On the 25th of September 1804 Mr. De Mist formally laid down his authority as commissioner-general so that the governor might be more free to act with vigour. The great question of the time was how to place the Colony in a condition for defence, as no one doubted that sooner or later it would be attacked by the English. Mr. De Mist did not profess to know anything of military matters, and thought that the governor, upon whom the responsibility would fall, should have sole authority, though they had worked together in perfect concord. There are many indications that they were both too far advanced in modern opinions to remain popular in this country much longer, unless they made large concessions to the sentiments of the colonists. General Janssens was the more flexible of the two. He was already beginning to see plainly that a body of people secluded from intercourse with Europe for more than a century could not be dealt with in the same manner as men who had lived in the whirl of the French revolution.Mr. De Mist resided at Stellenburg, close to Wynberg, from August to November 1804, when he removed to Maastricht, at the Tigerberg. On the 24th of February 1805 he embarked in the American ship Silenus, and on the following day sailed for the United States. So entirely was Dutch commerce driven from the seas that there was no other way by which he could return to Europe.

In January 1805 a post for the conveyance of letters and the Government Gazette was established between Cape Town and the various drostdies. A mail bag was conveyed weekly by post-riders to Stellenbosch and Tulbagh, and to the other drostdies whenever the government wished to send despatches. In this case farmers along the lines of road contracted to forward the bag from one station to another, and the landdrosts sent the letters and papers to the fieldcomets with the first convenience.

As the northern boundary proclaimed by Lord Macartney it not include all the occupied farms, and as in one place it was somewhat obscure, on the 20th of February 1805 the council rectified it by resolving that it should thenceforth be the Koussie or Buffalo river from its mouth to its source in the Koperberg, thence south-eastward in as nearly as possible a straight line-but following the mountains-to the junction of the Zak and Riet rivers, thence the Zak river to its source in the Nieuwveld mountains, thence the Nieuwveld mountains to the Sneeuwberg, and thence northeastward a line enclosing the Great Table mountain to the Zeekoe river at Plettenberg’s beacon. The eastern boundary as defined by Lord Macartney was not changed, though it was worded differently, namely, as the Zuurberg, thence a line along the western side of the Bamboesberg enclosing the Tarka and Kwadehoek and passing along the foot of the Tarka mountain through Kagaberg to the junction of th Baviaans’ and Fish rivers, and thence the Fish river to the sea.

It has already been stated that the high court of justice was independent of the executive and legislative branches of the government. It was intended that all the judges should be appointed in Holland, and should be removable only by the supreme authorities there. The full court was to consist of a president and six members. As one of the judges had not arrived, and as there was good reason to suppose that he would never reach South Africa, on the 6th of October 1803 the commissioner-general, with the concurrence of the governor and the council, appointed Mr. Jan Henoch Neethling, a doctor of laws, to the vacant place. The office of secretary to the, council, which he had previously held, was given to Mr. Jan Andries Truter. Mr. Gerrit Buyskes, the secretary’ to the high court, who was appointed in Holland, did not arrive until two years later.

The inferior courts were remodelled by an ordinance enacted by the governor and council in October 1805.

The landdrosts were to remain, as before, the chief representative of the supreme authority in their respective districts. They were to guard the rights of the inhabitants to personal freedom and possession of their property; to encourage industry, education, the extension of agriculture, and the improvement of cattle; to maintain peace and friendship with the aborigines beyond the border; to protect the Hottentots in their rights as a free people; to preserve forests, and encourage tree-planting; ‘to keep a record of land-grants of every kind, and to prevent the alienation of vacant ground to the prejudice of the public; to receive revenue; to take preparatory examinations in charges of crime; to cause deserters and vagrants to be arrested, and to send them, together with prisoners charged with the commission of serious offences, to Cape Town for trial; and to protect slaves from ill-treatment. Their power of inflicting punishment upon slaves was limited to imprisonment for six months, the infliction of a moderate number of lashes, or placing the culprit in chains. In cases of petty crime, for which the law provided penalties not exceeding fifty rix dollars the landdrosts were left at liberty to compound with the offenders without public trial. The office of auctioneer was separated from that of landdrost, and was attached to that of district secretary. Each landdrost was to be provided with a house, a garden, and a cattle run. He was to have a salary of two thousand five hundred rix-dollars a year, and was to be entitled to specified fees for certain duties. The landdrost of Stellenbosch was to have five hundred rix-dollars a year extra salary.

In each district there were to be six heemraden, selected from the most respectable and trustworthy burghers. The qualifications of these officers were the attainment of thirty years of age, residence in the district for three years, and the possession of freehold property or the occupation of a leasehold farm. They were to receive no salaries or emoluments, as their office was to be regarded as one of honour. On the formation of a new district the heemraden were to be appointed by the governor; but at the end of each succeeding year the two who had served longest were to retire, when the governor was to select their successors from a list of four names supplied by the board. A session of the court of landdrost and heemraden was to be held monthly in the districts of Stellenbosch and Tulbagh, quarterly in the other districts. The landdrost was to preside, except in case of unavoidable absence, when the senior heemraad was to take the chair. The landdrost and four heemraden were to form a quorum.

This court had jurisdiction in all disputes concerning the boundaries of farms and the impounding of cattle, all suits connected with auction sales, and all civil cases in which the amount contested was less than three hundred rix-dollars. There was a right of appeal from its decisions to that of the high court of justice in eases over the value of twenty-five rix-dollars. The landdrost and heemraden were to perform the duties of coroners. They had charge also of the highways, and generally of such matters as were carried out at the expense of the district. In their judicial capacity they were responsible only to the high court of justice, and criminal cases -were reported by them to the attorney-general. In all other matters they were responsible to the governor.

