Today in History—November 10: The Search for Dr. Livingstone

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

With those words, journalist Henry Morton Stanley ended years of speculation concerning the whereabouts of David Livingstone, arguably Great Britain’s most famous explorer, who’d gone off the map while charting it in Africa.

Livingstone—widower, father, missionary—was about as famous in England as the Beatles would be someday. But even for Beatle-esque explorers, funds run out.

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That’s what led Livingstone to accept one more adventurous assignment: find the source of the Nile. He returned to Africa in 1866.

Some five years later, he was presumed dead.

In fact, he nearly was. He’d suffered from anemia, dysentery, and a bacterial infection. He’d lost teeth and considerable weight.

But he was alive, in a strange state of acceptance and captivity, supported by the very slave traders whose work he so vehemently opposed.

Stanley, a reporter for the New York Herald, had been sent on a specific, morbid assignment: confirm Livingstone’s death.

Well, Stanley failed. Spectacularly.

The same maladies that plagued Livingstone befell Stanley, including malaria and dysentery. Still, he assembled one of the largest expeditions Zanzibar had ever seen and set out for Ujiji, about 750 miles inland, chasing reports of a white man there.

Stanley wrote for the Herald’s readers: “If dead, I will find him and bring his bones to you.”

Meanwhile, Livingstone’s contentment soured. After witnessing a massacre, he fled on foot toward Ujiji, about 400 miles away. He was starving and nearly barefoot.

By October, both men were battered and bruised, approaching the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Livingstone reached Ujiji first, praying Britain had sent supplies.

Then Stanley waltzed into town with a loaded supply caravan, flying an American flag. According to his journal, the date was November 10, 1871. Livingstone thought the man might be French, despite the ensign. This was worrisome, as Livingstone didn’t speak French.

As Livingstone approached, Stanley spotted him and removed his helmet. “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” he asked, extending his hand in greeting.

(It was actually probably October, but given the traumas, we’ll forgive everyone involved for not keeping track of time.)

The two men spent the next few months together, first recovering, then exploring. Livingstone declined to return to London, determined to complete his assignment. The men parted fond friends.

Livingstone died in what is now Zambia in 1873; Stanley served as a pallbearer at his funeral.