In the summer of 1853, Macgregor Laird, Esq., a merchant of London, long and extensively engaged in the West African trade, entered into a contract with Her Majesty's Government to fit out and send a small steamer to the river Niger, to ascend the stream to the confluence with the Tshadda, and then to explore that branch of the river. The object of the Expedition was to establish commercial relations with the native tribes: it was also hoped that Dr. Barth, the celebrated African traveller, would be met with in that part of the country. Her Majesty's Government was to appoint certain officers to accompany the Expedition, and Mr. Laird was to provide for trade and barter with the natives. The risk and main expense of the undertaking rested with Mr. Laird, who immediately made to the Committee of the Church Missionary Society, the generous offer of a free passage for the Rev. Samuel Crowther, if he might be allowed to accompany the Expedition. After communicating with Africa, and ascertaining Mr. Crowther's willingness to go, the Committee thankfully accepted Mr. Laird's offer. This act of liberality on the part of Mr. Laird, is only an additional proof of the lively interest which he has long taken in promoting the best interests of the natives of Africa.

Mr. Crowther had accompanied the former Niger Expedition in 1841, under Captain H. D. Trotter, R.N., of which an account was published by the Society, containing the journals of the Rev. C. F. Schön and Mr. Crowther. Another member of the present Expedition, Mr. Simon Jonas, a native Christian, had also accompanied the former, as an Interpreter.