Geoffrey Spicer-Simson
Encyclopedia
Commander
Geoffrey Basil Spicer-Simson DSO
(15 January 1876 – 29 January 1947) was a Royal Navy
officer. He served in the Mediterranean, Pacific and Home Fleets. He is most famous for his role as leader of a naval expedition to Lake Tanganyika
in 1915, where he commanded a small flotilla which defeated a superior German
force during the Battle for Lake Tanganyika
.
, Tasmania
, on 15 January 1876, one of five children. His father, Frederick Simson, had been in the merchant navy and was a dealer in gold sovereigns in India
who eventually settled in Le Havre, France
, at the age of thirty-one. There he met eighteen-year-old Dora Spicer, daughter of a visiting English clergyman, and on marrying changed his name to Spicer-Simson. In 1874 the Spicer-Simsons moved to Tasmania, where they had some family, and ran a sheep farm for five years. Though Geoffrey was born in Tasmania, he soon moved to France at his mother's wishes. He and his siblings were sent to schools in England. The eldest, Theodore Spicer-Simson, became a world famous medallion portrait artist, moving between France and the United States. His youngest brother, Noel, eventually joined the British Army
.
Geoffrey entered the Royal Navy in 1889 at the age of fourteen. He was appointed a midshipman
on 14 June 1892. His naval career got off to a good start as he was advanced seven months in seniority for results that allowed him to pass out of Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. However, he lost a month of this additional seniority for leaving his ship despite having his leave stopped in 1894. He was promoted to acting sub-lieutenant
on 19 February 1896, and he was confirmed in the rank of sub-lieutenant on 20 January 1897, back-dated to the original acting promotion. He was promoted to lieutenant
on 30 September 1898.
From that time he began to specialise in surveying, and served on the North Borneo Boundary Commission in 1901, helping in the construction of several maps and the definition of boundaries. His most important position was in command of a destroyer, which he permitted to collide with a liberty boat, resulting in his being posted to dockside watch-keeping jobs. He then went to China
and made the first triangulated survey of the Yangtze River from 1905-1908. After China, he was posted to Africa, and from 1911-1914 was in command of a survey ship on the Gambia river. In 1912 he married Amy Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund and Phoebe Baynes-Reed of Victoria, British Columbia.
He returned to Britain from Africa just a few days before Britain officially joined World War I
on 4 August 1914. He had a brief tour on a contraband control vessel, but two weeks after taking command one of his gunboats was torpedoed in broad daylight. He was then given an office job in the Admiralty in the department in charge of transferring Merchant sailors to the War Navy.
onto Lake Tanganyika
. The Götzen was much larger than any other vessel on the lake and would give German forces supremacy across its entire length. With control of the Lake, Germany could easily move troops and materials to supports its efforts in and around German East Africa
. To counter the Götzen, two small, fast and well armed motorboats would be sent from Britain.
Spicer-Simson had experience in Africa and was fluent in French and German, so the Admiralty overlooked his undistinguished record and selected him to lead the expedition. His commanders saw nothing to lose in sending him to what was considered a sideshow to the events in Europe.
The two motorboats, which Spicer-Simson named Mimi and Toutou, were loaded aboard the on 15 June along with the expedition′s equipment and supplies. Two special trailers and cradles were also brought along to allow them to be transported by rail or overland. The first leg of Mimi and Toutou′s 10000 mi (16,093.4 km) journey was completed after 17 days at sea and their arrival at the Cape of Good Hope
.
From Cape Town
, they and the men of the expedition traveled north by railway through Bulawayo
to Elisabethville
, where they arrived on 26 July. After traveling to the railhead at Fungurume, they were detrained and dragged 146 mi (235 km) through the bush by teams of oxen and steam tractors to the beginnings of the railway from Sankisia to Bukama
. At Bukama, the boats and stores were unloaded and prepared for a voyage down the Lualaba River
. The Lualaba was running low, and Mimi and Toutou had to be paddled fifty-six miles upstream, once running aground fourteen times in just twelve miles. They spent seventeen days on the Lualaba before reaching Kabalo
. From there, the last 175 miles of the journey to Lake Tanganyika was completed by railroad. The expedition, known by that point as "Simson's Circus" for all it had been through, arrived at the Belgian lake port of Lukuga on 24 October 1915.
