Cetshwayo, son of Mpande - Source: Cape Archives, E3248

What were our ancestors doing in 1882?

Who was making the headlines and What did they talk about around the supper table?

Here is a look at some of the people, places and events that made the news in 1882.

Huguenot Memorial School

The Huguenot Memorial School (Gedenkschool der Hugenoten) was opened on the 1st February 1882 on the farm Kleinbosch in Daljosafat, near Paarl. It was a private Christian school and the first school with Afrikaans as teaching medium.

The school was under the auspices of the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners. Past pupils included the writers Andries Gerhardus VISSER, Daniël François MALHERBE and Jakob Daniël DU TOIT (Totius). The first classes were given in a small room but soon an old wine cellar was converted into a two-storey building which housed two classrooms downstairs and the boarding school upstairs. The first Afrikaans newspaper, Die Patriot, as well as the first Afrikaans magazine, Ons Klyntji, came from this school.

The Coat of Arms of "Die Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners"

The school was closed down in 1910 as by then Afrikaans was taught in government schools. In 2001 renovation work was started after a fundraising campaign brought in more than R1-million. Most of the money came from readers of the Afrikaans newspapers, Die Burger and the Volksblad. Naspers, the Stigting vir Afrikaans and KWV also made important contributions. The renovated building was opened in March 2002. It has an Afrikaans training centre upstairs and guest rooms downstairs.

The main people behind the renovation project were writer Dr. Willem Abraham DE KLERK (1917 – 1996) and Fanie THERON (chairman of the Simon van der Stel Foundation and the Huguenot Society, deceased 1989). Others who were also very involved included Sr. C.F. ALBERTYN (Naspers director), Van der Spuy UYS and Dr. Eduard BEUKKMAN. In 1985 they launched the Hugenote Gedenkskool Board of Trustees and with a R10 000 donation from the Helpmekaarfonds, a servitude on the building and land was bought. De Klerk’s wife, Finnie, and Theron’s wife, Anna, were at the official opening as their husbands did not live to see their dream come to fruition.

Dutch as official language

After the second British occupation of the Cape in 1806, English became the only official language. In 1856 J.A. KRUGER, the M.L.A. for Albert, asked for permission to address Parliament in Dutch. His requested was denied, and this started a campaign to get Dutch recognised as an official language in Parliament. On the 30th March 1882, Jan Hendrik HOFMEYR (1845 – 1909), also known as Onze Jan, appealed for the use of Dutch as an official language in Parliament alongside English. He was supported by Saul SOLOMON, a Jewish newspaper publisher and printer in Cape Town. On the 9th June the campaign finally got a positive result when an amendement was made to the Constitution allowing the use of Dutch in Parliament.

Official status was granted on the 1st May and the Act was later passed. On the 13th June, Jan Roeland Georg LUTTIG, the Beaufort-West M.L.A., was the first to officially deliver a speech in Dutch. There is no official record of the speech in Dutch, but the English version was published in the 14th June 1882 Cape Argus newspaper. The other version is in the Cape Parliament Hansard.

It was a short speech – “Meneer die Speaker, ons is baie dankbaar dat die opsionele gebruik van die Hollandse taal in albei huise van die parlement toegelaat is. Wanneer ek sê dankbaar, dink ek praat ek namens diegene wat die twee huise met hul petisies vir dié doel genader het. Ek put vreugde daaruit dat my Engelssprekende vriende die voorstel nie teengestaan het nie, my komplimente gaan aan hulle.

Ek hoop om die raad in die toekoms ook in Engels, in my ou Boere styl, toe te spreek. Sodoende kan dié Engelse vriende wat nie Hollands verstaan nie, die geleentheid hê om te verstaan wat ek probeer oordra. Ek vertrou ook dat alle nasionale verskille in die toekoms sal verdwyn en dat mense van alle nasionaliteite en standpunte hand aan hand sal beweeg om die welvaart en vooruitgang van die kolonie te bevorder”. According to the Hansard, the Speaker pointed out that the Act had not yet been proclaimed, so members could not yet make speeches in Dutch, but that the House would accommodate him this time.

