The En Avant was a small steam launch used in the early days of European exploration of the Congo River basin.It was carried in sections past the cataracts of the lower Congo, reassembled at Stanley Pool (Pool Malebo) and launched in February 1881, the first powered vessel on the long navigable section between the cataracts and the Stanley Falls (Boyoma Falls).In the years that followed it played an important role in carrying the Europeans up and down the river and its tributaries as they established trading stations.