Journals of the Rev. James Frederick Schön and Mr. Samuel Crowther,

Crowther (circa 1807-1891), a Yoruba born in Nigeria, was captured by Moslem slavers before being freed by the Royal Navy.

'In 1841 Crowther was employed as interpreter for the ill-fated Niger expedition, which attempted to establish a model farm at Lokojo, at the confluence of the Niger and Benue, to demonstrate the benefits of 'Christianity, commerce and civilization'. There he formed a friendship with the German scholar J. F. Schön, with whom he wrote the account of the expedition published in 1843. The deaths of so many Europeans in the expedition appear to have convinced Crowther that Christianity could only be established in tropical Africa by Africans' (ODNB).