There was a very useful class of officers, termed field – comets, whose sphere of duty other than military had only been recognised of recent years, as they had gradually and almost imperceptibly taken the place of the corporals of militia and the veldwachters of earlier times. The ordinance of October 1805 gave them a better position than they had previously occupied. Every district was now divided into wards, none of which were to be of greater extent than could be ridden across by a man on horseback in six hours; in each of these wards there was to be a fieldcornet, nominated by the landdrost and appointed by the governor. He was to be a man of unblemished character over twenty five years of age, a resident for more than two years in the ward, and in possession of freehold property or in occupation of a leasehold farm. He was to be the representative of the landdrost, to maintain order and tranquillity to settle petty disputes, to keep a register of the people, to make new laws known, and generally to promote industry and whatever might tend to prosperity. He was to be free of district taxation, and was to have a farm without rent or twenty five rix-dollars a year.

For military purposes the fieldcornets were to call out and lead the burghers of their wards whenever required by the landdrost. The burghers were divided into three classes. The first to be called upon for personal service were those between sixteen and thirty years of age, next those between thirty and forty-five and lastly those between forty-five and sixty years of age. If all the men of a class were not needed, the unmarried and those without employment were to be called out before the others. Such as were not called upon for personal service were to be assessed to supply food, horses, and means of transport. When in the field, the several divisions of the burgher militia of each district were under the general orders either of the landdrost or of a commandant appointed by the governor, and the fieldcornets often had the title of captain conferred upon them. In this manner the whole European population of the colony was organised for military purposes

During recent years reports of various kinds had reached Cape Town concerning the settlements formed by agents of the London missionary society north of the Orange river, and as some of these reports were to the effect that a community hostile to the colony was growing up there, the government resolved to send a commission to inspect the settlements and obtain accurate information. The officers chosen for this purpose were Landdrost Van de Graaff, of Tulbagh, and Dr. Henry Lichtenstein, surgeon of the Hottentot corps. In May 1805 these gentlemen left Tulbagh, and travelling by way of Karoo Poort, reached the colonial boundary without difficulty. Along the route they heard numerous complaints of depredations by Bushmen, and ascertained that the arrangements made with these people in former years had completely failed in their object.

At the mission station on the Zak river they found the colonist Christiaan Botma in charge during the reverend Mr. Kicherer’s absence in Europe. The Bushmen gathered together here had dispersed as soon as the missionaries’ means of providing them with food failed, and only about forty individuals remained, most of whom were half-breeds that had from youth professed Christianity. Botma, the teacher, was a man of great zeal, and had expended a large portion of his private property in maintaining the station; but it seemed to the commission that the principles on winch the work was being conducted were decidedly wrong. Religious services were .frequently held, and were attended by everyone on the place. But industry was not enforced, and the habits of the people formed a striking contrast to those of the residents at the Moravian institution in the district of Stellenbosch. The mission was doing no harm politically or in any other way, though it appeared to be of very little service to the few people under its influence.

Here a party of farmers joined the travellers as an escort, making the whole number up to eight Europeans, twelve Hottentots, and five slaves. On the southern bank of the Orange a horde of Kosas was met, under two near relatives of the chief Ndlambe who had wandered away from their own country.

The Orange was crossed at Prieska Drift. On its northern bank the missionaries Vanderlingen and Jan Kock were met, journeying from the Batlapin country towards the Cape. Kock, who understood the Setshuana language was easily persuaded to send his family on to the station at the Zak river, and return with the commission.

At Lauw-waters-kloof which was reached on the same day, a number of half-breeds and Koranas were found. Here two more missionaries Koster and Janssen by name were met returning from the Batlapin country, having abandoned the work there. Lauw-waters-kloof was ascertained to be one of six mission villages inhabited by half- breeds and Koranas, with several Namaquas and a few blacks and Hottentots from the Cape Colony. The other five were Rietfontein, Witwater, Taaiboschfontein Leeuwen kuil, and Ongeuksfontein. In these villages nearly a thousand people were living, many of whom were half-breeds that had been wandering along the southern bank of the Orange for fifteen or twenty years, before the missionaries induced them to settle down to receive instruction. Among them were also several individuals who had grown up in the families of colonists These had always worn European clothing, and were baptized professors of Christianity before the arrival of the missionaries.

The district in which the villages were situated – [since 1880 the colonial division of Hay] had from time immemorial been occupied by Koranas and Bushmen, who were at bitter feud with each other. The half-breeds, Namaquas and colonial Hottentots were recent immigrants who had come in with the missionaries. Smallpox in a mild form was prevalent among the people, and was said to have been brought from the north, but how or when was not ascertained. It had been unknown in the Cape Colony since 1769, and most likely had spread overland from Delagoa Bay.

At Leeuwenkuil the missionary Anderson was then residing. The travellers were greatly impressed with his devotion to his work, and with the exemplary life he was leading. He and Mr. Kramer were the only white men living in the district, the others who had formerly assisted them having retired from that field.

The commission found that nothing was to be feared from this settlement. Mr. Anderson regarded himself as subject to the colonial government, and the half-breeds, who gained their subsistence chiefly by hunting, were so dependent upon Europeans for ammunition and other necessaries that their engaging in hostilities was out of the question.
From Ongeluksfontein, the farthest of the six villages to the north, the travellers set out for the Batlapin country. Since the journey of Messrs. Truter and Somerville to Lithako in 1801, a good deal had been heard of the Betshuana, but the different accounts by no means agreed. Among those who supplied information was the reverend Mr. Edwards. This missionary, who might be supposed to know more than any other European about the Batlapin, left the Kuruman river towards the close of 1803, and visited Cape Town, where he gave the government a description in writing of the people he had been living with, some portions of which could only be regarded as fabulous. For instance, he stated that they regarded his wife as a goddess, and offered him a great number of cattle for a daughter born at Molehabangwe’s kraal. In March 1805 he wished to return, but the council declined to give him permission and shortly afterwards Messrs. Van de Graaff and Lichtenstein were instructed to include the Batlapin country in their tour.

