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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.
09:27All right.
09:27But then, just as his expedition is about to begin its overland odyssey,
09:54Spicer 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,
10:26into a jungle few Europeans have crossed since the days of Stanley and Livingston.
10:36To prepare the boats for their waterless voyage, engineer Wainwright orders them stripped of all fittings.
10:45Propellers dismounted, the axles of the carrying wagons reinforced to carry the eight-and-a-half-ton loads.
10:59While final preparations are being made, a critical member of the team arrives by a rather 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.
11:21I was in Rhodesia with the rifles! When I heard you chaps needed some help!
11:23Arthur Hansel, we have you on board!
11:25Dudley was Royal Navy Reserve.
11:27He'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.
11:34Just enough sea knowledge, and just enough military training to manage well.
11:38Two months after leaving London, Spicer's navy on wheels is joined by the steam engines that will pull the boats through the forest.
11:53The tractors are built for level country furrows. But ahead of them, lie some of Africa's most forbidding peaks.
12:08Yes, these wheels will hold.
12:22You're going to be a little on the low side, but we're going to do our best.
12:28How are the men, over?
12:29Pretty good, sir. Pretty good.
12:31But Jeffrey, there's one thing I wanted to mention to you.
12:33The tractor's managing is taking an awful lot of water.
12:35An awful lot of water.
12:37I don't think we're going to have quite enough for the men's quarter day.
12:44But this strange caravan is being shadowed by Zimmer's African spies.
12:52We knew that the English intended to challenge our supremacy of the lake.
12:59We also knew that the Belgians were building a boat.
13:02Where they were building or wanted to build was unknown.
13:07If Spicer and his men make it to Lake Tanganyika, Zimmer vows they will not leave Africa alive.
13:16August 18, 1915.
13:26Stage 3.
13:31One hundred and fifty miles of some of the least forgiving terrain on earth await the British troopers.
13:37A wild land of disease and sudden death.
13:42At first light, Jeffrey Spicer leads his men out of camp.
13:47There 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.
14:05The dry season will last only a few more weeks.
14:17Then the autumn rains will come.
14:21If mud swallows the tractors, Spicer's mission and his only shot at glory will be over before it begins.
14:35The steam tractors are in the lead.
14:40Each hauling one of Spicer's little ships and ten tons of wood for the insatiable engines.
14:53Four hundred Africans, men and women, carry water, food, ammunition, medicine.
14:59A procession that stretches for nearly two miles.
15:14On the first day at the first river crossing, Mimi and her tractor nearly tumble into the current.
15:20It is the first test of Spicer's leadership.
15:26Hold the tractor!
15:33Undaunted, Spicer has Chief Engineer Wainwright come up with a plan.
15:38Wainwright has more trees cut, reinforces the bridge and the convoy plods forward.
15:45The 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.
16:00Spicer knows there are more than 140 rivers and gorges still to cross.
16:06The path they are following continues uphill for 60 miles.
16:13Then they reach the Matumba Mountains.
16:16A 6,400 foot range.
16:19Day 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.
16:40They all appreciate a commanding officer who is a bit mad.
16:43Eccentric.
16:45And he was obviously mad.
16:48Therefore, he was marvellous.
16:50Wild animals, boys!
16:52That's the worry.
16:53No idea what it's like until you've faced a man-eating cat.
16:58I'd say he could not refrain from telling absurd stories about his prowess at shooting the lions he'd shot.
17:08Although I'd never heard of any lions in Gambia.
17:11The caravan survives on the skill of his African hunters.
17:26Living off wild buck and guinea fowl.
17:32As for water, Handshell and a team of Africans find the nearest water source.
17:38Much of the water is for the steam tractors.
17:45The rest is filtered, boiled, then filtered twice more, and used for tea, cooking, and the next day's water rations.
17:56The steam engines are insatiable consumers of water and firewood.
18:17Advance parties prepare storage caches of lumber.
18:21The 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.
18:34The Englishmen, many of them new to Africa, fear lions and crocodiles.
18:53But Dr. Handshell's duty is keeping the men healthy in a region plagued by unseen killers.
19:00One very valuable thing was the paymaster.
19:12He began to get some boils on his shoulders, and out of the boils popped worms, big maggots rather.
