Liuli, formerly known as Sphinx Hafen (german: Sphinxhafen), is a settlement on the

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

n shore of

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fr ...

in the

Mbinga District Mbinga District is one of the five districts of the Ruvuma Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Njombe Region, to the east by Songea Rural District and Songea Urban District, to the south by Mozambique and to the west by Lake ...

of Ruvuma province. It is notable for being the site of the first naval action of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

The sphinx rocks

The settlement is distinguished on the lake shore by a

sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

-like series of 7 rocks lying offshore. The rocks indicate deep water, leading to its development by the Germans as a ship repair base. The Anglican missionary

William Percival Johnson William Percival Johnson (12 March 1854 in St Helens, Isle of Wight – October 1928 in Liuli, Tanganyika) was an Anglican missionary to Nyasaland. After education at Bedford School (1863–1873) and graduation from University College, Oxfor ...

described the rocks as follows:

1914–18: Sphinxhafen in the war on Lake Nyasa

On 13 August 1914, in the first naval action of World War I, the British lake steamer gunboat HMS ''Gwendolen'' caught the German armed steamer on a slipway at Sphinxhafen. The German steamship was named after the explorer

Hermann von Wissmann Hermann von Wissmann may refer to: * Hermann Wissmann (1853–1905), German explorer and administrator in Africa ** ''Hermann von Wissmann'' (steamship), a German steamer ** Hermann von Wissmann (ship, 1940), became in 1950 the Belgian Kamina * He ...

who raised funds for the vessel as an anti-slavery gunboat in 1890. HMS ''Gwendolen'' commenced bombarding the German port. The

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within ...

later attacked Sphinxhafen in May 1915.

The Liuli mission

Liuli was originally, as Sphinxhafen, a German mission. After World War I it became a mission station for the Universities' Mission to Central Africa. William Johnson is buried in the church there and regarded locally as a saint. The mission hospital, founded by the German mission, continues as St. Anne's Hospital, still the major health facility on the eastern lakeshore.

Liuli today

Liuli is today a stop on the lake ferry from

Mbamba Bay Mbamba Bay is a town in western Tanzania, lying on the eastern shore of Lake Malawi/Lake Nyasa. Port Mbamba Bay has an indentation in the otherwise straight profile of the lake and may be a potential port. Transport In October 2007, it was ...

, up the lakeshore as far as Liuli, and then across to the Malawi side of the lake.Philip Briggs ''Bradt Tanzania: With Zanzibar, Pemba & Mafia'' - 2006 - p555 "The MV Songea leaves Itungi at around 07.00 on Monday and Thursday and arrives at Mbamba Bay at midnight the same day, after stopping at Lupingu, Manda, Lundu, Nindai, njambe and Liuli. After arriving at Mbamba Bay, the Monday ferry returns"

References

{{reflist

External links

The German charity behind St. Anne's Hospital Liuli

The UK charity behind St. Anne's Hospital Liuli
Wards of Ruvuma Region Church of England missions