Letter from Livingstone to fetch $50K (1859 message in a bottle, urgently requesting provisions)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | February 18, 2004 - 5:31PM

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A letter written by English explorer David Livingstone which was left at the mouth of
the Zambezi River in a bottle urgently requesting provisions from any passing ship
that found it. The letter was written on May 25, 1859, and is expected to fetch up to
$50,000 when it's auctioned later this year. Photo: AFP

London: A message in a bottle left at the mouth of an African river by legendary explorer Dr David Livingstone almost 150 years ago is expected to fetch as much as $50,000 when it is auctioned later this year.

The note, penned by Dr Livingstone in May 1859, requested urgent provisions from any passing ships that found it.

The letter describes Livingstone's trip up the Zambezi and Shire Rivers in Africa and tells in detail of his discovery of Lake Shirwa, in what is now Mozambique.

He also asked that salt provisions be left at the Zambezi mouth for the crew of his paddle-steamer, after a ship carrying supplies failed to show up there for a pre-arranged meeting.

The message was found a month later by a Royal Navy patrol vessel and kept in the family of the ships surgeon until 1957, when it was bought by traveller and collector Quentin Keynes.

Now it is one of the highlights of a collection of 800 travel and natural history books and documents being sold by the family of Keynes, the great-grandson of Charles Darwin, who died last year.

The collection, being auctioned by Christies in London from April 7, is expected to fetch around £3 million in total, with Livingstones letter valued at £15,000 to £20,000.

Also being sold is a document signed by Livingstone and reporter Sir Henry Morton Stanley, famed for the words "Dr Livingstone, I presume" after tracking down the explorer when he went missing on an expedition to find the source of the Nile.

Another Livingstone letter describing rival adventurer Sir Richard Burton as an awful ruffian is also being auctioned.

Livingstone is renowned as the the first European to discover the Zambezi and, later, the Victoria Falls, which he named for the then Queen.

He went to Africa as a missionary and became determined to find the beginning of the Nile a quest he never completed.

But his adventures earned him national hero status and, following his death in Africa in 1873, his body was returned to Britain and buried at Westminster Abbey.

PA