19:19The men all saw this, I showed it, and I said,
19:22Now see, here you are going through a country with the dangers from insects.
19:26Not from wild animals, but insects.
19:28You see what they can do.
19:30From the spies, crew telegraph lines convey fragments of news to Capitan Zimmer.
19:52He believes that Spicer has come to help the Belgians build new warships at Lake Tanganyika.
20:01Around Lukuga, and south of there by Kalame, there seem to be only defensive building going on.
20:09But about Mimi and Tutu, Zimmer knows nothing.
20:20While the confident Germans wait, the English plod on, one agonizing mile at a time.
20:28Three and a quarter miles was the average for the boats.
20:31Occasionally we did rather more, and on 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.
20:41One day we did only three quarters of a mile.
20:55By late August, Spicer knows he needs help if he is to outrun the rains.
21:01At a village called Mwenda Makosi, the British commandeer 42 oxen to help drag the boats up the Matumba range.
21:15When the rains begin, they will turn the plains into a quagmire, too shallow for ships, too muddy for wheels.
21:34Until then, heat is the deadliest enemy. The thirst for water is unquenchable.
21:49Water for the engines, water for the oxen, a few cupfuls a day for the men.
21:55Then, in early September, a sudden storm of fire.
22:12Spicer has his men create a fire break.
22:16Looks like we've got a bush fireman!
22:18Right, Peters, get to it, you know the drill!
22:22He then orders that his precious mahogany boats be protected from flying embers.
22:30For Dr. Handshow, it is a day of sheer terror.
22:34We nearly lost the whole thing by fire.
22:37Here was this war train bearing down on us at a terrific rate.
22:40We'd burnt off. We set fire to it. Only just in time.
22:45Just in time, we moved the guns, the wagons and everything onto the burnt place.
22:49And the thing stopped. It was so damn near it came.
22:52In the weeks that follow, the oxen prove their worth.
23:11The top of the plateau was reached on September the 8th, 1915.
23:31And this was a very triumphant moment for the expedition.
23:34For there were some who had said it was impossible to get there.
23:37Our difficulties were by no means at an end.
23:42For on the downward trek from this point to Sankicia,
23:45there was some risky work to be done in lowering the boats down the sharp spurs of the mountain.
23:54They are still weeks away from the combat zone.
23:57Using 42 oxen, two road locomotives and hundreds of men, the expedition struggles to get down the mountain.
24:14On more than one occasion, the wheels of the boats dropped into ant bay holes.
24:23The only way to get out was to fill up the hole with logs, gradually jacking the boat up until it reached the level.
24:29It was only by good luck that they received no damage.
24:46There is a great deal of thunder and it appears that the rains are not far away.
24:50The journey now has become a race to get to the railway before the rains break and the roads become impassable.
24:56Finally, the land is level, but the dangers remain deadly.
25:15This is the country of the Tetsifly, carrier of the sleeping sickness that kills both men and beasts.
25:22Villages are nearly deserted, the ghost towns of Central Africa.
25:40No rain falls. This is a dreadful blessing.
25:46Drought scorches the plains.
25:48At one point, the traction engines came to a standstill for want of water.
25:54And the members of the expedition were getting only half a pint a day.
26:00Lieutenant Commander Spicer offers local women a bolt of colored cloth if they will trek eight miles to the nearest well.
26:13Hundreds accept the bargain, and the convoy moves on.
26:16For the first time since he tested them on the Thames, Jeffrey Spicer's two-boat flotilla reaches water deep enough to sail upon.
26:30Mimi and Tutu are reassembled and lowered into the Lualaba River.
26:37October 1, 1915. Stage 4.
26:45They will float or drag their boats 200 miles downstream. Strange apparitions to the resident wildlife.
27:01Progress on the river was very slow.
27:05Progress on the river was very slow.
27:09I think Mimi and Tutu hold the record for grounding.
27:12As on October 7th, they were aground 14 times in 12 miles.
27:17Even on water, Spicer's flotilla manages barely 10 miles a day.
27:32Then at the rail depot at Caballo, Mimi and Tutu must be packaged safely for another journey by rail.
27:39October 22, 1915. Stage 5.
27:49Stage 5.
27:58The final phase of the long odyssey.