, where he had been building a port better protected from the lake's storms. Mimi and Toutou were assembled and launched just before Christmas 1915. Early in the morning of 26 December, the armed German tug Kingani was spotted offshore. Spicer-Simson took Mimi and Toutou out on the lake and captured Kingani after a brief firefight that killed her commander and four of her crew. The Kingani was rechristened the HMS Fifi
and brought under Spicer-Simson's command. As a result, on 3 January 1916, he was promoted from lieutenant commander to commander; the promotion backdated to 26 December 1915, the date of the capture.
On 9 February 1916, the German lake boat Hedwig von Wissman appeared off Lukuga to investigate the disappearance of the Kingani. After a thirty mile chase, Spicer-Simson's flotilla sank the Hedwig von Wissman.
The capture of the Kingani and the sinking of the Hedwig greatly weakened German naval power on Lake Tanganyika. However, a survivor of the Kingani reported that the Götzen had recently been armed with a gun from the recently scuttled German cruiser Königsberg. The addition of a Königsberg gun gave the Götzen the ability to effectively fire on the Mimi, Toutou, and Fifi from well beyond their range. Though the Götzen couldn't be directly attacked, German supremacy on Lake Tanganyika had been broken.
For the action against the Hedwig, Spicer-Simson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order
on 1 May 1916. Over the course of the expedition, three of his officers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
, and twelve of his men were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal
.
After its initial success, Spicer-Simson's command ended in controversy. He refused to send his ships to aid the British Colonial and Belgian Army force in the capture of Mpulungu
in present day Zambia
. After falling ill and retreating to his private quarters, he was sent to England
for medical and mental recovery. He was also appointed a Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown
.
Spicer-Simson was known for his idiosyncrasies. In Britain he had originally suggested that Mimi and Toutou be named Cat and Dog, but the names were rejected by the Admiralty. After Mimi and Toutou were accepted as alternatives, he explained that these meant "Miaow" and "Bow-wow" in French. While in command on Lake Tanganyika, Spicer-Simson often wore a khaki drill kilt, and he insisted that an Admiral's flag be flown outside his hut. He smoke monogrammed cigarettes and had a number of "macabre tattoos" acquired during his time in Asia.
, and a naval delegate and French translator at the Versailles
Peace Conference in 1919. After acting as Secretary and official interpreter to the First International Hydrographic Conference, London, 1919 he was elected the first Secretary-General of The International Hydrographic Bureau
. He served in that role from 1921 to 1937. His later years were spent in British Columbia. He gave a series of lectures on his command in Lake Tanganyika and helped write a National Geographic article on his transportation of the two boats through the jungles of the Congo
. He died on 29 January 1947.
called Mimi and Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle for Lake Tanganyika. In 2007, Christopher Dow recounted the same story in a book titled Lord of the Loincloth.
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Geoffrey Basil Spicer-Simson DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
(15 January 1876 – 29 January 1947) was a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer. He served in the Mediterranean, Pacific and Home Fleets. He is most famous for his role as leader of a naval expedition to Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake...
in 1915, where he commanded a small flotilla which defeated a superior German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
force during the Battle for Lake Tanganyika
Battle for Lake Tanganyika
The Battle for Lake Tanganyika was a series of naval engagements that took place between elements of the Royal Navy, Force Publique and the Kaiserliche Marine between December 1915 and February 1916, during the First World War...
.
Early life
Geoffrey Basil Spicer Simson was born in HobartHobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, on 15 January 1876, one of five children. His father, Frederick Simson, had been in the merchant navy and was a dealer in gold sovereigns in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
who eventually settled in Le Havre, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, at the age of thirty-one. There he met eighteen-year-old Dora Spicer, daughter of a visiting English clergyman, and on marrying changed his name to Spicer-Simson. In 1874 the Spicer-Simsons moved to Tasmania, where they had some family, and ran a sheep farm for five years. Though Geoffrey was born in Tasmania, he soon moved to France at his mother's wishes. He and his siblings were sent to schools in England. The eldest, Theodore Spicer-Simson, became a world famous medallion portrait artist, moving between France and the United States. His youngest brother, Noel, eventually joined the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
.
