John Hanning Speke questions about the height and extent of the lake could not be answered easily. Speke's eyes were still bothering him and he only saw a small part of the southern end of the lake and his view was blocked by islands in the lake so he could not judge the size of the lake well. However, Speke did estimate the elevation of Lake Victoria at 4000 feet by observing the temperature at which water boiled at that level. (This lake's being substantially higher than Lake Tanganyika did make it a more likely candidate for the source of the Nile.) From
George Speke brother, William, was descended the explorer John Hanning Speke George Speke George Speke (1623–1689) was an English politician. A Royalist during the English Civil War, after the Restoration (England) he became an early Whig supporter in Parliament. Speke was from Whitelackington, near Ilminster in Somerset; his parents were George Speke, and Joan, daughter of Sir John Portman. He became a ward of Sir Robert Pye, and later married his daughter. Speke gave financial support to Prince Rupert at Bridgwater; and when the town surrendered to Thomas Fairfax in July 1645 he was taken as a hostage and his goods sequestrated.