PIONEER and HENRY REED paddle steamers

[aukepalmhof]

The Casement Report 1904 - Daniel J. Danielsen (Dollin)
Faces on fading photographs. Memories and fragments of stories about people a few generations back. Fading traces of lifetimes long passed, exposed to the relentless passing of time.
But sometimes it happens that the right eye hits the right traces. The thread is taken up and stories, much larger than ordinary memories indicate, roll out before our eyes.
This was the case when local historian, former trade unionist and politician, Óli Jacobsen, by the newspaper Sosialurin, was asked to write about people buried in Tórshavn's old cemetery. This resulted in a series of interesting articles called "Hendur ið sleptu" (Hands that lost the grip), where the individuals mentioned on the tombstones are described.
The most remarkable story was inspired by a tombstone with the inscription:
"D. J. Danielsen, Missionary. B. 25 June 1871. D. 16 October 1916. Worked in Congo from 1901 to 1903. A Fearless Christian Soldier."
Dollin
Daniel Jacob Danielsen, popularly referred to as "Dollin", is best known for his work as a preacher and missionary in the Faroe Islands in the beginning of the 20th century. He was one of the pioneers in the Faroese "Plymouth Brethren" congregation, which today is the largest Faroese Free Church. He traveled around the islands and held revivalist meetings and was a controversial figure of his time, known for his intensity and fiery mind. At his death, the newspaper Dimmalætting wrote: "In the early days he performed very strongly, but in recent years he became more moderate. He made the impression of a convinced Christian.”
Danielsen’s work on the Faroe Islands gave him both friends and enemies, as might be expected in times of change, and his quarrelsome character did not help the matter.
But it was not on the Faroes that Danielsen made his most significant fingerprints. As indicated on the tombstone, people knew that he had worked as a missionary in Congo, without granting it any particular attention. But when Óli Jacobsen started to trace his footsteps, a quite sensational story emerged, which uncovered D. J. Danielson's crucial role in events that changed the course of history.
The Congo Free State
As a result of European explorers mapping of Central Africa, an extensive colonization began of the huge territories. From 1885 to 1908, the Belgian king Leopold II had personal sovereignty over the Congo Free State - on the north bordering the former Portuguese enclave Kabinda and French Congo, along the river Tsjiloango – to the east bordering British and German East Africa and to the south bordering British Central Africa and Portuguese West Africa. This enormous area, about 2,252,800 km2, was an exclusive trading colony placed directly under King Leopold's personal control. The colony's exports included ivory, palm oil and coffee, as well as an extensive rubber production. The work was performed by forced labour, local tribesmen whose profits of the exports bordered the non-existent.
Missionaries
The faithful companion of colonisations at the time was Christian missionary activity, and the Free State of the Congo was no exception from the rule. An extensive mission in more than 100 locations, of which a large part was from Protestant missionary societies, soon emerged in the colony - and it was in one of these, the English Balolo Mission Station in Bonginda, that D. J. Danielsen arrived in 1901 to work as a missionary and skipper/engineer on the small mission paddle steamer "PIONEER" (the upper riverboat on the stamp).
D. J. Danielsen, who in his youth had no particular religious beliefs, was a rambunctious young man. 18 years old, he went to Scotland, where he was trained as a marine engineer. For some years, he sailed with English steamships and reportedly also had problems with alcohol. At the age of 27, he was however conversed at a Christian meeting in Glasgow, turned his back to the old life and, as already mentioned, went to Congo by his Christian conviction.
Atrocities against the People
As early as in the 1890's, stories of atrocities against the indigenous people of the Congo Free State started to leak out. Missionaries, journalists and a human rights organization, the Aboriginal Protection Society, reported about large-scale violation of human rights, but were completely ignored by King Leopold and his administration in Congo.
The Casement Report
In 1903 the stories of atrocities against the indigenous population were so extensive, that the English Parliament decided to send the British consul in Boma, Congo, the Irishman Roger Casement, up the Congo River to investigate the allegations.
I order to travel beyond the reach of the authorities, Roger Casement hired the old paddle steamer "HENRY REED" from the American Baptist Mission (the lower boat on the stamp). The Congo Balolo Mission made a skipper available for Casements travels - none other than Daniel J. Danielsen. Danielsen took Casement around the Congo River and its tributaries and functioned as well as skipper and engineer also as Casement's interpreter and assistant. Casement later praised Danielsen’s skills in a letter to the British Foreign Office and stated that without Danielsen's participation the trip would not have been as successful as it was.
The result of the expedition was the so-called "Casement Report," which in 1904 published a devastating criticism of King Leopold's Congo Administration. It included horrible stories of murder, maiming, kidnapping and violence against the indigenous population, conducted by the soldiers of the Administration. Based on the report, the British government demanded a review of the Berlin Agreement of 1885, where King Leopold had been granted the mandate of the colony. The Belgian Parliament forced Leopold to establish an independent commission of inquiry, which largely confirmed Casements observations.
Danielsen's legacy
After the Casement expedition, D. J. Danielsen went back to England, where he diligently tried to convince his mission agency, the Congo Balolo Mission, to openly criticize the situation in the Congo.
As the missionary society hesitated, Danielsen started a series of meetings in Scotland, showcasing slides of mutilated Congolese, which Danielsen himself had photographed. In this context, he was in close contact with the journalist E. D. Morel, another activist in the Congo case.
These meetings attracted so much attention that the Balolo mission immediately after started its own series of meetings, which in March 1904, after the publication of the Casement Report, led to the formation of the Congo Reform Association, which then continued the campaign. This started an outrage in Britain, Europe and the United States over the atrocities in the Congo Free State. Prominent figures such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain were also involved in the campaign.
This movement is credited for the fact that Leopold 2 in 1908 had to give up the Congo Free State as his personal property.
Jacobsen's research has revealed that it was Danielsen who made most of the original well-known photographs of mutilated Congolese, which other people have been credited for. These photographs were a crucial part of the success of the campaign.
It is quite clear that it was Danielsen's pressure that started the so-called Congo Reform Campaign, which led to these results. But Danielsen's role has been forgotten, and he has not yet been credited for his part of the story.
D. J. Danielsen never returned to Congo. In 1904 he moved back to the Faroe Islands with his wife Lina, whom he had married the same year - and started his preacher activities on the islands. He continued his work until his death in 1916 and was, as mentioned in the introduction, one of the pioneers in the Faroese Plymouth Brethren movement.
In connection with the stamp issue, Óli Jacobsen will publish a book in English about Daniel Jacob Danielsen, where his key role in the Congo case is documented with documents until recently unknown.
Anker Eli Petersen, Faroe Island Post web-site.
NB! The book "Atrocity Photographs and the Congo Reform Movement" by Óli Jacobsen can be ordered from Posta Stamps.

