John Hanning Speke was the explorer who named the lake as Victoria, in 1858. He was the captain of an expedition with the goal to discover exactly that source, after rumours that a large lake existed in that part of Africa, a little inland from the coast of the horn.
Speke himself was in service as a soldier since he was 17, and saw combat in the first Anglo-Sikh war. (the second, and last, Anglo-Sikh war took place 3 years after the end of the first, in 1849, and resulted to the complete annexation of the Punjab to the British East-India company). Speke also was serving during the Crimean War, after returning from a first (and failed, one where he nearly was killed by natives) exploration in Africa in 1854.
An interesting story (and one published in his lifetime) is that during the second exploration, which ended with the discovery of the source of the Nile, Speke chose unwisely to not worry about his tent being infested with small black beetles and go to sleep while they were crawling over him. This resulted in one of the beetles entering his ear, and refusing to leave, even after some attempt to drown it with melted butter. The beetle reacted by moving further inside the ear, and in the end trying to dig inside the drum. In effect Speke panicked, and using a knife attempted to remove the insect, but only managed to kill it, and its remains caused a very serious infection..
Speke returned to Africa for a third expedition, of which he was the head this time. Following the conclusion of it he claimed that he navigated the continuous waters of the Nile up to its already known parts in Sudan.
I would like to ask if the following details are correct (cause i only saw them in wiki, and that cannot be trusted by itself) :
1) the beetle's remains stayed in Speke's ear for months (namy 6 months? according to Speke himself).
2) Speke announced the discovery of the source of the Nile in London, in a speech to the Royal Geographical Society in 1859. This led to a break-up of his relations with the up to then more prominent explorer and head of that expedition, Sir Richard Francis Burton.
3) Sir Richard Francis Burton managed to have a debate organised in the Royal Geography Society, in September of 1864, with the premise that Speke had not continually navigated the rivers from lake Victoria, and thus the question was not in reality settled in a scientific manner. But Speke died a day before that debate would take place, when he was 37, in an apparent hunting accident where he fell on his own rifle and was shot just above the heart. I want to ask if any research of note exists on that event, apart from the concurrent examination which led to the conclusion it was indeed an accident (and not a suicide).
Thanks in advance :D
