3-078-203 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Death of Mr. Frank James, killed by a wounded elephant in West Africa, 1890. 'Benito, where Mr. James and party landed; the late Mr. Frank James; tracking elephants in the jungle; the yacht Lancashire Witch...Mr. Frank Tinsly [sic] James...was killed by an elephant which had been shot at and wounded in the dense jungle, at a place called Beneto [in Gabon]...his friend Mr. Lort Phillips was the only person with him at the time; and it is believed that Mr. James must have been in the act of firing when he was transfixed by the elephant's tusk in the chest, death resulting in about an hour. Mr. Lort Phillips himself had a narrow escape, having been twice charged by the same elephant...[Frank James]...had won some distinction as a traveller and author of two interesting books of exploration and sport; one, "The Wild Tribes of the Soudan,"...the other, "The Unknown Horn of Africa," narrating a very daring but happily successful expedition into the Somali country...Mr. James only began yachting four years ago..."The Lancashire Witch," which he owned, had probably traversed more miles than any other yacht afloat, until his last cruise, on the West Coast of Africa, had such an unfortunate termination'. Portrait from a photograph by Mr. J. Edwards. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.