1895 - The Royal Marines were 15,005 ranks.
Brass River and M'Weli
There was more fighting on the West Coast of Africa in which the Royal Marines were concerned.
In February a punitive expedition had to be undertaken against King Koko of Nimby in the Brass River; a Naval Brigade from the St George, Thrush and Widgeon under Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford was landed and destroyed the chief town of Brass on the River Niger.
Major R Denny RMLI was the senior RM Officer.
Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford, who had led the British forces against Koko, sent the following telegram to the Admiralty from Brass on 23 February:
Left Brass on February 20, with HMS Widgeon, HMS Thrush, two steamers of the Niger Company, and the boat of HMS St George, with marines and Protectorate troops; anchored off Nimbi Creek and seized Sacrifice Island the same afternoon; the approach was obstructed by stockades, which are also under construction on the island; 25 war canoes came out and opened an ineffectual fire; three were sunk, and the rest retired.
On February 21 the intricate channels were buoyed and the creek reconnoitred. At daybreak on February 22 we attacked, and, after an obstinate defence of a position naturally difficult, a landing was gallantly effected and Nimbi completely burned. In the evening the force was withdrawn, after King Koko's and other chiefs' houses were destroyed.
Bedford sent a further despatch from Brass on 25 February:
Fishtown destroyed today. Brass chiefs and people implicated in attack Akassa have now been punished. No more casualties. Wounded progressing favourably. No further operations contemplated. Consul-General concurs. I am leaving for Loanda to-morrow evening. Two ships remain in vicinity for present.[14]
King Koko [Wikipedia]
King Frederick William Koko, Mingi VIII of Nembe (1853–1898), known as King Koko and King William Koko, was an African ruler of the Nembe Kingdom (also known as Nembe-Brass) in the Niger Delta, now part of southern Nigeria.
King Koko in His War Canoe on His Way down the River, from The Daily Graphic of March 30, 1895
A Christian when chosen as king of Nembe in 1889, Koko's attack on a Royal Niger Company trading post in January 1895 led to a retaliatory raid by the British in which his capital was sacked. Following a report on the Nembe uprising by Sir John Kirk which was published in 1896, finding that 43 of Koko's hostages had been murdered and ceremoniously eaten, Koko was offered a settlement of his grievances but found the terms unacceptable, so was deposed by the British. He died in exile in 1898.
Major Denny was made a Brevet Lieutenant Colonel for this and his services on the West African Coast.
Comments