Six steamers, varying from 40 to 80-horse power, were ordered to leave
Cairo in June, together with fifteen sloops and fifteen diahbeeahs -
total, thirty-six vessels - to ascend the cataracts of the Nile to
Khartoum, a distance by river of about 1,450 miles. These vessels were
to convey the whole of the merchandise.
Twenty-five vessels were ordered to be in readiness at Khartoum,
together with three steamers. The governor-general (Djiaffer Pacha) was
to provide these vessels by a certain date, together with the camels and
horses necessary for the land transport.
Thus when the fleet should arrive at Khartoum from Cairo, the total
force of vessels would be nine steamers and fifty-five sailing vessels,
the latter averaging about fifty tons each.
Mr. Higginbotham had the command of the desert transport from Korosko to
Khartoum, and to that admirable officer I intrusted the charge of the
steamer sections and machinery, together with the command of the English
engineers and mechanics.
I arranged to bring up the rear by another route, via Souakim on the Red
Sea, from which the desert journey to Berber, on the Nile, N. lat. 17
degrees 37 minutes, is 275 statute miles.
My reason for this division of routes was to insure a quick supply of
camels, as much delay would have been occasioned had the great mass of
transport been conveyed by one road.