Could not find much information on the two paddle steamers depict, below is given what I found, more info welcome.
The first party of volunteers was left England in April 1889 and reached Matadi in August 1889, from where they trekked upstream to Stanley Pool. The society was given enough money to buy a sidepaddle steamer named the PIONEER, which was shipped to the Congo, arriving in December 1889. The boat was then carried in sections to Stanley Pool where it was rebuilt and launched. By March 1891, first using the HENRY REED and then the PIONEER, the CBM missionaries had established stations.at Bonginda, Lulonga, Ikau and Bongandanga. During the years that followed many of the missionaries died of accidents or diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness, to be replaced by fresh volunteers. Only six of the first thirty five CBM missionaries were alive by 1900.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo-Balolo_Mission

On the HENRY REED I found on various internet sites (she is the vessel in the foreground of the stamp):
Built as a sternwheeler by Forrest and Son, Limehouse, London, for the American Baptist Missionary Union.
April 1881 arrived disassembled at Stanley Pool, Congo, she floated late November 1881.
Dimensions given as length 70 feet beam 10.5 feet and a draught of 0.18 inch.
Could carry 6 tons of cargo.
Fitted out with two steam engines, speed 12 knots. Dry wood used as fuel for the boilers.
Fate unknown.

Faroe Islands 2014 25 Kr. Sg?, scott?