A little beyond Ongeluksfontein the travellers met a waggon containing the families of two half-breed brothers named Jantje and David Bergover, who had been in Jan Kock’s service on the Kururman river. They had left the Kururman with a view of following Kock to the mission station on the Zak river, but had been attacked on the way by Bushmen, and the two men and one little girl had been murdered. The party from the south arrived just in time’ to rescue the other children and the women.

In the valley of the Kuruman the first Batlapin were found. The principal kraal of Molehabangwe was then only a short distance from the spot where that stream issues with great force from a cavern. The kraal was found to consist of five or six hundred huts, and to contain about five thousand people. The year after Messrs. Truter and Somerville’s visit, the Barolong under Makraki had separated from the Batlapin, and had moved away to the neighbourhood of their kinsmen in the north. This migration reduced the kraal to one-third of its former size. The commission was received in a friendly manner by the old chief Mlolehabangwe, and by his sons Mothibi, Telekela, Molimo, and Molala. There were no missionaries remaining on the Kuruman, all who had been there having left for the Colony; but it was Jan Kock’s intention to return. The commission could not ascertain that any of them except Kook had made the slightest impression upon the people, and what benefit had been derived from his teaching was in an improved method of tilling the ground, not in the adoption of Christianity.

Of the Betshuana tribes to the north – the Barolong, Bahurutsi, Bangwaketsi, Bakwena and others which have since disappeared – some information was gathered, but it was not very reliable. The existence of slavery among these tribes, which was not suspected by Messrs. Truter and Somerville, was proved beyond all doubt. In fact two boys were offered for sale to the commission at the price of a sheep each. But the abject state in which the slaves were living at a distance from the principal kraal was not made known until some years later.

The Kuruman was the farthest point reached by the expedition. During the return journey nothing occurred that was of more than passing interest, and the travellers arrived safely at Tulbagh again after an absence of three months.

Henry Fynn

Pioneer, Trader and Authority on the Zulu’s.(born in Fleet Street, London, Eng., 29.3.1803 – died in Durban, 20.9.1861), Natal pioneer, trader, authority on the Zulus and government official, was the son of Henry Francis Fynn, who traded between Britain and the Dutch East Indies and came to South Africa by chance. Little else is known of Fynn’s antecedents. He was educated at , London (the ‘Blue-coat school’), where, among other things, he acquired a rudimentary knowledge of medicine and surgery; this was to stand him in good stead in his future relations with the Zulus.

He joined his father in Cape Town in 1818 and in the same year went to Algoa bay, where he remained until 1822, when he returned to Cape Town. In 1823 he proceeded to Delagoa Bay as the supercargo of a commercial speculation for H. Nourse and Co., of Cape Town. He was mainly interested in trade, but also saw in the expedition an opportunity to observe the manners and customs of the inhabitants of the north. At Delagoa Bay he met Lt F. G. Farewell, and it was during the course of a journey up the Maputa (Usutu) river that he first heard of the Zulu king, Shaka, and of his military feats.

With Farewell he planned to establish a trading station at Port Natal with the object of sharing with the Portuguese the profitable ivory trade of Natal and Zululand, for, as a result of his trip to Delagoa Bay, Fynn had been able to confirm Farewell’s theory that the Portuguese obtained their main supplies of ivory from native sources.

With a party of Europeans and Hottentots Henry reached Natal in the Julia in May 1824, and it was not long before he had erected the first habitable shelters where Durban now stands. Six weeks after arriving he was joined by Farewell and together they proceeded through hostile territory to Shaka at his Bulawayo kraal (near the present town of Eshowe), this reputedly being the first time that the Zulu king had seen a white man. Henry remained at the kraal when Farewell returned to the Bay and, after an attempt on Shaka’s life, he was able to restore the chief to health. Fynn’s ministrations secured for the whites at the port a concession of land thirty miles in length and one hundred miles in width. Although Farewell was the moving commercial spirit among the whites, the security they enjoyed was primarily due to Fynn’s tact and diplomacy.

Thereafter Henry frequently visited Shaka at his kraal and was present when the king’s mother, Nandi, died in 1827. He witnessed the extraordinary massacre which followed this event and his safety was solely due to his friendship with Shaka. Since Fynn possessed a gun, his services were very much in demand. On one or two occasions he was compelled to accompany Shaka’s warriors when on their way to attack other tribes in the vicinity.

His interest was not confined to Zululand and, at the conclusion of his negotiations with Shaka, he set off on an expedition to Pondoland and eventually got as far as the Umtata river. His ostensible object was to find where ivory could be obtained, but he was also very interested in becoming better acquainted with the native languages and customs. At the end of an expedition of nine months (during the course of which he saw what remained of the wreck of the Grosvenor), he returned to the port with a vast knowledge of the native tribes of Natal.

On his return he became intimate friends with Nathaniel Isaacs on account of their similar trading interests, and at the Bay he took under his protection many starving and homeless natives who had been victims of Shaka’s wrath. In this way he earned for himself the Bantu appellation of ‘Mbuyazi’ (‘The man who comes back with the whole thing summed up’), and, according to Fynn himself, ‘Father of the people’. These natives he eventually formed into a tribe which he called the iziNkumbi (‘Locusts’) and who later settled in the present Umzinto district. After the assassination of Shaka in September 1828, and the accession to power of Dingane, the position of the whites at the bay became precarious in the extreme, the new chief being hostile to them and to their trade. Regardless of danger Fynn remained on at the Bay until the Zulu army was ordered to attack him, which it eventually did south of the present town of Port Shepstone, a large number of his party being killed. Nothing daunted, he followed the Zulus back to Dingane, with whom he remonstrated, being presented with a solatium of one hundred cattle. In 1834 he left Natal, as his services were required in the Cape Colony. He entered the government service as headquarters interpreter to Sir Benjamin D’Urban during the Sixth Frontier War (1834-35). From 1837 to 1849 he filled the office of diplomatic agent at Tarka Post on the upper Swart Kei, having, in August 1842, been appointed by Sir George Napier as justice of the peace for the district of Cradock. In 1849 he became British resident with the Mpondo chief, Faku, remaining with him for three years.