On the 15th June, Cape school regulations were amended to allow the use of Dutch alongside English.

On the 26th and 27th June, the town of Burgersdorp celebrated the use of Dutch. The celebrations were organised by Jotham JOUBERT (M.L.A. and later a Cape Rebel ) who also proposed a monument to mark the occassion. A country-wide fundraising campaign was launched. The monument was built by S.R. OGDEN of Aliwal-North for £430. It consisted of a sandstone pedestal on which stood a life-size marble statue of a woman. She points her finger at a tablet held in her other hand on which the main inscription reads “De Overwinning de Hollandsche Taal “. The monument was unveiled on the 18th January 1893 by D.P. VAN DEN HEEVER, with Stephanus Jacobus DU TOIT (1847 – 1911) delivering the main speech.

During the Anglo-Boer war, the monument was vandalised by British soldiers who took parts of it to King William’s Town where they buried it. After the war, Lord Alfred MILNER had the rest of the statue removed from Burgersdorp. After much protesting, the British eventually provided Burgersdorp with a replica in 1907. This one was unveiled at ceremonies on the 24th and 25th May 1907 when former President M.T. STYEN and the author D.F. MALHERBE addressed the crowd. The original monument was found in 1939 and returned to Burgersdorp. In 1957 the damaged original monument was placed next to the replica.

In 1883 knowledge of Dutch was compulsory for some government positions. In 1884, it was permitted in the High Courts and in 1887 it became a compulsory subject for civil service candidates. Afrikaans only gained equal status with Dutch and English as an official language in South Africa via Act 8 of 1925. Dutch remained an official language until the 1961 Constitution stipulated the two official languages in South Africa to be Afrikaans and English.

Goosen and Stellaland republics

In 1882 a group of Boers established the short-lived republics of Stellaland and Het Land Goosen (aka Goshen ) to the north of Griqualand West, in contravention of the Pretoria and London conventions by which the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek had regained its independence.

On the 1st April the republic of Het Land Goosen was declared. The terms of the Pretoria Convention of August 1881 had cut away part of the Transvaal. This led to problems as local Chiefs disputed the boundaries. Britain did not help matters by acknowledging Mankoroane as Chief of the Batlapin and Montsioa as Chief of the Barolong, both beyond their traditional territories. Supporters of Moshete, under the leadership of Nicolaas Claudius GEY VAN PITTIUS (1837 – 1893), established Het Land Goosen. One of the co-founders was Hermanus Richard (Manie) LEMMER, who later became a General in the Anglo-Boer War. Het Land Goosen later merged with the Stellaland republic to form the United States of Stellaland.

Stellaland was also a short-lived republic established in 1882 by David MASSOUW and about 400 followers, who invaded a Bechuana area west of the Transvaal. They founded the town of Vryburg, making it their capital. The republic was formally created on the 26th July 1882, under the leadership of Gerrit Jacobus VAN NIEKERK (1849 – 1896). In 1885 the British sent in troops under Sir Charles WARREN, abolished the republic, and incorporated it in British Bechuanaland.

Shipping accidents

Shipping accidents (wrecks, groundings, etc…) were common along the South African coast. In 1882 there were quite a few:

January – James Gaddarn, a barque, off Durban

February – Johanna, a barque, off East London

March – Poonah, off Blaauwberg

March – Queen of Ceylon, a barque, off Durban

April – Gleam, a barque, off Port Nolloth

April – Roxburg, off East London

April – Seafield, a barque, off East London

May – Francesca, a barque, off East London

May – Louisa Dorothea, a schooner, ran aground at Mossel Bay

May – Clansman, a schooner, off East London

May 28 – two ships, the Agnes (Capt. NEEDHAM) and the Christin a (Capt. G. LOVE), run ashore at Plettenberg Bay

