the Great Queen Street Chapel, London for Freeman and five other departing missionaries. The ceremony was officiated by the ministers, Bunting, Hannah, Alder, Beecham and Hoole. In the company of ten other persons, Freeman departed from Gravesend for the Gold Coast on 3 December 1840, aboard the brig, Osborne; his ship docked at Cape Coast on 1 February 1841. The passengers included Mrs. Hesk, Mrs. Shipman, together with Messrs. Watson, William Thackwray and Charles Walden. On the first Sunday of the New Year, “a delightful and happy Covenant Service” was held aboard the Osborne. In 1841, four out of twelve Methodist missionaries, died on Gold Coast from tropical fever. William Thackwray, the Wesleyan missionary assigned to Domonasi died at Anomabu after a short illness of eight days. Thackwray had previously been permitted by the chief of Ega to preach in the small town neighbouring Anomabo. Charles Walden died of fever on 29 July 1841. Mrs. Hesk died 28 August 1841 at Anomabo and was buried at the graveyard of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Cape Coast. Three other missionaries returned to Britain due to ill-health. From November to December 1841, Thomas Freeman and a large retinue of Fanti and Ashanti natives travelled to Kumasi and presented to the Asante king and the royal household, a four-wheeled carriage, built by one Mr. Sims and subsequently endorsed by Queen Victoria (ruled from 1837 to 1901) and Prince Albert, a table, twelve chairs, a table linen, dinner, breakfast and tea sets and a portrait of the Queen. Missionaries Shipman and Watson assumed supervision of the Cape Coast district in Freeman's absence. Freeman's second coming to Asante received a warm welcome, as he was in the company of two scions of the royal family, John Owusu-Ansa and William Owusu Kwantabisa, political hostages from one of the Anglo-Asante wars and the ensuring 1831 Treaty. The two princes had arrived on the ships of the famed Niger Expedition. Governor Maclean had sent the two royals to England where they were baptised and educated by the Anglican Church. The trio departed from Cape Coast on 6 November 1841 and arrived in Kumasi, five weeks (37 days) later, on 13 December. The Asantehene met them with enthusiasm. He was greatly pleased with the carriage gifts. He was also excited to see his nephews, who looked well-groomed and healthy and came to symbolise the value of an English education.