In 1878 Emin Pasha found it impossible to ascend the Bahr El Jebel from the south.
In 1879 and 1880 Marno (an Austrian) cleared the Bahr El Jebel of obstruction, completing his work in April, 1880.
In this same year Gessi Pasha undertook his disastrous journey in the Bahr El Ghazal, his steamer being blocked in that river for many weeks, and his expedition only being extricated by the timely arrival of another steamer under Marno, not, however, before he had lost many men.
In 1881 and 1884 the Bahr El Jebel was again closed by the sudd. During the period of Dervish rule nothing detailed was known regarding the state of the river, but in 1895 it was reported to the Intelligence Department that the White Nile was closed by the sudd. During this period the steamer “Mansurah” sank in the main channel in what is now known as the 15th block. The steamer was discovered during the Sudd operations of 1903-04.
As soon as possible after the battle of Omdurman (2nd September, 1898) steamers were sent up-stream to investigate. Major M. Peake attempted (7th October, 1898) to penetrate the Bahr El Jebel, but in vain. He steamed, however, up the Bahr El Ghazal nearly as far as Meshra el Rek. With Major Stanton he shortly afterwards steamed 157 miles up the Bahr El Zeraf, and was then stopped by shallow water.
In the following year, after a visit by Sir W. Garstin and Lt.-Col. Sparkes in the spring, operations for clearing the Bahr El Jebel were seriously undertaken, and Major Peake left Omdurman at the head of an expedition on 16th December, 1899. The party consisted of five gunboats, five English and some Egyptian officers, some British N.C.O.’s, 100 Sudanese, and a gang of 800 Dervish prisoners.
By the 27th March 1900, by means of hard and continuous labour, 14 blocks had been cleared out of 19, opening up 82 miles of river. Major Peake then avoided the remaining blocks by using side channels, arrived at Shambe, 25th April, 1900, and proceeded in clear water to Rejaf (5th May, 1900). Four (16th to 19th) out of the remaining five blocks were cleared by Lieutenant Drury, R.N., in January, 1901, and only the last one, the 15th, 22 miles long, and just south of Hellet El Nuer, still remained. It was considered, however, desirable to make renewed efforts to clear this block. Accordingly an expedition under the direction of Major G. E. Matthews was sent up in the winter of 1901-02, but did not succeed in completely opening the channel. The work of clearing this block was vastly increased owing to the entire absence of current. Nothing was done in 1902-03, but in 1903-04 Lieutenant Drury, late R.N., was again sent to renew the clearing operations. Practically no traces of Major Matthews’ work were discernible, and when, after dogged perseverance, the accomplishment of the task was well in sight the work had to be again reluctantly abandoned.
The false channel now in use is still liable to slight sudd-blocks, especially from April to June. A monthly steamer and other craft, however, keep the fairway open, as a ride, merely by their passage, and there is little or no danger of the channel being seriously blocked again.
Method of clearing.The following was the method employed by Major Peake in clearing the sudd:—
The first operation was to cut and burn the whole of the vegetation growing on the surface; this was done by a party of men with swords, fasses,[232] and axes. Immediately this was done the line to be taken up for the first channel, generally about 12 yards in length, was marked out; this was trenched by the Dervish prisoners armed with fasses, picks, axes and saws, into pieces 4 yards square. After cutting down about 1 foot from the surface the water infiltrated; the men continued cutting until, owing to the depth of the water, they were unable to get any deeper. Holdfasts of telegraph poles were then driven as far as they would go around the edge of each piece. After this a 1½ inch flexible steel wire hawser was sunk as deep as it would go by means of the pronged poles, all round the piece to be removed; the ends of it were made fast to the bullards in the bow of the gunboat, one on the starboard side and one on the port, leaving sufficient slack wire to allow the steamer to go astern some 20 to 30 yards before she got the strain; “full speed astern” was then ordered. Full speed was kept up continually if the piece showed any sign of becoming detached until it came gradually away; as soon as the piece was quite clear, one end of the hawser was cast off and the piece was allowed to float down the stream; the holdfasts were pulled out by means of a rope, one end of which was made fast to the bow of the steamer, and the other by a hitch to the end of the holdfast. If the piece showed no signs of coming away, the engines were reversed and the steamer was brought close up to the sudd and then went astern again. This was repeated again and again until the piece was detached. Some pieces were known to take as much as two hours to get away. Sometimes with very thin sudd, after it had been trenched, the steamer would be run up with her bow on to the sudd, and on going astern would carry the piece with her; also with light sudd a grapnel anchor fixed to the steamer when going astern was found sufficient to tear away the piece.