June – Bridgetown, a barque, off Durban

June – Louisa Schiller, a barque, off Cape Hangklip

June – Ludwig, a schooner, off Algoa Bay

June – Gloria Deo, a barque, off Quoin Point

July – Elvira, a barque, off Durban

July – Erwood, off Durban

December – Adonis, a steamer, off Portst Johns

December – Zambezi, a schooner, off Durban

Smallpox

A smallpox epidemic broke out in District Six in 1882. This led to the closure of inner city cemeteries, and the construction of drains and wash-houses in the city. These improvements didn’t go as planned. The cemetery closures led to riots in 1886. The cemeteries along Somerset Road were not in a good condition, so Maitland cemetery was built. As the Muslim community carried their dead for burial, Maitland was too far for them, and along with the Dutch, they protested against Maitland for two years. Once the inner city cemeteries closed, the Dutch compromised but the Muslim community did not. They buried a child in the Tanu Baru (first Muslim cemetery) in protest. About 3 000 Muslims followed the funeral procession, as police watched. After someone threw stones at the police, a riot started and volunteer regiments were called out. One of the Muslim leaders, Abdol BURNS, a cab driver, was arrested. In the end, neither the Dutch nor the Muslims used Maitland. They found a piece of ground next tost Peter’s cemetery in Mowbray and used it as their cemetery.

The smallpox threat was felt further afield. It was believed that smallpox could be beaten by whitewashing the walls of homes, and for this reason lime and carbolic acid was distributed free to residents in Beaufort West. At Modder River, about 35 km from Kimberley, the settlement was used as a quarantine station to keep smallpox away from Kimberley. Travellers enroute to Kimberley had to produce a valid vaccination certificate or be vaccinated at the station.

Zulu King in London

Cetshwayo reigned as King of the Zulus from 1873 to 1884. He made an alliance with the British in order to keep his long standing enemies, the Boers, away. The alliance collapsed when the British annexed the Transvaal and supported Boer land claims in the border dispute with Zululand. This led to the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War where the British suffered defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana and Zulus at the Battle of Ulundi. Cetshwayo was captured and taken to the Cape. In 1882 he travelled to London where he met Queen Victoria on the 14th August. On his return he was reinstated as King in a much reduced territory and with less autonomy. He died on the 8th February 1884.

Sporting moments

Ottomans Cricket Club was founded in the Bo-Kaap in 1882. The Rovers Rugby Club was founded in Cradock on the 6th September 1882. The first rugby match in Mossel Bay was played on Saturday, 2nd September 1882. Mossel Bay Athletic Club played against George Athletic Club. The first bowling green was laid out in 1882 when a club was established atst George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. In 1882 the Jockey Club was founded by 10 horse-racing members at a meeting held in the Phoenix Hotel in Port Elizabeth. The first South African soccer club was Pietermaritzburg County. On the 17th June 1882, its delegates met at the London Restaurant in Durban ‘s West Street and the Natal Football Association was founded.

Transit of Venus

The transit of Venus was observed from stations in Durban, Touws River, Wellington, Aberdeen Road (a railway stop) and at Cape Town ‘s Royal Observatory.

Banking

District Bank was established in Stellenbosch in 1882. It paid between 5 to 6% on fixed deposits and 2% on current accounts, compared to the Standard Bank which paid an average of 3.5% on fixed deposits and no interest on current accounts. The District Bank did not charge cheque fees or ledger fees. It was later taken over by Boland Bank. The Natal Building Society (NBS) was also established in 1882, in Durban.

New brewery

The Old Cannon Brewery in Newlands was established in 1852. In 1882 it merged with Ohlsson’s Cape Breweries.

Steel industry

South Africa ‘s industrial development has heavy roots in its mining industry. With virtually no steel industry of its own, the country relied on imported steel. The first efforts to introduce steel production dates back to the creation of the South African Coal and Iron Company in 1882. The first successful production of pig iron occurred only in 1901, in Pietermaritzburg.

Mariannhill Monastery

The monastery near Pinetown was founded as a Trappist monastery by Father Francis PFANNER in 1882. It became a renowned missionary institute with schools, a hospital, an art centre and a retreat.

Boswell’s Circus

The BOSWELL family has been involved in the circus business since the 1800s in England. James BOSWELL was born in 1826 and went on to perform in various English circuses as a clown, horseman and equilibrist. He died in the circus ring of Cirque Napoleon in Paris in 1859 while performing a balancing ladder act. He had three 3 children, all of whom performed in circuses. His eldest son, James Clements, opened his own circus, Boswell’s Circus, in 1882 in Yorkshire.

