[This document is annotation to the author's transcription of Charles Dickens's "The Lost Arctic Voyagers" (1854).]
"BRUCE . . . , or MUNGO PARK" is yet another reference that contemporary readers would have recognized. James Bruce (1730-94), born in Stirlingshire and educated at Harrow, served as Consul-General to Algiers (1763-65) before his exploration of the region that resulted in his being nicknamed "The Abyssinian." Travels to Discover the Sources of Nile (1790) recounts his voyages up the Nile, on the Red Sea, and Massawa in search of the headwaters of the Blue Nile. Bruce's countryman, Mungo Park (1771-1806), sailed as assistant surgeon aboard the Worcester for Sumatra in 1792. Working for the African Association from 1795, he learned native languages and explored the Niger, adventures he recounted in Travels in the Interior of Africa (1795).
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Related Materials
References
Chambers Biographical Dictionary, ed. Una McGovern. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2003.
Last modified 8 July 2004