Both parties convened at Greenwich and then left Liverpool together on 8 March 1919 on the SS Anselm. At Madeira, Eddington and Cottingham embarked on SS Portugal for Principe, while Crommelin, and Davidson continued on the Anselm arriving at Para (now called Belem), on the 23 March.

Since they had time to spare they decided to continue the trip in the Anselm, another thousand miles up the Amazon to Manaus. Crommelin (1919) comments on ‘the luxurious forests of the Amazon, with their denizens of gorgeous plumage’ returning to Belem on the 8 April. From there they took a ship 580 miles east along the coast to Camocim and then the train, for the final 70 miles to Sobral, arriving on 30 April. At Sobral they were joined by an eclipse party from Washington and another from Brazil. 

The image of the Anselm above was painted by Norman Wilkinson in 1905, the year of the ship's launch. Operated by the Booth Line, the ship was sold to Argentina and renamed in 1922. Photograph courtesy of Graham Dolan.