Boswell’s Circus toured England and was very popular until it closed in 1898. James Clements and his five sons – Jim, Alfred, Walter, Sydney and Claude – continued performing in theatres and music halls, and eventually put their own show together called Boswell’s Stage Circus. Madame FILLIS, who owned Fillis’ Circus in South Africa, saw one of their performances and signed them up for a six-month contract. In 1911 James Clements, his sons, Walter and Jim’s wives, six ponies, a donkey and some dogs set sail for South Africa. The family and their animals were stranded when Fillis’ Circus closed down some months later. Fortunately for generations of South African children, this did not stop them and they went on to build a successful business that is still in existence.

Pretoria

A public sale on Church Square, Pretoria, in the 1890's

Church Square was created in 1855, on the orders of M.W. PRETORIUS. The DEVEREAUX brothers, town planners, designed a square for market and church purposes. Pretoria expanded around Church Square. During its early days the square was also used as a sports field and in 1883 the long-jumper Izak PRINSLOO set the first world record by a South African. The first church on the square was completed in 1857, but burnt down in 1882. Burgers Park was established as Pretoria ‘s first park in 1882. On the 14th June 1882, the Transvaalsche Artillerie Corps was formed under the command of Cmdt. H.J.P. PRETORIUS.

Stephanus Johannes Paulus KRUGER, later President of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek, was born on the 10th October 1825. He was so respected by his people that the first Kruger Day was celebrated on the 10th October 1882. The following year it was declared a public holiday. After the Anglo-Boer war it lost official status, until it was again declared a public holiday in 1952. In 1994 the day again lost its official status.

Kimberley

On the 2nd September Kimberley became the first town in the southern hemisphere to install electric street lighting. It was an initiative of the Cape Electric Light Company. Electric lighting was also installed in Parliament in 1882, and an arc-lighting installation was commissioned in the harbour. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Christmas 1882 saw the world’s first electrically-lit Christmas tree installed in the New York house of Thomas EDISON’s associate Edward H. JOHNSON.

The Kimberley Club was founded in August 1881 and opened its doors on the 14th August 1882. Cecil John RHODES was one of the men behind the club’s establishment. Amongst the first members were Charles D. RUDD, Dr. Leander Starr JAMESON, Lionel PHILLIPS and J.B. ROBINSON.

Knysna

The farm Melkhoutkraal was laid out in 1770. In 1808 George REX, who arrived at the Cape in 1797, bought the farm. In 1825 Lord Charles SOMERSET decided to establish a town on the lagoon, to make use of the surrounding forests for ship building. George REX donated 16 ha of land for the new village, named Melville for Viscount MELVILLE, First Sea Lord from 1812 – 1827. Knysna was formally founded in 1882 when the two villages, Melville and Newhaven (founded in 1846) amalgamated.

Muizenberg

In 1882 the railway line reached Muizenberg. The area was originally a cattle outpost for the VOC before it became a military post in 1743. It was named Muijs se Berg after the commander Sergeant Willem MUIJS. Muizenberg was a staging post between Cape Town and Simon’s Town. After the railway line was extended, the area developed fast and became a popular holiday destination.

One of Muizenberg’s prominent residents was Professor James GILL. He was born in Cornwall in 1831 and came to the Cape in 1860, where he took the post of professor of Classics at Graaff-Reinet College. In 1871 he moved to Cape Town as Classics professor at the Diocesan College. He was an opininated man who did good things throughout his career but was also involved in many controversies. He was dismissed from the College in 1882. He opened a private school in Muizenberg and became the editor of the Cape Illustrated Magazine. He died in Muizenberg on the 1st February 1904.

Villiers

The town of Villiers, on the Vaal River, was established in 1882 on the farms Pearson Valley and Grootdraai. It was named after the owner, L.B. DE VILLIERS. In 1882 the Volksraad was requested to open a post office there, and this led to Villiers being proclaimed in 1891. In 1917 it acquired municipal status.