Fynn returned to Natal in 1852, being appointed by the Natal government to the post of assistant magistrate at Pietermaritzburg. In May 1856 he was designated resident magistrate of lower Umkomazi, but shortly afterwards retired from active life because of ill-health.

For the remainder of his life he lived on the Bluff (Fynnlands), near Durban, in sight of the locality which had brought him so much adventure. He died there, a greatly disappointed man because of the Natal government’s refusal to recognize his just claim to a free grant of land. Until his death he was regarded both in and out of Natal as the final authority on matters relating to the natives of Natal, and it was said by many that his knowledge of the Natal tribes was even greater than that of Theophilus Shepstone. His evidence before the Natal native affairs commission of 1852 was particularly valuable as it contained, for example, a complete list of all the Natal tribes before they were dispersed by the raids of Shaka.

Perhaps even more important than mere knowledge was the fact that Fynn possessed a literary turn of mind. Soon after his first arrival in Natal he set down on paper his impressions of the Zulu and other tribes then inhabiting the territory. He made extensive notes on his travels but seemed to concentrate mostly on observations of tribal beliefs and customs; he remains the accepted source for Zulu social lore of the time. After losing his original notes (they were buried with his brother, Frank), he began his memoirs again in 1830, and this time took great care that his jottings were preserved. During his enforced retirement he set about the task of sorting out his voluminous notes. By 1834 he had composed a few chapters of what was to be a history of Natal (the first such attempt), but the work was sketchy and haphazard. With the help of several assistants he devoted his time, during the years 1859 to 1861, to supplementing his jottings, but even then no single narrative was written and many gaps remained.

After his death his accumulated papers were drawn on extensively by J. C. Chase in his Natal papers, by Bishop J. W. Colenso (Ten weeks in Natal), and by John Bird for The annals of Natal. After various vicissitudes the papers, including a fragmentary diary which was eventually edited and published in 1950, came into the possession of the Natal archives, Pietermaritzburg, in 1961. They are a most important source, covering native lore and a wide field of experience, and are a storehouse of knowledge on all aspects of native life in Natal in the early days before the arrival of the Voortrekkers and the British administration.

Fynn has been described as perhaps the most human figure among the founders of Natal. By his courage (he was only twenty-one when he confronted Shaka) and his unfailing good temper, to say nothing of his humanity, he did much to persuade the Natal natives of the white man’s good faith. Through unceasing activity and steady determination he helped particularly to lay the foundations of British, and of white interests, generally, in Natal. It is justifiable, therefore, that he is commonly known as ‘the first Natalian’.

Fynn was apparently married twice. His first wife, named Ann, died on 30.6.1839 on the Swart Kei while he was serving at Tarka Post. In 1841 he married Christina Brown at Grahamstown. His son, also named Henry Francis Fynn (1846-1915), afterwards became British resident to Cetshwayo in January 1883 and kept the Fynn papers in his possession during his life. Fynn’s father and three of his brothers lived in Natal with him; his father died near Isipingo, and his brother, Francis (Frank), some time before 1830, in the present district of Port Shepstone. Another brother, William MacDowell Fynn, was in Natal from 1828 and after 1834 served as an official in various capacities in British Kaffraria and the Transkei ; the third brother, Alfred Fynn, is merely mentioned as having shared the early years of their residence in Natal.

A portrait of Fynn at the age of forty-one, drawn by C. D. Bell in 1844 at Tarka Post, appears as the frontispiece in his published diary; a photograph is to be found in the Natal archives, Pietermaritzburg, and was reproduced in B. I. Buchanan’s Natal memories (Pietermaritzburg, 1941). A small photograph was also reproduced in E. C.

Chubb’s Natal centenary, 1824-1924 (Durban [1924]).

Source: Dictionary of South African Biography and British Settlers in Natal Volume 6, by Shelagh Byrne Spencer

Picture of Henry Fynn : Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa

Chaka Zulu

Picture of Chaka Zulu : National Archives

Cullinan Mine

CULLINAN, Gauteng. Originally as Mining township with a railway station, near the Premier Mine, in the district of Cullinan, 30 miles (48 km) by rail and 21 miles (34 km) by road east of Pretoria. It is the terminus of a branch railway that joins the main line to Delagoa Bay at Rayton. It was founded in 1902 on a portion of the farm Elandsfontein and named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, who opened up the Premier Mine. During the Second World War the farm Zonderwater, near the mine, was used as a military training centre, with a large camp for prisoners of war, especially Italians. The Zonderwater work Colony in Cullinan was one of the original treatment clinics for Alcoholics Anonymous was opened there in 1947 and renamed to become Magaliesoord in 1964. The also used to be a big rehabilitation centre for alcoholics and a hospital for tuberculosis.

District of Cullinan
District. Area 1,265 sq miles (3 ,176 sq km). The magisterial district was proclaimed on 27 Aug. 1965, having been until then part of the district of Bronkhorstspruit. In the west it has common borders with Pretoria and Warmbaths, in the east with Bronkhorstspruit and Groblersdal, while it borders on Waterberg in the north. Besides the main town of Cullinan with the Premier Mine, it includes centres like Donkerhoek, Bynespoort, Rayton and Sonderwater. The Elands and Kameel Rivers run through the district, which produced only 35,000 bags of maize in 1965/6 and possessed roughly 14,000 head of cattle and 14,000 sheep.

