Thread by @Adxpillar

I recently just realized that the concluding part of Ayinde Barrister’s Agbara Iku medley is a song about the 1851 British bombardment of Lagos. An unforgettable event that shaped colonial engagement in Nigeria.

How did fun loving Lagosians become embroiled in a staggering battle with the British Navy?

Here's the short version history of Lagos: migrant fishing peoples first settled there, followed by a number of Awori from Isheri. A group of them settled at what is now Ebute Metta. There they established two settlements, Oto and Iddo, and soon attracted fresh migration

The Awori intermarried with the earlier inhabitants, learning navigation, fishing and other water-related skills from them. The assortment of settlements grew to become Lagos.

Portuguese sailors first started trading across the lagoon behind Lagos Island with the more prosperous Ijebu country. European traders would not visit 'Lago de Curamo' regularly until after 1760.

Throughout the 15-16th century, Bini (Edo) was the most powerful state across the River Niger. By mid of the century, the Portuguese had shifted their focus from Ijebu to the thriving Kingdom of Bini.

Around this period, Oba Orhogbua of Bini sent fleets of war canoes to attack Iddo (Lagos), an 8-10-day journey from Bini. He wanted to retain control of the European trade and also keep the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin Republic) in check.

The war camp that they established became known as ‘Eko’, however, Bini’s dominance in the region did not last. Around the turn of the 17th century, Oba Ehengbuda drowned while returning from an expedition on the lagoon east of Lagos.

Subsequently, Bini Obas were forbidden to command troops in battle, and the responsibility devolved to war chiefs, ending the king’s control of the military. Bini then appointed a viceroy to oversee Lagos.

During this period, Africa became firmly identified in the Western mind as the source of slave labor for New World plantations. The first black slaves introduced into Spanish America survived the climate there.

Thus the then regionally ‘insignificant’ town of Lagos was eventually transformed by the processes of change happening on the other side of the Atlantic. Lagos soon became a veritable slave emporium, alongside Badagry and Ouida.

In 1858, Lagos had a population of around 25,000. 90% were slaves. The remaining 10% owned them. Every ship docking in Lagos had to pay 7.4 slaves (equivalent to 126 ounces of gold) to the palace. When dealing with non-royal merchants like Madam Tinubu, the tax was 9.65 slaves.

One Portuguese trader named Domingo Martinez allegedly made between one to two million dollars from the slave trade. $1m in the 1800s! Rich motherfucker. He maintained a slave depot somewhere around Badagry. Others like Felix da Souza and Domingo Bello also amassed fortunes.

The rising Lagos oligarchs invested their new wealth from the slave trade “in ways that will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the passion of the Yoruba-speaking people for spectacle and display.”

Increased consumption of luxury goods, many of which were imported in exchange for slaves. Construction of new palaces, tiles, candles, glasses, silver-handled knives, musical instruments, and furniture. Lavish parties, week-long weddings.

The Scottish explorer Richard Lander, who encountered Oba Adele at Badagry described his appearance as “gorgeously arrayed in a scarlet cloak, literally covered with gold lace, and white cashmere trousers similarly embroidered...

and a hat “turned up in front with rich bands of gold lace, and decorated with a splendid plume of white ostrich feathers.” Basically, he saw the Oba in badass velvet Agbada in the 1800s.

So great was the Oba’s interest in clothing that he tried to import “four regimental coats” of the kind “worn by the King of England,” yet rejected a little-worn but unfashionable naval surgeon’s coat as “unworthy” of a monarch.

Stupid Oyinbo offered a surgeon's coat to a whole Oba of Lagos. Lol. Madam Tinubu rose as a major trader while she was Oba Adele’s wife, even though her greatest success occurred after his death.

As with all things in life, nothing lasts forever - In 1833, Great Britain resolved to abolish slavery and put an end to the Atlantic slave trade which had decimated West Africa for two and half centuries. Sommersett's case in 1772 changed everything but it dragged on painfully.

A West African Squadron was established to pursue slave ships and to impose anti-slavery treaties with West African coastal chiefs (the main suppliers in the Satanic trade).

Lagos was a particularly attractive area for the British who had pinned great hopes on the city as the main gateway to the vast, unexplored opportunities of the Yoruba interior like palm produce and cotton. The city cordially welcomed the different groups of slave buyers.

Lagos also offered an outlet into Abeokuta where the first missionaries had established themselves. They provided intelligence that Lagos stood in their way to developing trade in cotton across the Nigerian Savanna and other “legitimate trade”.

With the British designs unknown to them, the people of Lagos during this period were engulfed in a greater political problem of their own - due to a long-running succession dispute, Oba Kosoko ousted Oba Akitoye from the Lagos throne in 1845.

