SS Wolf
On board SS Wolf 1900
The ship was used for surveying work on the west coast of Africa, but was also involved in operations by the Schutztruppe, for example against the Hereros in German South West Africa (now Namibia).
Nightingale
Crew of the government ship "Nachtigal", cyanotype (reproduction of a photo in iron blue print)
The Nachtigal was a government steamer of the German colony Cameroon, from 1895 in use for navigational surveying tasks, probably also in the customs service or as a troop transport for the Protection force. Details are not yet known.
From May 1901 to January 23, 1902, the Nachtigal was in Germany for repairs. (Source: Wikipedia)
Gustav Nachtigal – African explorer and official of the German Empire.
In 1884, Bismarck appointed him Reich Commissioner for German West Africa and commissioned him to rebuild the territories and trading bases in German colonies On July 14, 1884, he placed Cameroon "under German protection." Following the signing of the treaties, revolts and protests broke out in all the claimed territories. (Source: Wikipedia)
Duala - Photographer
House of William Bell Photograph, Cameroon
William Mudisa Bell is mentioned as one of the indigenous photographers based in Cameroon for the period from 1890 to 1910.
In the Basel Mission archive, two photos are attributed to this photographer, who has stamped some of his photos with his own stamp.
King Bell
King Bell bottom right (blurred): King Bell Cameroon(?)
The photo collage on the right shows the king of the Duala people, Ndumbé Lobé (1839–1897), who was one of the signatories of the “protection treaty” with the German Empire.
At the time of Dr. Ipscher's stay in Cameroon, his son August Manga Ndumbe Bell (1851–1908) was King of the Duala, who valued good cooperation with the colonial administration but also protested against its brutal actions.
In 1902, he led a Cameroonian delegation to Germany to protest to the Kaiser against the measures of the colonial administration.
The photo on the left could be Rudolf Duala Manga Bell, grandson of Ndumbé Lobé and son of August Manga Ndumbe Bell.
He was king of the Duala from 1908 until his execution by the colonial authorities in 1914 and is considered a martyr for his resistance.