Dr. William Edward Dillon, Navy Surgeon in Livingstone's Africa
by Julia Turner

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“In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men.” -Cicero It was the 1860s, and slave traders were slipping across the seas between Zanzibar and Arabia. Irish surgeon Dr. William Edward Dillion hunted them down in British tall ships, tasked with the medical care for all on board - including rescued slaves from the captured trading vessels. When the great missionary David Livingstone went missing in central Africa in 1872, Dr. Dillon, grounded with a damaged ship, led the Livingstone East Coast Expedition as second-in-command. They marched 500 miles with badly needed medical supplies only to discover the worst: Livingstone was dead. This is the account of a man so intent on keeping people alive, he travelled across land and sea to do it. Dillon met his end in a tent in the middle of Africa. But the circumstances around his death are labelled suspicious and a new expedition in 2004 sets off to find the answers.

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Julia Turner was born in Dublin, Ireland. On completion of five years' post-secondary studies, she moved to Vancouver Island, Canada, for better job opportunities and soon joined the Science Staff of Port Alberni's Secondary School. She met her husband in the school staff room, married in Dublin and settled back in Port Alberni. Turner took her children on summer camping adventures exploring North America coast to coast. In 2004, she was part of the "Following the Dillon Trail Expedition" through Tanzania.

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Contributors

Author

Julia Turner

Narrator

Jean Gundersen

Illustrator

Diana Lytwyn