Picto Diary - 16 December 2018 - Congo Pass By
At sea.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 16 December 2018.
On board lecture.
Andy Jampoler
CONGO. THE MISERABLE EXPEDITIONS AND DREADFUL DEATH OF LT. EMORY TAUNT, USN
Map of our voyage following the route of the early Portuguese explorers and showing our stops and current location (red arrow) near mouth of the Congo River.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 16 December 2018.
Onboard lecture.
Andy Jampoler
CONGO. THE MISERABLE EXPEDITIONS AND DREADFUL DEATH OF LT. EMORY TAUNT, USN
African river system. Congo, after Nile, is second longest African river at 700 miles long. But the Congo has a higher water volume than the Nile.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 16 December 2018
On board Lecture
Andy Jampoler
CONGO. THE MISERABLE EXPEDITIONS AND DREADFUL DEATH OF LT. EMORY TAUNT, USN
Sunday afternoon. Ship's location around 6 degrees 15 minutes south latitude and 8 degrees 20 minutes east longitude, just west of The Congo. The black, west pointing spike is the trough cut into the seabed of the Congo River exiting from into the sea.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer. 16 December 2018.
Onboard ship lecture.
Andy Jampoler.
CONGO. THE MISERABLE EXPEDITIONS AND DREADFUL DEATH OF LT. EMORY TAUNT, USN
Why the Congo basin piqued interest 1880's and onward: Ivory and rubber.
At 1885 Conference of Berlin, chaired by German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, Africa was divided up amongst colonial powers. King Leopold II, of Belgium, coveted the Congo, and got it...as a personal fiefdom.
Leopold "raped and pillaged" in the Congo for twenty years. Millions died from disease and Leopold's exploitation of the Congo basin's resources. It wasn't commerce, per se...it was theft.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, social reformers like Conrad and Conan-Doyle raised enough of an international stink to eliminate Leopold's hold on The Congo and have it handed over directly to the Belgian government in 1908, whereupon it was renamed The Belgian Congo.
The Congo achieved independence from Belgium in 1960 under Patrice Lumumba.
The Congo, with a population of 80 million people, capita Kinsasha, is a politically unstable place these days. There is good reason for our ship not to have stopped. Just yesterday an advisory calling for evacuation of all 'non essential' personnel was issued to US diplomats in Congo. But, notwithstanding our pass-by, Jampoler's lecture given 100 miles off Congo's shore, helped greatly to enhance our understanding the place we are visiting, Western Africa.
The official name of Congo is Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Jampoler advises his listeners to beware of any country that has word 'democratic' in its name. Its usually not so, he says.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer - 16 December 2018
Onboard lecture.
Andy Jampoler.
CONGO. THE MISERABLE EXPEDITIONS AND DREADFUL DEATH OF LT. EMORY TAUNT, USN
Lt. Emory Taunt, Usn, far right in image, alum of a successful USN expedition to Arctic, but notoriously a drunkard, was sent by President Chester A. Arthur to explore Congo basin in 1885. Purpose was to prepare a report to ascertain potential for US interests in the Congo.
Taunt was the solitary American on the mission up the Congo, supported by over a hundred African luggage bearers, some of whom had to lug crates of Taunt's Bordeaux St. Emilion up river.
Taunt's final report downplayed any value of the Congo region for US. He was decommissioned from the navy on his return to the US.
Taunt renewed his USN commission in 1888, but promptly went AWOL. He was found in New York City shacked up with a woman not his wife and promptly court martialed.
Because of an influential father-in-law, he avoided court martial in the end, but had to leave the Navy.
In 1889 Taunt applied for a diplomatic commercial position representing US in The Congo. Surprisingly, despite his recent AWOL incident, his application to become a US diplomat in Congo was accepted. Apparently, he was able to sell his "on the ground" experience in the region and convince authorities that his recent misbehavior was an aberration.
After a year on the job as a US diplomat in The Congo, Taunt, age 39, died, in 1889, of Yellow Fever. Due to the extended time it took for communication, Taunt never found out that he had, just a month before his death, been fired for incompetence and drunkenness.
Taunt was buried with full military honors, administered by the Portuguese, at Banana Bay, at the mouth of the Congo River. The place of his burial and remains have been lost to history.
Note: Sunday Brunch was quite the extravaganza in the Compass Rose Restaurant. I should have taken an image.
