The Nile....Alexandria to Cairo...."My Trip to Egypt Part II"

An aerial view of the Nile river taken from orbit 2003.

Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/sh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This map shows the Nile in its entirety. The Gordon Relief Expedition had a specific mission.  Khartoum was to be reached by ascending the Nile using modified Royal Navy whalers, and across land by camel. It was a daunting mission. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:River_Nile_map.svg

 From the beginning of September to the end of October 1884 the expeditionary forces assembled in Alexandria and prepared to travel south to Cairo by steam launch and train. Then,  9,000 men and 40,000 tons of stores and munitions would need to be ferried  from Cairo to Khartoum (1,650 miles) using boats.  The mission was on to rescue Gordon and the city of Khartoum from the siege by the Mahdists that had begun in March of 1884.   

  General Wolseley recruited 386 Canadian voyageurs to navigate the trip up the Nile using modified Royal Navy whalers.  Wolseley had previous experience using these men during an expedition along the Red River, Winnipeg, in 1869,  and thought they would make successful navigators in this expedition. The 800 whalers were transported from England to Egypt.  They could carry twelve soldiers each and enough cargo to supply them for 100 days.  By the 26th of October the Canadians and the boats met up with Wolseley's force of  soldiers at Wadi Hafa and by November they were ready to begin ascending the rapids at the second cataract.     

Nile Voyageurs piloting the whalers with British soldiers up the Nile.  Wood engraving from 1894. 

   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Nile_Expedition_for_the_Relief_of_General_Gordon,_from_The_Graphic,_29_November_1894.png

  By Christmas progress  became slow as the boats had to now  be pulled by ropes through the rapids. At this point in the expedition Wolseley knew that time was running out, so he split his force into two columns and sent 2,400 men by camel and horses on a short cut across the Bayuda Desert to reach the city sooner.  The Camel Corp came under attack at Abu Klea on 17 January 1885 and then two days later at Abu Kru. The river column of the remaining whale boats supported by mounted troops continued their difficult journey up the river. 

The Head of the River Column:  Royal Engineers and Guards' Camel Corps Leaving Dongola From the Front. Illustrated London News 86 (3 January 1885): 1. Hathi Trust Digital Library online version of a copy in the University of Chicago Library. Web. 21 August 2020. The Victorian Web. 

 

Water route highlighted in orange, camel route shown in yellow.  Either route required a great deal of planning and execution to be successful. 

From The Victorian Soldier in Africa Manchester University Press 2018

 

   General Gordon's last entry in his journal was written on the 14th of December 1884 and  read..."Now mark this...if the Expeditionary Force, and I ask for no more than 200 men, does not come in 10 days, the town may fall; and I have done my best for the honour of my country. Good bye".

  On January 26, 1885 Khartoum fell to the Mahdist army and Gordon was killed. The Gordon Relief Expedition failed in its mission as relief arrived just two days after the city fell.  The Camel Corp had managed to meet up with several of Gordon's armed steamers and under the leadership of Colonel Wilson attempted  to relieve the capitol.  They got within sight of Khartoum before turning back due to heavy gunfire. After noticing that the Egyptian flag was no longer flying over Gordon's palace Wilson made the decision to run back downstream as fast as he could.  Getting to Khartoum in time had been a daunting and formidable task at best, and the odds were not in their favor. 

    Wolseley's forces remained in the Sudan until mid-summer, to allow fresh British reinforcements to be assembled in Egypt and then sent up the river. 

 

 From The Victorian Soldier in Africa Manchester University Press The Gordon Relief Expedition 30 July 2018 Edward M. Spiers and...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Expedition 

https://www.melik.org.uk/discover/nile-gunboats/send-a-gunboat/

https://legionmagazine.com/en/voyageurs-on-the-nile/

********************************************************

  What was Charles Kings' experience?  He continued writing about his trip in a small notebook, using pencil.  Sometime later he transferred his thoughts to a larger notebook and used an ink pen.  The result was  "My Trip to Egypt Part II" which began with the arrival of the Rewa in Alexandria.  This is his first hand account; what I find especially interesting is how he viewed things from an engineering standpoint. 

Part II Page 1

   "Having arrived at Alexandria, were not long before we were berthed alongside the wharfe in the inner harbour, and as soon as we could we set to work at unloading our stores and baggage, no small task I assure you, for we not only had personal baggage & effects but also a full equipment for field service.  This however proceeded rapidley (sic) and between five & six oclock in the evening all was completed having loaded all on board the train as we were taking it off the ship.  I should mention here the landing accommodation at Alexandria is of an up to date character such as one would expect to find in any European port of any importance. I was particularly struck on first setting foot ashore at the solidity of the wharfes & docks. They are built almost entirely of large granite blocks such as we...

Part II Page 2

...are familiar with in our own country.  The Railway also is brought down alongside for convenience of ships discharging & taking in their cargo.  We were not permitted to go outside the docks at Alexandria, so that having finished our work of discharging, we went aboard ship again and after washing & taking our evening meal we waited until the time of departure for Cairo arrived.  We found the on board the ship in which we had completed our voyage, a very genial party although for the most part first class passengers, yet they seemed to be very much interested in our behavour (sic) and welfare.  We often had an opportunity of peeping into the dining saloon whilst dinner was being served up to the passengers whilst was done in grand style, the tables being waited on by Hindoo waiters who with black faces & snow white outfits & red turbins made rather a picturesque sight.  As a rule these Hindoo's make very...

Part II page 3

 ...excellent waiters.  At about 9 p.m. we had to clear the ship and form up on the wharfe.  This done with three hearty cheers, for the Captain Officers crew & passengers of the "Rewa" and a congratulatory reply from the Captain the train was brought up alongside & we were soon packed in our compartments of the train and at 9:30 p.m. we began to move slowly out of the docks amidst the cheers of the Officers, crew & passengers of our ship and other English ships in the Docks. No doubt you would like to know the mode of travelling in Egypt.  The train that took us to Cairo I assure you was not a very first class character.  I am not able to say positively if the kind used for troops are of the same type as used for the general traffic on the Egyptian Railways, but in all the Railway traveling I done there it was all of the same character namely a carriage of our  ordinary cattle...

 Part II page 4

 ...truck type only rather longer & some what lighter in construction, with an inlet from a platform at each end and open to the air above... the seat which is longitudinal & one on each side, with a roof covering the whole. The idea of the carriage being open above the seat is not altogether a bad one as travelling in a hot country like Egypt even in those open cars is sometimes sultry & almost suffocating, although this did not affect us so much as we were traveling by night & some seasons of the year the nights are very cold. We however reached Cairo the next morning about 5 a.m. without any particular incident to record beyond the fact that our horse stopped a few times on the road for a drink although he did not travel very many miles all the night (about 90 miles I think)....."

   The horse he is referring to is, of course, the steam train itself!

By train from Alexandria to Cairo is 6 1/2 hours these days, very similar to Charles' train journey. I am sure the passenger cars now are more comfortable than he experienced.   Google Maps.