The Union-Castle Line, famed for its lavender hulled liners that sailed between Southampton and South Africa, began as two separate companies – the Union Line and Castle Line.

Search for passenger lists right here.

In 1853, the Union Steamship Company was founded as the Union Steam Collier to carry coal from South Wales to meet the growing demand in Southampton. It was originally named the Southampton Steam Shipping Company, but later renamed Union Steam Collier Company. The first steamship, the Union, loaded coal in Cardiff in June 1854 but the outbreak of the Crimean War slowed things down. After the war the company was reconstituted as the Union Steamship Company and began chartering its ships.

In 1857 the company was re-registered as Union Line, with Southampton as head office. That same year, the British Admiralty invited tenders for the mail contract to the Cape and Natal. Union Line was awarded the contract with monthly sailings in each direction of not more than 42 days, sailing from Plymouth to Cape Town or Simon’s Town. The five year contract was signed on the 12th September under the name Union-Steam Ship Company Ltd. The first sailing was from Southampton on the 15th September by the Dane.

Union Line built its first ship for the South African run and in October 1860 the Cambrian left Southampton on its maiden voyage. She could carry 60 first class and 40 second class passengers. In September 1871, bound for the cape, she ran out of coal but, under sail, completed the voyage from Southampton in less than 42 days.

By 1863 Donald Currie had built up a fleet of four sailing ships which passed the Cape on the Liverpool-Calcutta run. This company was the Castle Packet Company and was successful until the Suez Canal opened in 1869. By this time, Donald had acquired shares in the Leith, Hull and Hamburg Packet Company where his brother James was manager. The LH & H Packet Co. chartered two ships, Iceland and Gothland, to the Cape & Natal Steam Navigation Co. but this company failed. Donald then used three new Castle steamships intended for the Calcutta run on the Cape run. The ships sailed twice monthly from London with a call at Dartmouth for the mail.

In 1872 the Castle Packet Company took on the Cape run after the collapse of the Cape & Natal Line which had Currie ships on charter. Sailing from London, the ships called at Dartmouth. The service was sold under the banner “The Regular London Line”, later becoming “The Colonial Mail Line” and then “The Castle Mail Packet Company Limited”.

In 1873 Union Line signed a new mail contract including a four weekly service up the east coast of Africa from Cape Town to Zanzibar.
In 1876 the Castle Mail Packet Company Ltd was formed. Later that year, the Colonial Government awarded a joint mail contract. The service to the Cape became weekly by alternating steamers.

In 1882 the Union-Line Athenian became the first ship to use the new Sir Hercules Robinson graving dock at Cape Town. This was constructed of Paarl granite and was named after the Governor of South Africa.

In 1883 the South African Shipping Conference was formed to control the Europe -South / East Africa freight rates. The Conference was dominated by the Union Line and the Castle Mail Packet Company. Fierce rivalry between the two mail companies dominated the route until the merger in 1900. A seven year joint mail contract was signed with the clause that the companies not amalgamate.

In 1887, tickets became interchangeable on the two lines, and in 1888, the mail contract was renewed for five years (with the non-amalgamation clause).

In May 1887 the Dunbar Castle sailed from London with the first consignment of railway equipment to link the Eastern Transvaal with Delagoa Bay. The railway line was opened in 1894.

In 1890 Castle Packet’s new Dunottar Castle sailed from Southampton on her maiden voyage. It reduced the voyage to 18 days, and embarkation was switched from Dartmouth to Southampton. She had accommodation for 100 first class, 90 second class, 100 third class and 150 steerage passengers.
In 1890 Union Line’s Norseman and Tyrian, together with Courland and Venice from the Castle Packet Company began shipping supplies for transporting up river to Matebeleland. These materials were used to open up the new country of Rhodesia.

In 1891 Union Line’s Scott left Southampton on her maiden voyage reaching Cape Town in 15½ days with a stop in Madeira. In March 1893 the same ship set a new Cape run record of 14 days, 18 hours – a record which stood for 43 years. It was also in 1891 that the Castle Line replaced its Dartmouth call with one at Southampton. The Union Line now operated 10 steamships and the Castle Mail Packets Co. (renamed in 1881) operated 11 on the mail run. Both companies operated connecting coastal services to Lourenco Marques, Beira and Mauritius.

In 1893, both Union and Castle Lines began a joint cargo service from South Africa to New York. The mail contract was renewed, again with the non-amalgamation clause.
In October 1899 the Anglo-Boer War broke out. Both Union Line and Castle Packet ships ferried troops and supplies to South Africa. In late 1899, a new mail contract was offered but only one company could win the award. This led to the merger proposed by Donald. It was announced in December 1899 and Castle Line took over the fleet. The Union Line livery was black with a white riband around the hull but in 1892 this was changed to a white hull with blue riband and cream-coloured funnels. The Castle ships had a lavender-grey hull with black-topped red funnels, and this was adopted as the livery for the Union-Castle Line.

On the 13th February 1900, shareholders approved the merger. On the 8th March the merged company name was registered – Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company Ltd.
At the time of the merger, the Union Steamship fleet included the:
Arab
Trojan
Spartan
Moor
Mexican
Scot
Gaul
Goth
Greek
Guelph
Norman
Briton
Gascon
Gaika
Goorkka
German
Sabine
Susuehanna
Galeka
Saxon
Galician
Celt (on order)

The Castle Line Mail Packet Company ships included the:
Garth Castle
Hawarden Castle
Norham Castle
Roslin Castle
Pembroke Castle
Dunottar Castle
Doune Castle
Lismore Castle
Tantallon Castle
Harlech Castle
Arundel Castle
Dunvegan Castle
Tintagel Castle
Avondale Castle
Dunolly Castle
Raglan Castle
Carisbrooke Castle
Braemar Castle
Kinfauns Castle
Kildonoan Castle

Sailings from London were stopped, and the completed Celt launched as the Walmer Castle.