28:02173 miles across precarious trestles and crumbling bridges to the Belgian shores of Lake Tanganyika.
28:09Spicer's rivals are already preparing their reception.
28:19Gustav Zimmer has followed every mile of Spicer's incredible trek, still unaware of the unlikely cargo.
28:26The effort to find out more about the area around Lukuga and Calame was resumed in earnest.
28:32We took down a lot of telegraph wires and blew up telegraph stations.
28:37As soon as the British reach their final destination, he will send his gunboats to destroy Geoffrey Spicer and his half-mad dreams.
28:55October 28, 1915.
29:00After four months and over 9,000 miles of travel,
29:03the unlikely odyssey of Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Spicer reaches the blue heart of Africa.
29:10Lake Tanganyika.
29:15Finally, he has reached his battleground.
29:18At Calame, on the western shoreline, a defensive network of guns, troop quarters and shipbuilding facilities guards the back door of the Belgian Congo.
29:30Where'd you go next door, man?
29:31Yeah.
29:32Quite to be suited, you know.
29:33For their British allies, the Belgians have prepared simple dwellings.
29:38Spicer claims the largest to be his headquarters and hoists the banner of the Royal Navy, an emblem of his growing lust for power.
29:48Gentlemen!
29:50Looking!
29:54The King!
29:55Jolly boat.
29:56Jolly boat.
29:57Jolly boat.
29:59Jolly boat.
30:00Let's go for my ships.
30:01The shoreline is exposed.
30:03I'll not sacrifice my boat.
30:05The storm is trying to find the harbor.
30:06The storm is trying to find the harbor.
30:07The rail.
30:08I'm sorry.
30:09Not possible.
30:10To protect his boats from the Germans, Spicer insists the Belgians construct a harbor.
30:15harbor. I need to launch my ships very quickly. Once in the water they need to be protected.
30:21The decision to build the port was come to owing to the fact that it's impossible to
30:25operate without a defended porter. And the existing defenses at Kalimi will amply protect
30:31the port selected.
30:41Hundreds of tons of rock are blasted and positioned into the crocodile infested waters to create
30:47an arced jetty. Atop the rocks, train tracks and a launching slip are lane which will allow
30:58Spicer to slide his miniature navy into the lake in minutes.
31:08While the jetty is taking shape, the Belgians give Spicer the details of the three German
31:12ships he must destroy.
31:18The smallest German vessel is the Kingani. At fifty-five feet long and twelve feet wide,
31:25she is far larger and better armed than Mimi or Tutu.
31:32Her compatriot, the Hedwig von Wiesmann, is even larger but slower.
31:40Carrying two powerful guns and a crew of twenty-two sailors, she has room for two hundred extra
31:45troops.
31:52The Graaf von Gotzen dwarfs them all.
31:56An eight hundred ton monster, she is over twenty times the size of the British speedboats.
32:07Her massive guns can blast Spicer's boats to oblivion with one shell.
32:14The little British boats are seriously outmanned, outgunned and outsized.
32:21To tilt the balance of power, Spicer plots a surprise attack to capture the Kingani.
32:31It is an audacious plan for a desk officer who has never led a combat mission.
32:38I think our only choice is an ambush. Sometimes, the Germans anchor themselves here, at Kvalu Island.
32:46Perhaps, what we lack in size, we gain in speed. Ambush is our only choice.
32:54Thank you, gentlemen.
32:59Across the lake, Gustav Zimmer plans his own strategy of strength.
33:13We learned from intercepted Belgian telegram communications that they were looking for
33:18the building location.
33:23As soon as it was practical, the reconnaissance work began.
33:27December 1, 1915.
33:39German lieutenants Walter Rosenthal and Job Odebrecht embark on a stealthy mission of reconnaissance.
33:48In four successive evenings, the two ships slip in under darkness, snapping off night exposures
33:53of the harbor.
34:02The next evening, Lieutenant Rosenthal risks his life in a daring solo mission.
34:10He wanted to swim ashore to find out more about the dry dock and the building of the new ship, despite
34:16the danger of crashing waves and crocodiles.
34:18He reached the dry dock, took notice of two boats, then swam back to the designated meeting
34:23place.
34:28And a panicky German officer orders the Kingani to leave without him.
