Livingstone's 1871 Field Diary

[Christel]

http://livingstone.library.ucla.edu/1871diary/

Difficult to see however some of the people in the pictures are carrying rifles.
I read somewhere, it must have been a related article, that some of the freed slaves in his entourage bought rifles for the money they were being paid.

Anyone know what they typically would be?

[Porcupine]

Impossible to tell from the drawing but they would most likely be muzzle loading 1853 pattern Enfield carbines, or 1855 pattern Springfield carbines. The 1873 Trapdoor wouldn't enter service for another year, at the time of the drawing, and the five year old Snider-Enfield carbines would probably be too expensive and ammunition too difficult to source for natives at that time. By the 1890s the Sniders were surplus and common among native guides/hunters working for westerners (although even in 1896-7 during the Second Matabele War the Ndebele and Shona's firearms were largely muzzle loading) but at this time they were still relatively new and in service.

[Christel]

Porcupine, thank you for the info.

I have googled and googled for Livingstone and rifles and still not found any confirmation nor the slightest reference to what sort of rifle it would be. Just that they had rifles.

I am confident given the year that they must have been single shot rifles which lead me to another question: I am puzzled as to how the slaves could have been shot down at the slave market in those numbers with a single shot rifle, must have taken ages...ok many single shot rifles but still. This was done mainly by the Arabs, not sure as to why they would do this? Just wondering if they had access to something a bit more sophisticated than the British at the time, although I think not.

Many many questions and so little time.

[Christel]

Just found this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_military_rifles


"The Snider-Enfield Infantry rifle was particularly long at over 54 inches (1,400 mm). The breech block housed a diagonally downward sloping firing pin which was struck with a front-action side mounted hammer. The firer cocked the hammer, flipped the block out of the receiver with a breech block lever, and then pulled the block back to extract the spent case. There was no ejector, the case had to be pulled out, or more usually, the rifle rolled onto its back to allow the case to fall out. The Snider saw service throughout the British Empire, until it was gradually phased out of front line service in favour of the Martini-Henry, in the mid-1870s. The design continued in use with colonial troops into the 20th century.[1]"

Could have been a Snider-Enfield? Although it is a tad long?

[Porcupine]

They did make carbine versions of the Snider, and Sniders, as I said, had been around for five years at this point. Too expensive, I think, for native Africans but for Arab slavers? Much more likely. But still, between 400 and 600 killed by three men with single shot rifles? And these are not nearly as quick to shoot as the Martini Henry -you have to open the loading gate, which is fiddly, then pull out the cartridge manually and replace it with two movements. Livingstone claims there were three slavers doing the shooting.

I don't know the details of Livingstone's account but it does seem that either the Africans must have been unable to escape or fight back for some reason e.g. tied up, or there were others shooting, or there was some other cause of death, or he is exaggerating the number of dead. A trained soldier could fire ten rounds a minute with the Snider-Enfield. Even assuming the Arabs were that proficient, that means they'd have to be shooting for over 13 minutes, and never miss, and not move, to kill 400 men. If you walk briskly you can cover a mile in that time! Of course over penetration might have lead to multiple deaths per round but clearly the assumption of no misses is ludicrous.

It could of course have been one of the countless breech loading rifles newly developed at this time (most used paper rather than the Snider's metallic cartridges) like the French Chassepot, the German Dreyse or the American Sharps.

[Christel]

Impossible to tell from the drawing but they would most likely be muzzle loading 1853 pattern Enfield carbines, or 1855 pattern Springfield carbines. The 1873 Trapdoor wouldn't enter service for another year, at the time of the drawing, and the five year old Snider-Enfield carbines would probably be too expensive and ammunition too difficult to source for natives at that time. By the 1890s the Sniders were surplus and common among native guides/hunters working for westerners (although even in 1896-7 during the Second Matabele War the Ndebele and Shona's firearms were largely muzzle loading) but at this time they were still relatively new and in service.

Snider is too new in 1871, I think so as well. To early for the Martini Henry. So muzzle loading rifles very likely. If that is the case then I do struggle with the amount who were killed within the time frame according to the diary. Maybe he exaggerated in order to get the slave auction site shut down...

[Tower75]

Snider is too new in 1871, I think so as well.

I could be wrong, but I thought the Snider was adopted for service in 1866? I'm sure I read that somewhere.

I think the Martini-Henry was adopted in 1871.

If my dates are correct (from memory :? ) The Snider would be "the norm" in 1871, and the Martini would be the new fangled thing.

[Christel]

From what I have read the Snider was used from 1866 to 1871 which to me means it was too new for the slaves to buy.

In 1871 it is much more likely (to me) that the slaves bought second hand muzzle loaders.

I still am not sure about the slavers, what they were using.

[Tower75]

In 1871 it is much more likely (to me) that the slaves bought second hand muzzle loaders.

Ah. I see your point.

Maybe they had Swiss Veterlis. :lol:

I always find it amazing that when everyone was banging at each other with large-calibre, single shot breech-loaders, the Swiss had a small-bore, magazine-fed, bolt action rifle.

[Christel]

Somehow...nah!