On the 10th March 1900, Union Line’s Moor left Southampton for the last time in Union colours. On the 17th March Donald Currie hosted a reception aboard the Dunottar Castle to celebrate the hoisting of the Union-Castle flag for the first time. The Anglo-Boer War resulted in heavy military traffic for Union-Castle Line. Lord ROBERTS and his Chief of Staff, General KITCHENER, travelled to the Cape by Union-Castle.

In 1901 the Tantallon Castle was lost off Robben Island. In 1902, after the war had ended, 15 ships were laid up at Netley in Southampton Water. Nine ships undertook the weekly mail service – Saxon, Briton, Norman, Walmer Castle, Carisbrooke Castle, Dunvegan Castle, Kildonan Castle and Kinfauns Castle.

In 1910, Lord GLADSTONE, the first Governor-General of South Africa, sailed to the Cape aboard the Walmer Castle. The 1900 mail contract was extended until 1912, as the colonies united and the South African Parliament was formed under the Union of South Africa. The Prince of Wales was to sail to Cape Town, to open the new Parliament, aboard the Balmoral Castle – taken over by the Admiralty for the purpose as H.M.S. Balmoral Castle. Shortly before the ship sailed King Edward VII died and the Prince of Wales ascended the throne as H.M. King George V. He was not able to go to Cape Town and his brother, the Duke of Connaught, was sent instead.

In 1911 the Royal Mail Line bought the Union-Castle Company, taking control in April 1912. A new ten year mail contract was signed. The first new ships now bore Welsh names – the Llandovery Castle and the Llanstephan Castle.
In 1914, the Carisbrooke Castle, Norman and Dunvegan Castle were commissioned by the Admiralty – the first as a hospital ship, the latter two as troopships. By the 4th September, 19 of Union-Castle’s 41 ships were on war duty.

By 1915, Union-Castle had 13 ships in service as hospital ships. Some of the ships were lost during WWI:
28 October 1916 – Galeka was hit by a mine.
19 March 1917 – Alnwick Castle was torpedoed and sunk.
26 May 1917 – Dover Castle was sunk by a U-boat.
21 November 1917 – Aros Castle was torpedoed and sunk.
14 February 1918 – Carlisle Castle was torpedoed and sunk
26 February 1918 – Galacian was sunk by a U-boat, whilst renamed the Glenart Castle
12 September 1918 – Galway Castle was sunk by a U-boat, whilst renamed the Rhodesia
27 June 1918 – Llandovery Castle was sunk by a U-boat whilst serving as a hospital ship. 234 lives were lost, making it the fleet’s worst disaster. The Union-Castle War Memorial to those lost is at Cayzer House, Thomas More Street, London.

By October 1919, the Africa service had restarted, and Natal Direct Line had been bought. The weekly mail service resumed after WWI. The intermediate service restarted with the Gloucester Castle, Guildford Castle, Llanstephen Castle and the Norman.

In 1921 the Arundel Castle entered service. It was Union-Castle’s first four funnelled ship and the fleet’s largest ship to date. The Windsor Castle followed in 1922 and the “Round Africa” service was inaugurated.
In 1925 the Norman was withdrawn from service and the Llandovery Castle brought into service, followed by the Llandaff Castle and the Carnarvon Castle in 1926.
In 1927 the Royal Mail Line added the White Star Line. The British Treasury became involved to try and separate Union-Castle Line’s parent company from Royal Mail. By 1932 the Royal Mail group of companies (which included Union-Castle) had run into financial difficulties. Union-Castle came out of this as an independent company. In 1934 Royal Mail was put in liquidation. With heavy government involvement, Union-Castle started rebuilding.

In 1936 the Athlone Castle and the Stirling Castle entered the service. The Stirling Castle beat the record to the Cape set in 1893 by the Scot. A new ten year 14-day mail contract was signed. At this stage only the Stirling Castle and the Athlone Castle could maintain the timetable. The Arundel Castle and Windsor Castle were rebuilt, and the Carnarvon Castle, Winchester Castle and Warwick Castle were re-engined. On the 29th April 1938 the Cape Town Castle entered service. By 1939, the rebuilding programme was complete, but WWII was looming. The Edinburgh Castle became a troopship and the Dunottar Castle served as an armed merchant cruiser. After war was declared, the Carnavon Castle, Dunvegan Castle and Pretoria Castle became armed merchant cruisers.

The following Union-Castle ships were lost during WWII:
4th January 1940 – Rothesay Castle
9th January 1940 – Dunbar Castle hit by a mine and sunk.
28th August 1940 – Dunvegan Castle was sunk by a U-boat.
21st September 1941 – Walmer Castle was bombed and sunk.
12th December 1941 – Dromore Castle was hit by a mined and sunk.
14th February 1942 – Rowallan Castle was bombed by enemy aircraft.
16th July 1942 – Gloucester Castle was sunk by the German cruiser Michel.
4th August 1942 – Richmond Castle was sunk by a U-boat.
14th November 1942 – Warwick Castle was sunk by a U-boat.
30th November 1942 – Llandaff Castle was sunk by a U-boat.
22nd February 1943 – Roxburgh Castle was sunk by a U-boat.
23rd March 1943 – Windsor Castle was sunk by enemy aircraft.
2nd April 1943 – Dundrum Castle exploded and sank in the Red Sea.
During the war Union-Castle ships carried 1.3 million troops, 306 Union-Castle employees were killed, wounded or listed as missing, 62 became prisoners-of-war. The Master of the Rochester Castle, Captain Richard WREN, received the DSO. The Winchester Castle, along with the battleship H.M.S. Ramillies, lead Operation Ironclad at Diego Suarez, and was awarded Battle Honours and her Master, Captain NEWDIGATE the DSC.