34:35Rosenthal is forced to hide out on the Allied side of the lake.
34:42At daybreak, abandoned in enemy waters, Rosenthal is taken prisoner.
35:08Zimmer is still ignorant of Spicer's jungle navy.
35:23Mid-December, the rains come.
35:33It's impossible.
35:38All they can do is wait.
35:45We're having heavy rains almost daily, and one or two members of the expedition on average
35:50are always down with slight attacks and fever.
35:55On December 23, Spicer decides it is time to go to war.
36:13Far from his desk in London, Africa has freed Spicer's spirit.
36:17His battle dress reflects his liberation.
36:23To the amazement of the crew, and to the Belgians and the natives, he didn't wear shorts.
36:28He wore a little, tiny little cocky skirt with pleats in it.
36:37Spicer and Britain need allies.
36:39The men of the Baholo-Holo nation see the eccentric white man as a natural chief.
36:49On Christmas Eve, the mahogany gunboats undergo their first trial runs on African waters.
36:54The war is a natural man, and the man of the rain has been killed, and the man has been killed.
37:01The men of the baholo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo-holo.
37:07On Christmas Day, we took a rest.
37:29And it being the first time the whole expedition had been together, we had a big celebration.
37:37December 26, 1915.
37:52The Germans come to fight.
37:55Spicer is reading prayers when an enemy ship is sighted.
37:57Spicer ignores the enemy's approach.
38:15He alone will decide when his private war will commence.
38:19I finished prayers and then sent the hands off to get ready.
38:25Chief Betty Officer, prepare the launchers for immediate action.
38:30Sir, Division, Dawn Helmets, Space, Panther Report!
38:38Dr. Hansho and other non-combatants head to the cliffs to watch the battle.
38:51As if it was a cricket match.
38:53The paymaster and I, and the petty officer Murphy and so on, we had a grandstand view of them.
39:00It all happened right under our arms.
39:01At 11.25 a.m., Spicer and his fleet set off in pursuit of the enemy.
39:09Spicer is in the Mimi.
39:12And 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.
39:24The Kingani can only fire on them with her bow guns.
39:31Capitan 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!
39:53Just range to 200 yards!
39:57Fire!
40:03Fire!
40:12Fire!
40:13Fire!
40:15Fire!
40:16Fire!
40:17Fire!
40:18Fire!
40:18Fire!
40:19Fire!
40:19Fire!
40:19Fire!
40:20Fire!
40:20Fire!
40:20An early shot from one of our guns carried away her mast
40:35and she got several hits below the waterline.
40:45In the ensuing half hour, 11 enemy sailors are rounded up.
40:50Lieutenant Dudley takes control of the captured Kingani
41:03and brings her and the captured survivors back to base.
41:16At Calame, Spicer is showered with sand,
41:19a traditional gesture that confirms his mastery of the earth he stands on.
41:34Three German sailors are buried with military dignity.
41:38The British have suffered no casualties.
41:40But the battle for the blue heart of Africa has barely begun.
41:57In London, he was ignored.
41:59But at Lake Tanganyika, Jeffrey Spicer is hailed as a hero
42:02for his brilliant ambush of the Kingani.
42:04He must now repair his damaged prize.
42:12British and Belgian engineers patch up the Kingani's 11 holes
42:15and refit her with a larger 12-pounder gun.
42:23When they are finished, Spicer rechristens the German gunboat
42:27as if she were a French poodle, naming her HMS Fifi.
42:30With a bolstered sense of confidence, Spicer's behavior becomes more outrageous,
42:44more bizarre.
42:51Twice a week, he performs a ceremonial public bath,
42:54complete with cigarettes and vermouth.
42:56His body is decorated with symbolic tattoos.
43:11Spicer's men suspect he has gone mad.
43:19But the Bajolo-Holo warriors understand the white man's message.
43:22They call him Guana-Chifungatumbo,
43:27Lord of the Loincloth.
43:48February 8, 1916.
43:50We got information from native spies that the Kingani had been sunk
43:59by a new coastal artillery battery.
44:01I decided to check into this myself and sent along the Gautzen,
44:06the Hedwig von Wissmann, and 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
44:18and inquire about the position from friendly spies.