Addendum:
Like Japanese farmers at market, holding tightly to their belt purse.
“Hands-behind back” symbolizes I am not pulling out my wallet, maybe.
Panama,
Los Angeles, CA
Bishop,
Thanks for these wonderful photos and insights. At one time many years ago I tried to assist a Portuguese family to reclaim plantations on San Tome that had been expropriated—it soon proved to be a near impossible task with drugs and oil money all in the mix. I never did go to San Tome but learned a lot about the country in the process. Henry and I did travel to Lisbon to meet with family members for a few days. Henry was the translator and his Portuguese was very good. At the time Exxon (?) was reporting huge oil reserves in San Tome waters.
I spent considerable time in Angola and soon learned that the Portuguese had been excellent colonialists. The bureaucrats were for the most part extremely well trained. I was quite taken back when I visited the central bank and found that our 30 + million dollars was carefully accounted for and accrued interest was accurate to the last penny! They spoke excellent French and many spoke good English. Eduardo Dos Santos was fighting a civil war with Jonas Savimbi. The war had raged for some years. The Russians, Chinese and Cubans supported dos Santos and US and South Africa supported Savimbi. Dos Santos was the typical African thug stealing as much as possible and to hell with the people. Savimbi was indeed a charismatic leader and fighter who financed much of his operation with diamonds smuggled to Brazzaville and on to Israel and Europe. Dos Santos had the upper hand with control of the Angola's vast oil resources. Both dos Santos and Savimbi were also involved (on different sides) of conflicts going on in South Africa.
When I first arrived in Luanda sometime in the late eighties I was struck with the extreme poverty and lack of even modest infrastructure. I was impossible to walk even a city block without passing a citizen maimed by a landmine. It was a tragic sight! Luanda is built on the harbor. Across the bay there was a semblance of a very narrow barrier island or perhaps better a sand bar. There were beautiful beaches but no tourists to enjoy them. An enterprising local had set up a fish restaurant on the sand bar. Aside from the hotel it was really the only place to eat and his fish meals were quite good. There were only a couple of hotels—the better of the two was where practically all foreign visitors stayed. I got my usual room on the third floor looking out on the harbor and docks. I always chose the third floor since any incoming bullets would miss you unless you were dumb enough to stand at the window. From the third floor it would be possible to get out in an emergency.
There was martial law in Luanda and everyone had to be off the streets by 10:00 pm. At about that time small arms fire would start down at the harbor and docks and continue sporadically throughout the night. Some of the action was Savimbi partisans and the rest were bandits engaging dos Santos security people trying to protect the containers on the docks.
In general I would start an operation like this by first calling on the President but I was never ever able to meet with dos Santos. I did meet the minister of finance and a few other supposed politicians. Most importantly I did meet with the authorities at the Central Bank. They received me most cordially and readily acknowledged the debt showing me the meticulous bookkeeping entries for the debt. The senior officials were almost all women. They explained to me that there was no money due to the expenses of the war. I was pretty well informed on how much of the Angolan oil money was ending up in Switzerland and other off shore accounts so I was not too deterred by those comments. I met with the minister of Agriculture and proposed our assistance with subsistence farming if we could find a way to pay the debt. I met with the provincial governor of Cabinda. The governor was desended from Portuguese colonists. He was a staunch communist and supported by the Russians and Chinese. We hit it off and became good friends among other development projects we discussed was his favorite which was the defunct but famous Benguela Railway. Due to the civil war the railway was totallly shut down. It had provided East — West transportation from Zambia in the East to Cabinda on the West coast of Angola. Eventually about 2002 the Chinese put up +/- $ two billion to bring the railroad back to operation.
I digress here to comment on the Chinese investment in Africa—in the 80s and 90s when I was in Africa the Chinese were very active in
in supporting development projects across Africa. They built dams, hydropower plants, soccer stadiums, harbors, roads etc. It seems only recently has the US press given much attention to the huge sums spent by the Chinese in Africa and that thanks to Trumps focus on China. These projects always guaranteed a vote at the UN and were often tied to natural resources oil, minerals, timber etc.