By the end of WWII, the Union-Castle passenger fleet consisted of the Cape Town Castle, Athlone Castle, Stirling Castle, Winchester Castle, Carnarvon Castle and the Arundel Castle.

In 1946, South Africa sponsored a scheme for engineers and their families to emigrate from Britain to fill positions in South Africa. These passengers travelled on the Carnarvon Castle, Winchester Castle and the Arundel Castle. The Durban Castle joined the “Round Africa” route.
On the 9th January 1947, the Cape Town Castle departed from Southampton – the first passenger ship carrying post-war mail. Along with the Stirling Castle, the mail service was restored. In May the Llandovery Castle restarted the “Round Africa” passenger service.

In 1948 the Pretoria Castle (later renamed the S.A. Oranje) and the Edinburgh Castle, departed from Southampton on the 22nd July and the 9th December respectively on their maiden voyages in the mail service.
In February 1949 the Dunottar Castle returned to the “Round Africa” service. A rebuilding programme started and 13 new ships were brought in – the Pretoria Castle and the Edinburgh Castle (mail service); the Kenya Castle, Braemar Castle and the Rhodesia Castle (intermediate liners); the Bloemfontein Castle (Round Africa service); the Riebeeck Castle and Rustenburg Castle (refrigerated cargo); Tantallon Castle, Tintagel Castle, Drakensberg Castle, Good Hope Castle and the Kenilworth Castle (general cargo). The Good Hope Castle and the Drakensberg Castle were registered in South Africa

In 1950 the Bloemfontein Castle departed from London on her maiden voyage anti-clockwise “Round Africa”. In 1953 the Pretoria Castle was chosen to be the Union-Castle ship present at the Coronation Review of the Fleet by Queen Elizabeth II at Spithead on the 15th June 1953.
On the 31st December 1955, the Clan Line and Union-Castle Line merged to form British & Commonwealth. The Clan Line contributed 60% of the assets (57 ships) and Union-Castle 40% (42 ships), giving the CAYZER family control of Union-Castle. The routes and livery of each company remained unchanged.

On New Year’s Day 1959 the Pendennis Castle (replacing the Arundel Castle) departed from Southampton on her maiden voyage in the mail service. The Arundel Castle completed her 211th and last voyage from the Cape, sailing for breakers in the Far East. On the 18th August 1960 the Windsor Castle departed from Southampton on her maiden voyage in the mail service, becoming the largest liner to visit Cape Town. The Winchester Castle was withdrawn from service. Also in 1960, an explosion aboard the Cape Town Castle killed the Chief Engineer and seven officers and ratings.

In 1961, the Transvaal Castle (later renamed S.A. Vaal) was launched by Lady CAYZER. In 1962 the “Round Africa” service was closed. The Transvaal Castle departed from Southampton on her maiden voyage on the 18th January 1962. The Carnarvon Castle and Warwick Castle were withdrawn from service, departing Durban for the last time together. The Durban Castle was also withdrawn.
The Southampton Castle was launched on the 20th October 1964 by Princess Alexandra.

The Windsor Castle sailed on the 16th July 1965, accelerating the mail service to provide a Southampton – Cape Town passage in 11 days. The old 4 p.m. Thursday departure was replaced by the 1 p.m. Friday departure, which remained in place for 12 years. The Athlone Castle and the Stirling Castle were withdrawn from service.
The final cycle of weekly sailings saw the mail ships departing from Southampton in the following order: Windsor Castle, Southampton Castle, Edinburgh Castle, S.A.Vaal, Pendennis Castle, Good Hope Castle, S.A. Oranje.
In 1965 Union-Castle took over the charter of the cruise liner Reina del Mar, using her out of Southampton in the summer months mainly to the Mediterranean. In the winter she cruised from South African ports – often to Rio de Janeiro and other South American ports. The Good Hope Castle sailed on her maiden voyage in the mail service on the 14th January 1966.

The UK seamen’s strike in 1966, lasting 46 days, saw 13 British & Commonwealth Group ships laid up in Southampton Docks at the same time. The mail service became a joint operation with the South African Marine Corporation – Safmarine. The Pretoria Castle and the Transvaal Castle were transferred to Safmarine and the South African flag, becoming the S.A. Oranje and the S.A. Vaal, painted in Safmarine colours.

As the De Havilland Comet jet took to the air, mail was changed from sea mail to air mail. The Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet enabled the mass transportation of people by air. In October 1973 British & Commonwealth Shipping Company and Safmarine combined their operations under the name International Liner Services Ltd. On the 29th June 1973 a fire broke out aboard the Good Hope Castle whilst en route from Ascension Island to St. Helena. Passengers were rescued by a passing tanker. The ship was abandoned but did not sink. She re-entered the mail service from Southampton on the 31st May 1974. A world-wide oil crisis resulted in a 10% surcharge on mail ship fares. The Southampton – Cape Town mail service was temporarily slowed from 11 days to 12 days, to conserve bunker oil.
The S.A. Oranje departed from Southampton on the 19th September 1975 for the breakers. It was the start of the phasing out of weekly mail service.

The Edinburgh Castle’s last departure from Southampton (without passengers) was on the 23rd April 1976 for Durban, after which she went to the breakers. The Pendennis Castle was withdrawn after arriving at Southampton on the 14th June.