Both Kosoko and Akitoye were known master slave traders. The Lagos throne was/is a very juicy position. It granted access to stupendous wealth and a life of lavishness.

The now exiled Akitoye became desperate. He recognized the need for a British military alliance & promised to give up the slave trade if assistance were provided to put him back on the throne. He gave several assurances to British missionaries in at Abeokuta and Badagry.

His situation was helped by the equal desperation of the missionaries who wanted an ally on the throne. They struck up a partnership of convenience. Kosoko the ‘usurper’ was branded a notorious slave trader and opponent to legitimate trade and should be neutralized.

In that light, the missionaries represented him as an enemy to the British mission in Nigeria and went about lobbying Britain to invade Lagos. A British envoy even toured Badagry and Abeokuta, and he liked what he saw.

Akitoye & his lobbyists, however, found it difficult to persuade the Lords of the Admiralty to authorize naval action of doubtful legality in Lagos, since no British subject or property was endangered or detained in Lagos. The atmosphere in London at the time was 'cautious'.

But something was about to change. By 1839, groups of liberated Yoruba slaves began returning to their homeland through Sierra Leone. They were joined by freed slaves returning from Brazil in the aftermath of the 1835 Malê revolt. The Brazilian ex-slaves killed their masters.

Substantial numbers of the returnees were Christian, some had a basic Western education, and many made their living through trade. Among them was a certain Samuel Ajayi Crowther. These people hated the very existence of slavery. Survivors.

A leader of the Anglican mission Henry Venn executed a powerful PR coup by deploying Crowther (a son of the soil) to argue the case for British intervention in Lagos before Queen Victoria.

Bishop Crowther argued that if Lagos were placed under Akitoye and allied with England, British commercial interests would be guaranteed. Crowther's arguments were positively received by the Queen and the Lords of the Admiralty. Money is the root of all giant empires.

Thus, the plan was set in motion for the invasion of Lagos. But before doing that, the British thought to extend a hand of friendship to Kosoko, thinking maybe he's a simple man just mischaracterized by his opponents.

He, however, rejected the offer of friendship and declined to sign the treaty using the ingenious argument that Lagos was under Bini and the Oba of Bini should be persuaded to sign the treaty on his behalf. Lies.

The British threatened force and reminded Kosoko “that he does not hold his authority without a competitor, and that the chiefs of the African tribes do not always retain their authority to the end of their lives.” The African big man is a myth. They been know.

Rebuffed in this way, the British naval officers decided to use maximum force. The first naval attack on November 25, 1851, was led by a Commander Forbes who underestimated Oba Kosoko's defenses of about 5,000 men armed with swivel guns.

The Lagos defense was organized by a cunning tactician and legendary slave trader named Antonio Landuji Oshodi Tapa. He was a prince in Nupe land when Fulani warriors, invaded. They murdered his parents and sold him into slavery down south.

He rose above his tribulations and became a titled chief. He received structured training in international slave valuation & management, contract enforcement, credit protection, shipping & diplomatic relations at a slave business school in Bahia Brazil.

Commander Forbes attack party consisted of 306 officers, men, marines, and sailors aboard HMS Bloodhound along with 21 boats. Though the HMS Bloodhound sustained heavy fire from canons from the shore, a landing party went ashore but met very stiff resistance.

By nightfall, the British had sustained 2 casualties and 10 injuries and Commander Forbes ordered a retreat. Britain could not, however, allow defeat and humiliation to stand. Those people needed to be taught a hard painful lesson.

A second and much larger attack in late December 1851 by d British also encountered well-planned resistance. It was a sea-to-land battle. An embankment was dug 2 miles along Marina (which today is from Onikan to Apongbon) to provide excellent cover for d 5000 men firing muskets.

The larger warships, HMS Penelope and HMS Sampson with more lethal power stayed off Bar Beach, between Ahmadu Bello Way and Atlas Island because of the shallow waters in the Lagoon leading to the palace.

So the Royal Navy relied on HMS Bloodhound, HMS Taezer and numerous smaller boats from bigger warships. Balogun Antonio Landuji Oshodi Tapa anticipated this.

The more the impending battle was cut down to infantry-to-infantry combat, the more the chances of wiping out the British. But if the ships with their 32-pound caliber cannons were engaged, Lagos may not stand a chance.

Hence, double rows of spiked coconut tree stems were staked underwater to deny any ship or boat the required navigation depth. Other stakes were extended above sea level to form piles along the shore. On them were placed long-range cannons.

