From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Overland expedition from England to Kenya in a seven-seater limousine.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 114\4\ scan0089 | |
| Date | 17th March 1937 guessed | |
| 5/W3 Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} J-1011 64 ENGLAND TO KENYA BY LIMOUSINE. Travelling comfortably in a luxurious seven-seater limousine, Mr. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} Symons, the well-known motorist, and his friends, Messrs. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} B. Browning and H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} F.{Mr Friese} Hamilton, have just achieved a remarkable performance. With the object of making a detailed survey of more than two-thirds of the through overland route from London to Cape Town they have crossed the Sahara desert from the Mediterranean to the Niger, continuing through malarial swamps and the tropical jungles of the Congo, reaching Nairobi, some 7,000 miles distant. Although speed was a secondary consideration except in so far as a fast run across the Sahara would give the travellers more time for filming scenes of native life in Equatorial Africa, it is interesting to note that the Rolls-Royce Phantom III Limousine, driven by Mr. Symons and his companions, actually made the journey to Nigeria in LESS THAN HALF the time taken by the usual combination of mail steamer and express train. Mr. Symons stated on arrival at Nairobi that the journey had been made in the most complete comfort, the independent front springing of the car enabling very useful speeds to be kept up over the terrible tracks across the Sahara. Kano, in Nigeria, was reached five days after leaving Folkestone, but the innumerable river crossings on primitive ferries made from dug-out canoes joined together, caused some delay, and made progress slower through French Equatorial Africa and the Belgian Congo. The Equator was crossed in Kenya at a height of over 9,000 feet, and Nairobi reached 7 days after leaving Fort Lamy, near Kano, Nigeria. Mr. Symons and his companions are now on their way home over the same route and hope to bring back the most complete records of conditions encountered, as well as many valuable films. | ||