Talking wild projects around the ministries got me noticed and it became apparent I was going to solve the debt problem one way or the other so they had to begin taking me seriously. During this period I met an older but quite attractive woman who was a United Nations envoy. Her name was Abe Selassie. Abe was somehow connected to the famous Ethiopian Selassie family. She seemed to have easy access to just about everyone but the president which led me to believe she also had access to him.. As I observed her I became convinced she was working for the Russians and possibly for the CIA. Her companion was also a highly placed UN official in Angola. We became good friends and she was very helpful. At some point she turned her driver over to me. He was a very bright enterprising young African with excellent English and relatives with important positions in the government. The next trip back I could not locate him—Abe professed no knowledge—those in the hotel with whom he was well acquainted also professed no knowledge and were extremely reluctant to even speak of him. I came to the conclusion that he had somehow somewhere crossed the wrong people—I never heard of him again.
At this point I had become a pretty well know foreigner in Luanda but was not making real progress in solving the debt problem. At one point the communist Portuguese governor of Cabinda arranged a meeting with several of the old line Portuguese land owners and business people that were still left in Angola following the Salazar Revolution of 1975. We discussed development projects and some of the businesses they were attempting to get underway. After lunch the conversation turned lighter to hunting, wildlife etc. I said Luanda does not appear to be a very safe place and they all agreed giving me some helpful tips on how to stay out of trouble. I asked do you carry hand guns and learned it was not allowed. Then one of them pulled up his pant-leg displaying a long rather thin knife strapped to his leg and a some of the others did the same. I should have asked where I could get one of those knives!
Back in New York I had a partner at Sullivan and Cromwell trying to track oil payments based on what we had learned about Sonangol in Angola and research in New York. Once back in New York I called the lawyers and researchers together to review our position. Our partner at S & C said they had discovered a Sonangol entity in Belgium loaded with cash—likely a front company for payments going to politicians etc. This entity was organized and controlled out of Stockholm. We blocked everything in the Belgium company and advised the Angolan Central Bank that we had found a way to repay the debt! We agreed to meet in Stockholm to discuss and find an equitable solution.
S & C arranged for one of Sweden’s finest law firms, Mannheimer Swartling, to represent us. It was dead winter in Stockholm—maybe January—temperatures near zero Fahrenheit. The Angolan Central Bank sent two of their top officers to represent them in the meetings—Helna, the general counsel and Lucinda, the chief economist. Lucinda seemed to have the leadership role. I was well acquainted with both of them having had several meetings with them over the past several months in Luanda. They were both excellent professionals—speaking very good English and French. I had great regard for both of them, we had become friends. The Belgium representative was an arrogant twit. Things went well the first day as we labored to put together an agreement. Clearly Lucinda and Helna had been sent to get a deal done. I felt so sorry for both of them with their very modest African dresses in this cold! They had both purchased coats—likely from used clothing dealer in Luanda who buys bales of used clothing. The coats were very out of style and much to light weight for these freezing temperatures.
The second day started well the Belgium twit suddenly decided he would not proceed. We all tried to convince him that it was his only option but his arrogance got the best of him and he stormed out of the meeting. We were all sitting there in dead silence and the suddenly Lucinda and Helna burst into tears. We decided to go back to the hotels—I was staying nearby at Stockholm’s finest, the Grand and the ladies were somewhere else with much more modest accomodations. I walked between them to the elevator an arm around each one as the tears flowed, I tried to comfort them and tell them that everything would work out.
As soon as I could I called S & C and we lowered the boom on the Belgium company—we told them we would take our money with or without an agreement and if they would not come along we would inform the rest of the world where they could also get paid. The next day the Belgian was contrite, muttering from time to time under his breath. I was very happy for Lucinda and Helna as their cheerful kind personalities showed bright again.
Angola case closed.
The Monk,
Gooseberry, UT
Steve - I loved your description of this hidden corner of the globe! It's interesting that Regent stopped here but not Liberia, which has the most intimate African relationship with the US. and has slowly been recovering from two civil wars and a devastating outbreak of Ebola (which may be the reason for not stopping). I have to admit, however, that there's not much to see or do there if you're not attending an ex-pat tennis or dinner party, which are now probably pretty infrequent!
Took a look at your itinerary - the three days at sea you just had explain how you got the time to cram our inboxes! Enjoy the rest of your cruise and have a great Christmas!
Airstream,
Santa Barbara, CA
Bishop boogies in Takedori, Ghana. Can't straighten image, but, wanted to include it for the record.