danger is from insects.
19:14Not from wild animals, but insects.
19:16You see what they can do.
19:17It might just be malignant malaria.
19:18Any chance?
19:19The record?
19:20Oh, yes.
19:21These wheels will hold.
19:22From the spies, crew telegraph lines convey fragments of news to Capitan Zimmer.
19:25Now see, here you are going through a country where the danger is from insects.
19:26Not from wild animals, but insects.
19:28You see what they can do.
19:29It might just be malignant malaria.
19:30It might just be malignant malaria.
19:35Any chance?
19:36The record?
19:37Oh, yes.
19:38These wheels will hold.
19:47From the spies, crew telegraph lines convey fragments of news to Capitan Zimmer.
19:53He believes that Spicer has come to help the Belgians build new warships at Lake Tanganyika.
19:59Around Lukuga, and south of there by Calame, there seem to be only defensive building going on.
20:12But about Mimi and Tutu, Zimmer knows nothing.
20:15While the confident Germans wait, the English plod on, one agonizing mile at a time.
20:27Three and a quarter miles was the average for the boats.
20:30Occasionally, we did rather more.
20:32On one occasion, we covered 14 and three quarter miles.
20:36But there were many days when we were lucky if we did a mile and a half.
20:40One day, we did only three quarters of a mile.
20:45By late August, Spicer knows he needs help if he is to outrun the rains.
21:00At a village called Mwenda Makosi, the British commandeer 42 oxen to help drag the boats up the Matumba range.
21:13When the rains begin, they will turn the plains into a quagmire too shallow for ships, too muddy for wheels.
21:31Until then, heat is the deadliest enemy.
21:45The thirst for water is unquenchable.
21:47Water for the engines. Water for the oxen. A few cupfuls a day for the men.
21:52Then, in early September, a sudden storm of fire.
22:07Spicer has his men create a fire break.
22:13He then orders that his precious mahogany boats be protected from flying embers.
22:28For Dr. Hansho, it is a day of sheer terror.
22:32We nearly lost the whole thing by fire.
22:35Here was this war train bearing down on us at a terrific rate.
22:39We'd burnt off. We set fire to it. Only just in time.
22:43Just in time, we moved the guns, the wagons and everything onto the burnt place.
22:48And the thing stopped. It was so damn near it came.
22:51In the weeks that follow, the oxen prove their worth.
23:12The top of the plateau was reached on September the 8th, 1915.
23:30And this was a very triumphant moment for the expedition.
23:33For there were some who had said it was impossible to get there.
23:39Our difficulties were by no means at an end.
23:41For on the downward trek from this point to Sankicia,
23:44there was some risky work to be done in lowering the boats down the sharp spurs of the mountain.
23:53They are still weeks away from the combat zone.
24:05Using 42 oxen, two road locomotives and hundreds of men,
24:09the expedition struggles to get down the mountain.
24:17On more than one occasion, the wheels of the boats dropped into ant bay holes.
24:21The only way to get out was to fill up the hole with logs,
24:24gradually jacking the boat up until it reached the level.
24:27It was only by good luck that they received no damage.
24:33There is a great deal of thunder and it appears that the rains are not far away.
24:39The journey now has become a race to get to the railway before the rains break and the roads become impassable.
24:55Finally, the land is level, but the dangers remain deadly.
25:13This is the country of the tsetse fly,
25:17carrier of the sleeping sickness that kills both men and beasts.
25:21Villages are nearly deserted, the ghost towns of central Africa.
25:31No rain falls. This is a dreadful blessing.
25:45Drought scorches the plains.
25:49At one point, the traction engines came to a standstill for want of water.
25:53And the members of the expedition were getting only half a pint a day.
25:59Lieutenant Commander Spicer offers local women a bolt of colored cloth
26:03if they will trek eight miles to the nearest well.
26:12Hundreds accept the bargain, and the convoy moves on.
26:16For the first time since he tested them on the Thames,
26:25Geoffrey Spicer's two-boat flotilla reaches water deep enough to sail upon.
