In 1881 the Mission was torn apart by a schism between Ross and Anderson that was to be a crucial link in the chain of events which led to the annexation by Britain of the territory from Calabar to the Niger.

[2] By 1864, Ross was a member of the United Presbyterian Church (Scotland), at Queen Street, Inverness and expressed his desire to attend college as a Gaelic student.

He was joined by William Anderson in 1849, who remained prominent at the station until 1891, and by Hugh Goldie who became the mission's leading Efik language scholar and translator.

Although small in numbers, the mission had an influence dis-proportionate to its size and was successful in obtaining the abolition of some of the barbaric customs of Calabar such as the murder of twin babies and the poison-bean (Physostigma venenosum) ordeal.

[7] During the next twenty months he built a new school house, removed the Ikunetu mission-house to Duke Town, and secured funds to renovate the church.

[9] Leaving on 30 January, he was accompanied on the boat trip by fellow missionary, Mrs Sutherland, and Prince James Eyamba, one of the leading chiefs and an elder in the church, with whom he had developed good relations.

They were guided by Yellow Duke, a major palm-oil trader who had connections with the Archibong family and a base at Odobo[6] The expedition travelled south from Duke Town on the Calabar River, entered the into the Qua River estuary, and passed through three long creeks, before crossing the Rio del Rey to reach the palm-oil town of Odobo, which was only re-discovered in 1885 by Swedish traders Georg Waldau [sv] and Knut Knutson [Wikidata].

[1][10] On both expeditions, Ross recorded detailed descriptions of the customs of Efut, including the structure of their society, the use of idols, and the rituals held at birth and death.

[12] Accompanied by Captain James Broom Walker F.R.G.S, the resident trade manager who had stayed in Old Calabar for many years and explored various parts of the country, Ross met the newly elected king of the blood-men, Assay Eyo, with whom he became very friendly and who later visited him at Duke Town.

Ross was saddened to find that the custom of killing for the dead using the poison-bean ordeal was still secretly practised in some places in Calabar, in spite of an agreement between the Chiefs and British Consul to prohibit the tradition.

Church in Ceres, Fife, about "how the gospel had won its way in these distant and benighted lands in the face of prejudice, ignorance and opposition", was told in "graphic and vigorous language and listened to with rapt attention".

[13] Between 1879 and 1881, growing tensions between Ross and Anderson developed into a schism involving the United Presbyterian Church, the British government, and local rulers within Old Calabar.

The letter described some of the activities of the Ekpe runners including one incident involving a pregnant women who had been flogged to death causing her to give birth, and another case of a woman killed by having her neck broken.

When asked to comment, Ross described the signatories as "murderous tyrants and oppressors whom he used to denounce for their wickedness and who trembled before him when he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgement to come".

[14] When Ross returned to Calabar in 1881, the antagonism between himself and Anderson came to a head and the Foreign Mission Committee dispatched a deputation to investigate the situation on the ground in December that year.

[15] He declined the invitation and tendered his resignation from the Ministry and immediately, supported by Prince James Embaya, set up his own independent mission taking with him five teachers and a substantial part of the congregation.