Simon Lucas

Simon Lucas was the first African explorer of the African Association . Just four days after the founding of this society in June 1788, its committee approached Simon Lucas to investigate Africa on their behalf. Lucas set out for Tripoli from England in August 1788 . He arrived there on October 25, 1788. He spoke Arabic and lived for three years as a slave in the service of Sultan Sidi Muhammad IV and, after his release, for a further 16 years as the British Vice-Consul in Morocco . At the time of his engagement, he was an oriental language interpreter for the British government. From Tripoli he set out on February 1, 1789 to Mesurata , 200 km to the east , from where he wanted to travel further inland. According to his own statement, however, due to unrest and the summer heat in the interior, he had to return by sea to Tripoli, from where he sailed to England on April 6, 1789. Friedrich Konrad Hornemann , a later traveler of the Association , who made this trip in summer, wrote in 1799 from Tripoli, where he also met Lucas at that time: "I don't know if the Committee believes his excuses for returning to England, or if they give them so little credit as I do. " ( Lit .: Sattin, 2003, p. 225). On July 26, 1789 he was back in England. His rather unsuccessful trip therefore lasted about ten months.

literature

• Anthony Sattin: The Gates of Africa: Death, Discovery and the Search for Timbuktu , HarperCollionsPublishers, London 2003, ISBN 0-00-712234-9