26:34Mimi and Tutu are reassembled and lowered into the Lualaba River.
26:38October 1, 1915. Stage 4.
26:54They will float or drag their boats 200 miles downstream.
26:59Strange apparitions to the resident wildlife.
27:05Progress on the river was very slow.
27:08I think Mimi and Tutu hold the record for grounding.
27:13As on October 7th, they were a ground 14 times in 12 miles.
27:27Even on water, Spicer's flotilla manages barely 10 miles a day.
27:31Then at the rail depot at Caballo, Mimi and Tutu must be packaged safely for another journey by rail.
27:38October 22, 1915. Stage 5.
27:45The final phase of the long odyssey.
27:47173 miles across precarious trestles and crumbling bridges to the Belgian shores of Lake Tanganyika.
27:56Spicer's rivals are already preparing their reception.
27:57Gustav Zimmer has followed every mile of Spicer's incredible trek.
27:59Still unaware of the unlikely cargo.
28:00The effort to find out more about the area around Lukuga and Kalamay,
28:01which is the best way to find out more about the area around Lukuga and Kalamay,
28:03which is the best way to find out more.
28:04The effort to find out more about the area around Lukuga and Kalamay was resumed in earnest.
28:05We took down a lot of telegraph wires and we were able to find out more about the area
28:10in the area of the river.
28:11The effort to find out more about the area around Lukuga and Kalamay was resumed in earnest.
28:16We took down a lot of telegraph wires and blew up telegraph stations.
28:33As soon as the British reach their final destination, he will send his gunboats to destroy Jeffrey Spicer...
28:42and his gunboats to destroy Jeffrey Spicer and his half-mad dreams.
28:54October 28, 1915.
28:59After four months and over 9,000 miles of travel,
29:03the unlikely odyssey of Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Spicer
29:06reaches the blue heart of Africa, Lake Tanganyika.
29:12Finally, he has reached his battleground.
29:20At Calame, on the western shoreline,
29:23a defensive network of guns, troop quarters,
29:26and shipbuilding facilities guards the back door of the Belgian Congo.
29:34For their British allies, the Belgians have prepared simple dwellings.
29:37Spicer claims the largest to be his headquarters
29:43and hoists the banner of the Royal Navy,
29:46an emblem of his growing lust for power.
29:49Gentlemen!
29:53Looking!
29:54Calame has guns, but no harbour.
30:08Well, I'm sorry.
30:09Not possible.
30:10To protect his boats from the Germans,
30:12Spicer insists the Belgians construct a harbour.
30:15The river is quite adequate.
30:16I need to launch my ships very quickly.
30:18Once in the water, they need to be detected.
30:20The decision to build the port was come to owing to the facts
30:24that it's impossible to operate without a defending port.
30:28And the existing defences at Calame
30:30will amply protect the port selected.
30:40Hundreds of tons of rock are blasted and positioned
30:43into the crocodile-infested waters
30:45to create an arced jetty.
30:54Atop the rocks, train tracks and a launching slipper lane
30:57which will allow Spicer to slide his miniature navy
31:00into the lake in minutes.
31:07While the jetty is taking shape,
31:09the Belgians give Spicer the details
31:11of the three German ships he must destroy.
31:13The smallest German vessel is the Kingani.
31:22At 55 feet long and 12 feet wide,
31:25she is far larger and better armed than Mimi or Tutu.
31:31Her compatriot, the Hedwig von Wiesmann,
31:34is even larger but slower.
31:35Carrying two powerful guns and a crew of 22 sailors,
31:43she has room for 200 extra troops.
31:51The Graf von Gotzen dwarfs them all.
31:56An 800-ton monster,
31:58she is over 20 times the size of the British speedboats.
32:01Her massive guns can blast Spicer's boats to oblivion
32:10with one shell.
32:13The little British boats are seriously outmanned,
32:17outgunned, and outsized.
32:18To tilt the balance of power,
32:23Spicer plots a surprise attack
32:24to capture the Kingani.