Geoffrey entered the Royal Navy in 1889 at the age of fourteen. He was appointed a midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
on 14 June 1892. His naval career got off to a good start as he was advanced seven months in seniority for results that allowed him to pass out of Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. However, he lost a month of this additional seniority for leaving his ship despite having his leave stopped in 1894. He was promoted to acting sub-lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
on 19 February 1896, and he was confirmed in the rank of sub-lieutenant on 20 January 1897, back-dated to the original acting promotion. He was promoted to lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
on 30 September 1898.
From that time he began to specialise in surveying, and served on the North Borneo Boundary Commission in 1901, helping in the construction of several maps and the definition of boundaries. His most important position was in command of a destroyer, which he permitted to collide with a liberty boat, resulting in his being posted to dockside watch-keeping jobs. He then went to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and made the first triangulated survey of the Yangtze River from 1905-1908. After China, he was posted to Africa, and from 1911-1914 was in command of a survey ship on the Gambia river. In 1912 he married Amy Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund and Phoebe Baynes-Reed of Victoria, British Columbia.
He returned to Britain from Africa just a few days before Britain officially joined World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
on 4 August 1914. He had a brief tour on a contraband control vessel, but two weeks after taking command one of his gunboats was torpedoed in broad daylight. He was then given an office job in the Admiralty in the department in charge of transferring Merchant sailors to the War Navy.
"Simson's Circus"
In April of 1915, the Admiralty learned that Germany was preparing to launch the Graf von GötzenMV Liemba
The MV Liemba, formerly the Graf von Götzen, is a passenger and cargo ferry that runs along the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika...
onto Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake...
. The Götzen was much larger than any other vessel on the lake and would give German forces supremacy across its entire length. With control of the Lake, Germany could easily move troops and materials to supports its efforts in and around German East Africa
German East Africa
German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, which included what are now :Burundi, :Rwanda and Tanganyika . Its area was , nearly three times the size of Germany today....
. To counter the Götzen, two small, fast and well armed motorboats would be sent from Britain.
Spicer-Simson had experience in Africa and was fluent in French and German, so the Admiralty overlooked his undistinguished record and selected him to lead the expedition. His commanders saw nothing to lose in sending him to what was considered a sideshow to the events in Europe.
The two motorboats, which Spicer-Simson named Mimi and Toutou, were loaded aboard the on 15 June along with the expedition′s equipment and supplies. Two special trailers and cradles were also brought along to allow them to be transported by rail or overland. The first leg of Mimi and Toutou′s 10000 mi (16,093.4 km) journey was completed after 17 days at sea and their arrival at the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
.
From Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, they and the men of the expedition traveled north by railway through Bulawayo
Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated population in 2010 of 2,000,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland...
to Elisabethville
Lubumbashi
Lubumbashi is the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, second only to the nation's capital Kinshasa, and the hub of the southeastern part of the country. The copper-mining city serves as the capital of the relatively prosperous Katanga Province, lying near the Zambian border...
, where they arrived on 26 July. After traveling to the railhead at Fungurume, they were detrained and dragged 146 mi (235 km) through the bush by teams of oxen and steam tractors to the beginnings of the railway from Sankisia to Bukama
Bukama
Bukama is a town in Haut-Lomami District of south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 2009 it had an estimated population of 42,718....
. At Bukama, the boats and stores were unloaded and prepared for a voyage down the Lualaba River
Lualaba River
The Lualaba River is the greatest headstream of the Congo River by volume of water. However, by length the Chambeshi River is the farthest headstream. The Lualaba is 1800 km long, running from near Musofi in the vicinity of Lubumbashi in Katanga Province. The whole of its length lies within the...
. The Lualaba was running low, and Mimi and Toutou had to be paddled fifty-six miles upstream, once running aground fourteen times in just twelve miles. They spent seventeen days on the Lualaba before reaching Kabalo
Kabalo
Kabalo is one of a number of towns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with this name. This one is in the east, in Tanganyika District.- Transport :Kabalo is the junction of railway lines to the north and to Lake Tanganyika in the east....
. From there, the last 175 miles of the journey to Lake Tanganyika was completed by railroad. The expedition, known by that point as "Simson's Circus" for all it had been through, arrived at the Belgian lake port of Lukuga on 24 October 1915.