Sure of his strategy, on Christmas day 1851, Oshodi Tapa ordered shots fired at the British ships which had for weeks collected together under a white flag of truce to map out their strategy. Oshodi’s motive was to entice them quickly towards the waiting perdition.

The following morning, shortly after the British flotilla lead by HMS Bloodhound began to sail inwards to Lagos Island. At Onikan part of the Lagoon, Teazer was grounded due to the dry season, shallow depth and the low tide. Bad luck.

Oshodi’s forces went ballistic on her with a battery of two twelve pounders while the Taezer’s 32 pounders kept quiet. No point firing out of range, the closer the reach, the larger the impact. They were still sailing under a white flag.

By half past two in the afternoon, Captain Lyster quickly formed a landing party of 200 marines on eight smaller boats to spike the shore firing before Oshodi’s forces moved their long-range cannons close and inflict a fatal wound on Taezer.

By the time the marines landed with an overwhelming show of force, Oshodi forces ran away. But as the Yoruba say, agbo to fi eyin rin, agbara loo lo mu wa (A ram stepping back in the middle of a fight should not be mistaken as retreating but rallying fury and power).

The marines were ambushed and eventually, one officer and thirteen men were killed, four officers and over sixty men were wounded including Lieutenant Corbett. Advantage Lagos.

One of their boats was captured by Oshodi’s soldiers. It was the turn of the Royal marines to become the retreating ram. 5kms down the lagoon, around where today is the old Leventis store, HMS Bloodhound had run aground too & the other boats hit the first underwater ‘roadblock’.

A carpenter from a boat of HMS Sampson went neck deep in the water with an axe, hewing at the ‘roadblock’, Oshodi Tapa’s forces bombarded them with musket fire from the Marina embankment and cannon fire from the mangrove emplacements. It was a bad day for the Royal Navy.

Around 7 o’clock the following morning (December 27, 1851), the high tide came and freed both Bloodhound and Teazer from being stuck to mud to joined the fray. Luck eventually smiled at them.

The British forces knew that they were going to be defeated again if they went ashore to fight an infantry battle so they relied on artillery storm. Remember the unused 32 pounders?

The presence of their dead colleagues on board magnified the fury with which cannon and rocket fire left the ships, zapped through the town’s stockade, pierced people’s homes and exploded like a bomb of fire at the town square. The entire city was shrouded in flame.

The British consul, John Beecroft later remarked after surveying the intelligent design of Lagos fortification that if an engineer from the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich had been an adviser to Lagos, he couldn’t have done a better job.

In the dispatch to Buckingham Palace, Sir Francis Baring reported to the Queen: “The resistance appears to have been obstinate and directed with much skill…the loss amounted to fourteen killed and sixty-four wounded.”

Some of the Lagosians who escaped the inferno fled to the northern outskirts to form a settlement called Agidingbi – a description of the thunderous pounding of landing cannon. Imagine running from Lagos Island to Agidingbi in the Ikeja area.

Kosoko and Oshodi Tapa fled eastwards to Lekki. The defeated were encouraged to flee far from Lagos because the Royal Navy needed people to spread the news to the interior that there was a new force in town: The British.

The sailor who drove the HMS Bloodhound was a Yoruba man too, John Johns, who abhorred slavery and whom the Royal Navy relied on for his local geographical and maritime knowledge. The Captain Labulo Davies, a Yoruba & the pioneer of cocoa farming in West Africa, was also aboard.

Today, there is a memorial at St Ann’s Church, Portsmouth with the names of even West Africans who fought on the British side during the bombardment. There is no memorial in Lagos erected to the memory of Oshodi’s dead soldiers. We do not know their names nor how many they were.

On December 29, Akitoye and his followers marched into Lagos, the new Oba signed an agreement with the foreigners. The agreement made the king responsible for enforcing credit, if a loan remained unpaid, he should sell the debtor’s house or other property to liquidate it.

Almost immediately after the bombardment, more ships began coming to Lagos to buy palm oil and lesser exports. Ironically, the palm oil trade led to an increase in the number of domestic slaves in the interior. The human spirit is complex.

Not many were impressed by the repentance of the White man and the new position of trade. In Jan 1855, Madam Tinubu organized the assassination of the British Consul Robert Campbell when it became clear the British were truly serious about stamping out slavery in Lagos.

She decided to take pre-emptive action. Her financial prosperity and political power were what mattered, not the suffering of slaves or the inhumanity of slavery.

End. Here's the Barry song referenced in the opening (copyright belongs to Barrister/his record label). The description of the second battle was reproduced from this powerful piece by @Osoronga opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2016/04/14/vic…

Long thread, I know lol. Thanks for following.