44:22Then head back to Cape Congui,
44:24where she would meet with the Gautzen at around noon on February 9th.
44:29Then together, Zimmer and Odebrecht will attack the harbor.
44:32At dawn on February 9th, the dance begins,
44:50with 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.
45:11Don't come with these fires to full speed!
45:14I ask for it!
45:15I ask for it!
45:16Mr. Wissmann!
45:18Henry, can I join the battle assault?
45:22Absolutely not.
45:24Valuable old man.
45:25Far too valuable.
45:26Spicer leads the attack in his new flagship, the Fifi.
45:45Chief Engineer Wainwright takes the speedier, more maneuverable Mimi.
45:51The weather conditions made the estimation of the distance very difficult.
45:54And until the enemy closed to within 5,000 yards,
46:00he appeared to be a dark blob suspended above the horizon.
46:05For 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,
46:34the Lord of the Loincloth refuses to take cover.
46:37The battle of Lake Tanganyika lasts 90 furious minutes.
46:57Hemmed in by Wainwright and the Mimi,
46:59Spicer's cannon blasts a fatal wound in the Wissmann's engine room.
47:03In a few minutes, the Hedrick von Wissmann burst into flames,
47:14and finally she upended and went down.
47:25From among the wreckage, Spicer retrieves the German battle flag.
47:29The first enemy banner captured in combat anywhere in the most deadly war in human history.
47:4021 Germans survive the explosion.
47:44Seven others are killed.
47:46Again, there is not a single British casualty.
47:48Now, only one target remains.
47:52The Gatsun.
47:54The mightiest of all warships on this deadly inland sea.
48:10To the Baholo-Holo people,
48:12the sinking of the Wissmann confirms Jeffrey Spicer's status as an indestructible warrior.
48:18A man whose magic places him in the realm of the gods.
48:35What the hell are you talking about?
48:37For miles, up and down the lake,
48:39elaborate clay fetishes are shaped in Spicer's image.
48:42Spicer!
48:43And clay and wood images grew up all around the place.
48:52The helmet and the beard and the jupe,
48:54and the bare arms with scratches on it to make the tattooing.
48:57He was the great Puana Ikuba.
48:59At the peak of his powers,
49:06Spicer is told that his war against Zimmer is over.
49:10The Allies will import a new weapon,
49:13aeroplanes,
49:14to destroy the Gatsun from the sky.
49:17June 1916.
49:24Allied seaplanes launch a barrage of bombings on Kigoma.
49:31Zimmer decides to scuttle his flagship.
49:33It was hard for us to blow up our last ships,
49:38but they could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands,
49:41for they would have construed it as a kind of victory.
49:45We conceded to this stronger force,
49:47but our willingness to serve and our enthusiasm was not broken.
49:54Germany's dreams of an African empire are shattered,
49:57thwarted by an unlikely hero and his jungle navy.
50:11After almost another year of protecting the lake,
50:14Spicer and his men are ordered back to England.
50:18His warships left behind.
50:24The British Naval Africa Expedition
50:26is a total success.
50:30Its military objective attained.
50:35Its men back home unarmed.
50:42He has led his men on a bizarre, nearly impossible mission.
50:47A small step on the long road to history.
50:51He is awarded the distinguished service order.
50:54The Lord of the Loincloth returns to the same desk he left in 1915.
51:15As a warrior, his duty is done.
51:20As a warrior, his duty is done.
51:28The expedition was the smallest ever sent out.
51:43There being only 28 men, all told.
51:47And it was the only expedition that had come back
51:50without a single casualty.
51:53He was the only one of theionen andis of the yol 바�
51:56in the war that United ausp Mainly18812.
51:57The Korean War II
52:02is that he was 15 min of fuel guiding mass.
52:04He was the greatest champion for his 1960s in his lifetime.
52:08Donald Azeroth,
52:09the other king also ends in houved by burning molecule and a family's trading stadium,
52:11including his master's respective wrestling.
52:13The Churchill Talks
52:14and former former regional奶ave
52:15and former youngbloners
52:17has come back into the party'sCommand.
52:18You are the only one who knows
52:18you have to be a good friend of his own CampoF spirituality,
52:19the spice of the ander.
52:20Transcription by CastingWords
52:50CastingWords
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