Battle for Lake Tanganyika
Shortly after arriving on Lake Tanganyika, Spicer-Simson relocated his base just south of Lukuga at KalemieKalemie
Kalemie, formerly Albertville/Albertstad, is a town on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is next to the exit of the Lukuga River flowing out from Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River....
, where he had been building a port better protected from the lake's storms. Mimi and Toutou were assembled and launched just before Christmas 1915. Early in the morning of 26 December, the armed German tug Kingani was spotted offshore. Spicer-Simson took Mimi and Toutou out on the lake and captured Kingani after a brief firefight that killed her commander and four of her crew. The Kingani was rechristened the HMS Fifi
HMS Fifi
HMS Fifi was an armed paddle steamer, captured from the Germans by Royal Navy units during the Battle for Lake Tanganyika, and used to support Anglo-Belgian operations on the lake and its surrounding areas...
and brought under Spicer-Simson's command. As a result, on 3 January 1916, he was promoted from lieutenant commander to commander; the promotion backdated to 26 December 1915, the date of the capture.
On 9 February 1916, the German lake boat Hedwig von Wissman appeared off Lukuga to investigate the disappearance of the Kingani. After a thirty mile chase, Spicer-Simson's flotilla sank the Hedwig von Wissman.
The capture of the Kingani and the sinking of the Hedwig greatly weakened German naval power on Lake Tanganyika. However, a survivor of the Kingani reported that the Götzen had recently been armed with a gun from the recently scuttled German cruiser Königsberg. The addition of a Königsberg gun gave the Götzen the ability to effectively fire on the Mimi, Toutou, and Fifi from well beyond their range. Though the Götzen couldn't be directly attacked, German supremacy on Lake Tanganyika had been broken.
For the action against the Hedwig, Spicer-Simson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
on 1 May 1916. Over the course of the expedition, three of his officers were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the third level military decoration awarded to officers, and other ranks, of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and British Merchant Navy and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.The DSC, which may be awarded posthumously, is...
, and twelve of his men were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Service Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Navy and members of the other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, up to and including the rank of Chief Petty Officer, for bravery and resourcefulness on active service...
.
After its initial success, Spicer-Simson's command ended in controversy. He refused to send his ships to aid the British Colonial and Belgian Army force in the capture of Mpulungu
Mpulungu
Mpulungu is a town in the Northern Province of Zambia, at the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika.From Mpulungu, boats reach DR Congo, Tanzania and Burundi...
in present day Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
. After falling ill and retreating to his private quarters, he was sent to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for medical and mental recovery. He was also appointed a Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown
Order of the Crown (Belgium)
The Order of the Crown is an Order of Belgium which was created on 15 October 1897 by King Leopold II in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State. The order was first intended to recognize heroic deeds and distinguished service achieved from service in the Congo Free State - many of which acts...
.
Eccentricities
Later life
He was later Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence, with the rank of acting captainCaptain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
, and a naval delegate and French translator at the Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
Peace Conference in 1919. After acting as Secretary and official interpreter to the First International Hydrographic Conference, London, 1919 he was elected the first Secretary-General of The International Hydrographic Bureau
International Hydrographic Organization
The International Hydrographic Organization is the inter-governmental organisation representing the hydrographic community. It enjoys observer status at the UN and is the recognised competent authority on hydrographic surveying and nautical charting...
. He served in that role from 1921 to 1937. His later years were spent in British Columbia. He gave a series of lectures on his command in Lake Tanganyika and helped write a National Geographic article on his transportation of the two boats through the jungles of the Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
. He died on 29 January 1947.
Achievements
- China Medal in 1900
- Distinguished Service OrderDistinguished Service OrderThe Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
in 1915 - The events of his flotilla at Lake Tanganyika inspired the novel and film The African Queen.
- Subject of the BBC Radio drama Navy Man God, by Christopher Russell. First broadcast in 19/01/1985, and regularly repeated on digital BBC Radio 7 after being rediscovered.
Further Reading
In 2004 Spicer-Simson's story was retold in a book by Giles FodenGiles Foden
Giles Foden is an English author best known for his award-winning novel The Last King of Scotland .-Biography:Giles Foden was born in Warwickshire in 1967. His family moved to Malawi in 1971 where he was raised...
called Mimi and Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle for Lake Tanganyika. In 2007, Christopher Dow recounted the same story in a book titled Lord of the Loincloth.