Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika. by Foden, Giles - 2004.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. First U.S. Edition Hardcover AS NEW in AS NEW DJ 8vo (6-1/2 x 9-1/2), 241 pp plus Bibliography and Catalogue of Vessels. Book is FINE -- unmarked, apparently unread, and AS NEW in AS NEW unclipped pictorial DJ protected in a Bro-Dart cover. (What appears to be pale tea or coffee stains on the cover is actually printed on, part of the artwork supposedly lending a rough-hewn appearance. (h) Mr Foden won the Whitbread Award for his previous book: "The Last King of Scotland" This is the story that inspired "The African Queen." Mimi and Toutou were two 40-foot mahogany gunboats and the oldest lieutenant commander in the British navy -- Geoffrey Spicer-Simpson was assigned command of a crew of what might be termed misfits and rejects to bring both 2,800 miles to Lake Tanganyika and there to sink the German ships including the 220 foot long Graf von Gotzen. Beautifully written, a story that is true, insane and comical. (i.e., Spicer-Simpson goes into battle wearing a skirt -- kilt -- and that, coupled with his tattoos convinced one tribe that he was a god.)If you think the events in the movie of "The African Queen" were bizarre or that Katherine Hepburn's later book describing her ability to actually survive the making of the film was strange, the true story has them both beat.