32:31It is an audacious plan
32:33for a desk officer
32:34who has never led a combat mission.
32:36...and the Kingani.
32:38I think our only choice
32:39is an ambush.
32:41Sometimes the Germans
32:42anchor themselves here
32:43at Kuala Loo Island.
32:46Perhaps what we lack in size
32:48we gain in speed.
32:50Ambush is our only choice.
32:52Thank you, gentlemen.
33:05Across the lake,
33:06Gustav Zimmer plans his own strategy of strength.
33:13We learned from intercepted
33:14Belgian telegram communications
33:16that they were looking for a building location.
33:19As soon as it was practical,
33:25the reconnaissance work began.
33:34December 1, 1915.
33:38German lieutenants Walter Rosenthal
33:41and Job Odebrecht
33:44embark on a stealthy mission
33:45of reconnaissance.
33:46In four successive evenings,
33:49the two ships slip in under darkness,
33:52snapping off night exposures
33:53of the harbor.
34:01The next evening,
34:02Lieutenant Rosenthal risks his life
34:04in a daring solo mission.
34:09He wanted to swim ashore
34:11to find out more about the dry dock
34:13and the building of the new ship.
34:15Despite the danger
34:16of crashing waves and crocodiles,
34:19he reached the dry dock,
34:20took notice of two boats,
34:21then swam back
34:22to the designated meeting place.
34:29But a panicky German officer
34:31orders the Kingani
34:32to leave without him.
34:35Rosenthal is forced to hide out
34:36on the Allied side of the lake.
34:38At daybreak,
34:56abandoned in enemy waters,
34:57Rosenthal is taken prisoner.
34:59Zimmer is still ignorant
35:09of Spicer's jungle navy.
35:22Mid-December,
35:24the rains come.
35:25work is impossible.
35:38All they can do
35:39is wait.
35:44We're having heavy rains
35:46almost daily,
35:47and one or two members
35:48of the expedition on average
35:49are always down
35:51with slight attacks of fever.
35:52on December 23,
36:04Spicer decides
36:05it is time to go to war.
36:06Be careful, careful.
36:09Be careful.
36:10Be careful.
36:11Be careful.
36:12Be careful.
36:12Far from his desk in London,
36:14Africa has freed Spicer's spirit.
36:17His battle dress
36:18reflects his liberation.
36:19To the amazement
36:24of the crew
36:25and to the Belgians
36:26and the natives,
36:27he didn't wear shorts.
36:29He wore a little,
36:30tiny little cocky skirt
36:32with pleats in it.
36:37Spicer and Britain
36:38need allies.
36:39The men of the
36:40Baholo-Holo nation
36:41see the eccentric white man
36:42as a natural chief.
36:43Christmas Eve.
36:51The mahogany gunboats
36:53undergo their first trial runs
36:54on African waters.
36:55Trial, we hold up!
36:59Go ahead!
37:01Fall!
37:08Fall!
37:09Fall!
37:13On Christmas Day,
37:27we took a rest.
37:29And it being the first time
37:30the whole expedition
37:31had been together,
37:32we had a big celebration.
37:34Fall!
37:34Fall!
37:34Fall!
37:34Fall!
37:34Fall!
37:35Fall!
37:36Fall!
37:36Fall!
37:37Fall!
37:37Fall!
37:38Fall!
37:38Fall!
37:39Fall!
37:39Fall!
37:40Fall!
37:40Fall!
37:41Fall!
37:41Fall!
37:42Fall!
37:42Fall!
37:43Fall!
37:43Fall!
37:44Fall!
37:45Fall!
37:48December 26, 1915.
37:52The Germans come to fight.
37:54Spicer is reading prayers
37:56when an enemy's ship is sighted.
38:06Spicer ignores the enemy's approach.
38:13He alone will decide when his private war will commence.
38:21I finished prayer and then sent the hands off to get ready.
38:27Chief Betty Officer, prepare the launchers for immediate action.
38:31Division!
38:33Lord Helmet!
38:35Is this?
38:37Handball!