In 1977 a decision was made to containerise Europe – South Africa services. The company’s flagship, Windsor Castle, left Southampton on her last voyage on the 12th August, arriving back on the 19th September. She was sold for use as a floating hotel in the Middle East. The S.A. Vaal made her final arrival at Southampton on the 10th October. She was rebuilt as the Festivale with Carnival Cruise Lines on the 29th October and eventually scrapped in 2003 in Alang, India. The Good Hope Castle made her last arrival in the mail service at Southampton on the 26th September. On the 30th September, mainly in order to keep the islands of Ascension and St. Helena supplied, she made an additional voyage to the Cape via Zeebrugge, outside the mail service. She was finally withdrawn on return to Southampton on the 8th December. She was sold to Italy ‘s Costa Line as Paola C but was soon broken up. On the 24th October 1977, the Southampton Castle arrived at Southampton on her last mail service. She was sold to Costa Line but soon afterwards went to the breakers.
To keep the Union-Castle name alive, several Clan Line refrigerated ships were given Castle names and were repainted in Union-Castle colours. The last ship to fly the mail pennant for the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company was the Kinpurnie Castle (former Clan Ross). She carried the mail on a voyage from Southampton to Durban calling at the Ascension Islands, St Helena, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London. By 1981 the last of the Clan Line ships were sold. In 1982, International Liner Services Ltd withdrew from shipping after failing to compete against air travel. By 1986 British & Commonwealth had disposed of their last ship.

In 1999, the Union-Castle Line name was revived for a special “Round Africa” sailing on the old route. P & O Line’s Victoria sailed on the 11th December 1999 from Southampton on a millennium cruise with her funnel painted in Union-Castle colours. New Year’s celebrations were held in Cape Town. The Victoria returned to Southampton in February 2000.

In June 2001 the Amerikanis (former Kenya Castle) was scrapped in India, In July 2003 the Big Boat (former Transvaal Castle) was scrapped in India. In August 2004 the Victoria (former Dunottar Castle), was also scrapped in India. The Margarita L. (former Windsor Castle) was then owned by the Greek LATSIS family but in December 2004 this last ship was sold for scrap to Indian scrap merchants, ending the era of the Union-Castle Line.
Ports of Call

Royal Mail Service: from Southampton to Durban, via Madeira, Cape Town, Algoa Bay and East London. Northbound voyages called at Mossel Bay.

Around Africa service (West Coast): from London to London, via Canary Islands, Cape Town, Durban, Delagoa Bay and Suez Canal. Other ports of call were given as East African, Egyptian and Mediterranean ports. They may have included Madeira, Ascension, St. Helena, Lobito Bay, Walvis Bay, Lüderitz Bay, Mossel Bay, Algoa Bay, East London, Beira, Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar, Tanga, Mombasa, Aden, Port Sudan, Naples, Genoa and Marseilles.
Around Africa service (East Coast): from London to London, via Suez Canal, Delagoa Bay, Durban, Cape Town, Lobito Bay, St. Helena, Ascension, Canary Islands and Madeira. Other ports of call may have been the same as the West Coast route.

Intermediate service: from London to Beira or Mombasa, via Canary Islands and Cape Town. Occasionally called at St. Helena and Ascension on northbound voyages. Other ports of call may have included Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth), East London, and Atlantic ports as per the “Around Africa” West Coast service.

Image Captions
“Round Africa” route, from the 1954 Union-Castle brochure
Dunottar Castle
The Union Castle Line Poster
Kinfauns Castle
References
A Trip to South Africa, by James Salter-Whiter, 1892
Ships and South Africa: a maritime chronicle of the Cape, with particular reference to mail and passenger liners, from the early days of steam down to the present ; by Marischal Murray, Oxford University Press 1933
Union-Castle Chronicle: 1853 – 1953, by Marischal Murray; Longmans, Green and Company 1953
Mail ships of the Union Castle Line, by C.J. Harris and Brian D. Ingpen, Fernwood Press, 1994
Union-Castle Line – A Fleet History, by Peter Newall, Carmania Press 1999
Golden Run – A Nostalgic Memoir of the Halcyon Days of the Great Liners to South and East Africa, by Henry Damant, 2006
Merchant Fleet Series. Vol. 18 Union-Castle, by Duncan Haws
Union-Castle Line Staff Register: http://www.unioncastlestaffregister.co.uk
Article researched and written by Anne Lehmkuhl, June 2007

Cullinan, Gauteng. Originally as Mining township with a railway station, near the Premier Mine, in the district of Cullinan, 30 miles (48 km) by rail and 21 miles (34 km) by road east of Pretoria. It is the terminus of a branch railway that joins the main line to Delagoa Bay at Rayton. It was founded in 1902 on a portion of the farm Elandsfontein and named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, who opened up the Premier Mine. During the Second World War the farm Zonderwater, near the mine, was used as a military training centre, with a large camp for prisoners of war, especially Italians. The Zonderwater work Colony in Cullinan was one of the original treatment clinics for Alcoholics Anonymous was opened there in 1947 and renamed to become Magaliesoord in 1964. The also used to be a big rehabilitation centre for alcoholics and a hospital for tuberculosis.District of Cullinan.

District. Area 1,265 sq miles (3 ,176 sq km). The magisterial district was proclaimed on 27 Aug. 1965, having been until then part of the district of Bronkhorstspruit. In the west it has common borders with Pretoria and Warmbaths, in the east with Bronkhorstspruit and Groblersdal, while it borders on Waterberg in the north. Besides the main town of Cullinan with the Premier Mine, it includes centres like Donkerhoek, Bynespoort, Rayton and Sonderwater. The Elands and Kameel Rivers run through the district, which produced only 35,000 bags of maize in 1965/6 and possessed roughly 14,000 head of cattle and 14,000 sheep.

Source + Acknowledgement : Standard Encylopedia of South Africa