Chandler - Billy Bennett ran the steamer 'Kenia' on the route between Butiaba on Lake Albert and the Nile River port of Nimule in the early 1900s. This government launch carried mail, officials, and troops as well as passengers and poachers to and from the Lado Enclave. Bennett was nicknamed the "Admiral of the Nile Flotilla" by no less a personage than Winston Churchill. Unlike many nicknames in written history, this one seems to have been in widespread use at the time. Wistfully observing the huge profits being made from ivory, Bennett would often leave his ship and start hunting elephant. At first he would deviate only slightly from his government route and hunt ivory for just a day or two. He was remarkably unsuccessful, and the side trips only got him into trouble. Once, a district commissioner demanded to know the reason for a delay of several days in bringing the mail to Nimule. Bennett could hardly admit he was trying to poach ivory, even on the Belgian side of the river, so he made up a story about a swarm of safari ants taking over the ship. Nobody believed him, but he was given credit for his imagination and the DC let the matter drop. It's not like they were ever going to find any illegal ivory on Billy Bennett's ship. Bennett decided that the problem was his busy work schedule. There simply wasn't enough time to both run a steamer and make money from ivory. So he decided to quit the shipping business and devote himself full time to elephant hunting. He should have stuck with sailing. Bennett was a well-liked, amiable man and eager to please. He played the accordion and was considered sort of everybody's mascot. But he was not at all ready to successfully lead an expedition through savage, virtually uncharted territory. On his first lengthy safari into the Lado Enclave he got exactly one tusk in 3 months. That one was given to him by a friendly chief who apparently felt sorry for him. His second foray ended in disaster when the local Africans took him captive, robbed him of his guns and a considerable stockpile of ivory, and left him naked on the banks of the Nile. They captured him by a ruse, pretending to be ignorant of modern rifles until he obligingly showed them how to unload his entire magazine. Then they took him prisoner and killed all 14 of his porters. These Africans were reputed to be cannibals. Bennett got suspicious when his captors started feeding him well and insisted he take a bath every day. Fortunately an armed party of European hunters entered the district and Bennett was released. Bennett's friends among the elephant hunters chipped in to replenish his outfit - John Boyes for example gave him a .450 rifle. They also tried to school him in the finer arts of the game - Bob Foran, for one, went shooting elephant with him. It didn’t help. On his third trip by himself Bennett was robbed again, escaping with his life only by hiding in a swamp. Apparently a "glass-is-half-full" type of guy, he was preparing for a fourth trip in 1911 when he died of blackwater fever.

North has Bennitt

Adventurers - 1909 - Kampala - here I met Bennett, captain and engineer combined of the small steam launch "Kenya" then plying on Lake Albert ..….. Bennett - "the Admiral of the Nile Flotilla" he reminded me in many respects of Captain Kettle. He played the accordion like that famous hero of fiction, and they had a number of other traits in common ....... left captainship of "Kenya" and went elephant hunting - No success. ..... fire started by natives - after this unpleasant incident in his career as an elephant poacher, he did a lot of hunting, but eventually the poor  fellow died of blackwater in the Congo.              

Breath - has - William (Bill) Bennett, the engineer-commander of the Govt. steam launch 'Kenia' plying between Butiaba on the Lake Albert and Nimule on the Nile ........ Bill never overlooked any chances of poaching for ivory against the Belgians in the Lado Enclave.

Drumkey 1909 - Railway Dept. - Lake Steamers - Engineer, 1st - C. Bennitt

Uganda Journal - Vol 24, p. 217 - Ivory Poaching in the Lado Enclave by R.O. Collins - ……Poachers usually embarked for the Lado Enclave from Butiaba where they could count on aid and support from Bennett and Maulkinson of the Uganda Marine. Bennett, who was in charge of the steam launch 'Kenya' which plied between Lake Albert and Nimule, was known as 'the Admiral of the Nile Flotilla' and was himself a great poacher. On one occasion he tied up the 'Kenya' at a likely-looking spot on the Nile, converted his sailors into 'askaris', conscripted the native passengers as porters, and disappeared into the Enclave on a 14 day poaching safari. In return for a tusk Bennett would see that a hunter was put ashore wherever desired.

Leader14 - Chief Engineer, Lake Steamers, Kisumu

Colonial 1912 - Lake Steamers - Engineer

Red Book 1912 - C. Bennett - Kisumu

Red Book 1919 - C. Bennett - UR Marine Department - Kisumu

Red Book 1919 - Railway Dept. - Lake Steamer Chief Engineer

KAD 1922 - Chief Engineer, Marine Dept., Uganda Railway

Gazette - 6/2/1924 - Departure on Leave and Termination of appointment - C. Bennett - Chief Eng., Lake Steamers