38:43Dr. Hansho and other non-combatants head to the cliffs to watch the battle.
38:51As if it was a cricket match.
38:54The paymaster and I, and the petty officer Murphy and so on, we had a grandson view of it.
39:00It all happened right under our arms.
39:03At 11.25 a.m., Spicer and his fleet set off in pursuit of the enemy.
39:09Spicer is in the Mimi.
39:10And Lieutenant Dudley, without his bicycle, is at the helm of the tutu.
39:20Spicer's plan is to sneak in behind the Kingani and attack her from both sides.
39:27The Kingani can only fire on them with her bow guns.
39:30Capitan Zimmer has sent the Kingani to blow up the Belgian harbour installation.
39:36But instead, is confronted by Spicer's entire navy.
39:41She was well inside the bay before she was aware of the existence of the British boats on the lake.
39:46And the Mimi and the tutu rapidly overhauled her and opened fire.
39:50Waterhouse!
39:53Sir!
39:53Just raised to 200 yards!
39:55Oh, God!
39:57Fire!
39:59No!
40:03Fire!
40:09Fire!
40:10Fire!
40:10Fire!
40:11Fire!
40:11Fire!
40:12Fire!
40:13Fire!
40:14Fire!
40:15Fire!
40:16Fire!
40:17Fire!
40:18Fire!
40:19Fire!
40:20Fire!
40:20Fire!
40:20Fire!
40:32Fire!
40:33Fire!
40:35A really shot from one of our guns carried away her mast, and she got several hits below the waterline.
40:41Fire!
40:41Fire!
40:42Fire!
40:44Fire!
40:45In the ensuing half hour, eleven enemy sailors are rounded up.
40:49Lieutenant Dudley takes control of the captured Kingani
41:03and brings her and the captured survivors back to base.
41:06At Calame, Spicer is showered with sand, a traditional gesture that confirms his mastery of the earth
41:23he stands on.
41:24Three German sailors are buried with military dignity.
41:38The British have suffered no casualties.
41:45But the battle for the blue heart of Africa has barely begun.
41:54In London, he was ignored, but at Lake Tanganyika, Geoffrey Spicer is hailed as a hero
42:02for his brilliant ambush of the Kingani.
42:08He must now repair his damaged prize.
42:12British and Belgian engineers patch up the Kingani's 11 holes and refit her with a larger
42:1712-pounder gun.
42:24When they are finished, Spicer re-christens the German gunboat as if she were a French
42:28poodle, naming her HMS Fifi.
42:39With a bolstered sense of confidence, Spicer's behavior becomes more outrageous, more bizarre.
42:45Twice a week, he performs a ceremonial public bath, complete with cigarettes and vermouth.
43:06His body is decorated with symbolic tattoos.
43:11Spicer's men suspect he has gone mad.
43:15Spicer's men suspect he has gone mad.
43:19But the Ba-holo-holo warriors understand the white man's message.
43:24They call him Guana-Chifunga-Tumbo,
43:31Lord of the loincloth.
43:32February 8, 1916.
43:54We got information from native spies that the Kingani had been sunk by a new coastal
44:00artillery battery.
44:00I decided to check into this myself and sent along the Gotsen, the Hedwig von Wissmann,
44:07and the smaller boat.
44:09The Germans still do not know the Royal Navy has invaded the lake.
44:14The Hedwig von Wissmann was to get to the Belgian coast in the early morning and inquire about
44:19the position from friendly spies, then head back to Cape Congui, where she would meet
44:25with the Gotsen at around noon on February 9.
44:27Then together, Zimmer and Odebrecht will attack the harbour.
44:32At dawn on February 9, the dance begins, with control of Central Africa at stake.
44:52It is a humid, hazy morning.
44:58Distant vessels shimmer like mirages in the heat.
45:00Through the haze, Spicer spots the Germans.
45:06They are in the heat.
45:11Look up to his fire at full speed.
45:14Oh yes sir!
45:15I said I said I said it!
45:16Mr. Wissmann!
45:18Henry, can I join the battle of salt?
