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River Steamer on the Niger River

Image Historical Events
A photograph showing a river steamer on the Niger River with a man on the bank.
A river steamer, possibly a mission boat, on the Niger River. From the Crosse Collection, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge.

A photograph depicting a small, low-profile motorized river steamer, possibly a mission boat, navigating a wide, calm body of water. The vessel features a central vertical smokestack, a light-colored cabin toward the bow, and a thin vertical mast. In the right foreground, a man stands on a vegetated riverbank, serving as a lookout. The background shows a continuous line of dense forest along the distant shoreline. The image is a black-and-white lantern slide from the Crosse Collection, documenting the activities of the Royal Niger Company between 1886 and 1895.

Community Notes

Onyeka Nwokike

Sep 19, 2026

The image is cataloged as LS.49243.WCR in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge. It is part of a larger series that includes lantern slides LS.82424 to LS.82491 and several negatives. Although the geographical origin was initially uncertain in the institutional records, it was later confirmed by researcher Len Pole to be part of a series documenting West Africa, specifically Nigeria, the Niger Delta, and Cameroon.

Onyeka Nwokike

Sep 19, 2026

Dr. William Henry Crosse, the photographer and Principal Medical Officer of the Royal Niger Company, contributed photographs to the 1900 publication Nigeria: Our Latest Protectorate by Charles Henry Robinson. Crosse also authored medical research on the region, including a 1892 work titled Notes on Malarial Fevers met with on the River Niger (West Africa).

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