45:22Absolutely not.
45:23Spicer leads the attack in his new flagship, the Fifi.
45:45Chief Engineer Wainwright takes the speedier, more maneuverable Mimi.
45:49The weather conditions made the estimation of the distance very difficult, and until the
45:57enemy closed to within 5,000 yards, he appeared to be a dark blob suspended above the horizon.
46:03For more than an hour, Spicer's shells fall short of the fleeing German ship.
46:18But the Mimi cuts off her escape, and forces the Germans to turn and fight.
46:31As if protected from death by his magic tattoos, the Lord of the Loincloth refuses to take cover.
46:39The battle of Lake Tanganyika lasts 90 furious minutes.
46:57Hemmed in by Wainwright and the Mimi, Spicer's cannon blasts a fatal wound in the Wiesmann's
47:02engine room.
47:03In a few minutes, the Hedwig von Wiesmann burst into flames, and finally she upended and went
47:16down.
47:21From among the wreckage, Spicer retrieves the German battle flag.
47:28The first enemy banner captured in combat anywhere in the most deadly war in human history.
47:39Twenty-one Germans survived the explosion.
47:44Seven others are killed.
47:45Again, there is not a single British casualty.
47:48Now, only one target remains.
47:51The Gatsun.
47:52The mightiest of all warships on this deadly inland sea.
47:56To the Baholoholo people, the sinking of the Wiesmann confirms Geoffrey Spicer's status
48:15as an indestructible warrior.
48:22A man whose magic places him in the realm of the gods.
48:30For miles, up and down the lake, elaborate clay fetishes are shaped in Spicer's image.
48:44Spicer!
48:45And clay and wood images grew up all around the place.
48:51The helmet, and the beard, and the jupe, and the bare arms with scratches on it to make
48:56the tattooing.
48:57He was the great Juana Ikuba.
49:02At the peak of his powers, Spicer is told that his war against Zimmer is over.
49:09The Allies will import a new weapon, aeroplanes, to destroy the Gatsun from the sky.
49:18June 1916.
49:23Allied seaplanes launch a barrage of bombings on Kigoma.
49:30Zimmer decides to scuttle his flagship.
49:35It was hard for us to blow up our last ships, but they could not be allowed to fall into enemy
49:40hands, for they would have construed it as a kind of victory.
49:44We conceded to this stronger force, but our willingness to serve and our enthusiasm was not broken.
49:53Germany's dreams of an African empire are shattered, thwarted by an unlikely hero and his jungle navy.
50:01After almost another year of protecting the lake, Spicer and his men are ordered back to England.
50:16His warships left behind.
50:20The British naval Africa expedition is a total success.
50:30Its military objective attained.
50:35Its men back home, unarmed.
50:41He has led his men on a bizarre, nearly impossible mission.
50:46A small step on the long road to history.
50:51He is awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
50:55And 15 others, including Henschel, Wainwright, and Dudley, are also honored.
51:08After the awards and the ceremonies, the Lord of the Loincloth returns to the same desk he left in 1915.
51:19As a warrior, his duty is done.
51:23The expedition was the smallest ever sent out.
51:43There being only 28 men, all told.
51:46And it was the only expedition that had come back without a single casualty.
51:53There being only 28 men in the ocean who was one of her.
51:56As a lawyer for a female life of Circle, he has abeleteed.
51:58We are not prepared for a miracle of a reclaimed a 12-30.
51:59The entire world of communication was the only person whose mother was the only person who was the only person who was the only person who was the one that was the firstborn.
52:02The newbies for a duel was the only person who was the most sweetheart of the year,
52:04The incident was the only person whose mother is in the world and the children's lives.
52:06The next chamber that was the only man who was the one of the people who they were outside the world.
52:08The next chamber of the earth was a massacre of anJoe and the other.
52:10And it was the most important thing.
52:12But it wasn't for its female.
52:13This flavor was the most difficult time to be seen from the film.
52:14Of course the next, ascended to be self.
52:23Transcription by CastingWords
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