Newcastle

The first government school in Newcastle was established in 1882 as a junior primary school with 47 boys and 30 girls.

Okiep

The Cornish Pump House was built in 1882. It was used to pump water from the mine and this pump house is the only remaining one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

East London

A view of East London in the 1880's

The prison in Lock Street was built in 1880, replacing the old one on the West Bank. It was built by James TYRRELL and comprised an officers’ quarters, administration block, hospital, kitchen and two single-storey cell blocks to hold 100 prisoners. The first execution happened in 1882, for which a drop gallows was placed in the hospital yard. St.Andrew’s Lutheran Church was established by German settlers in 1872. It is the second oldest church in East London and was dedicated on the 30th November 1882.

Grahamstown

City Hall was officially opened on the 24th May 1882 by the acting Mayor Samuel CAWOOD. The foundation stone was laid on the 28th August 1877 by Sir Henry Bartle FRERE, Governor of the Cape.

Durban

Durban Girls’ High School was established in 1882. The old theatre Royale was built in 1882 and had seating for 1 000. It was closed in 1937. The Natal Herbarium was started in 1882 by John Medley WOOD, then Curator of the Durban Botanical Gardens. It was initially known as the Colonial Herbarium but changed its name in 1910 when it was donated by the Durban Botanical Society to the Union of South Africa.

Port Elizabeth

South End Cemetery in Port Elizabeth was started. The country’s oldest art school, Port Elizabeth Art School, was founded in 1882. It later became the College for Advanced Technical Education, originally situated in Russell Road, Central. In 1974 it moved to Summerstrand and became the PE Technikon in 1979.

Kaapsehoop

In 1882 gold was discovered in the Kaapsehoop valley. When a larger deposit of gold was found near the present day Barberton, most of the prospectors moved there. The first payable gold was mined at Pioneer Reef by Auguste ROBERTE (aka French Bob) in June 1883. Barber’s Reef was the next big find in 1884. Sheba ‘s Reef, the richest of all, was discovered by Edwin BRAY in May 1885.

Port Shepstone

Port Shepstone came into being when marble was discovered near the Umzimkulu River mouth in 1867. It flourished from 1879 when William BAZLEY, one of the world’s first underwater demolition experts, blasted away rock at the mouth to form the Umzimkulu breakwater. The town was named after a Mr SHEPSTONE, one of the area’s prominent residents. Before 1901 the area depended solely on a port that was developed inside the river’s mouth. Boats were often wrecked and blocked the harbour entrance, but it provided a vital transport link for the tea, coffee and sugar cane grown by farmers along the river’s banks.

Supplies were brought in on the return voyages from Durban. With the arrval in 1882 of 246 Norwegian, 175 Briton and 112 German settlers, this shipping service became more important. The Norwegians arrived on the 29th August aboard the CHMS Lapland. The new settlers were offered 100 acre lots around the town at 7 shillings and 6 pence an acre. Port Shepstone was declared a full fiscal port in 1893 and, after Durban, became the region’s second harbour. Eventually, with the ongoing ship wreckages and the arrival of the railway, the harbour was closed down.

Harding

In 1882 the first hotel was opened in Harding. The village then consisted of three trading stores and four private homes.

Dundee

Dundee was established on the farm Fort Jones belonging to Peter SMITH, who had bought it from a Voortrekker settler, Mr DEKKER. He named the town Dundee, in memory of his original home in Scotland. By 1879, as a result of the Anglo-Zulu War, a tent town had sprung up on a portion of the farm. British soldiers attracted traders, missionaries, craftsmen and hunters but after their departure the tent town ceased to exist. With his son, William Craighead; son-in-law Dugald MACPHAIL; and Charles WILSON, Peter proclaimed the town in 1882.

Dewetsdorp

The Anglican Church was inaugurated on the 17th December 1882 by the Anglican Bishop of Bloemfontein. It was named St. Bartholomew’s. Before this, Anglicans held services in the town hall. The church’s foundation stone was laid on the 18th August. It cost £395 to build and seated 60. Rev. L.A. KIRBY was the first minister. The first baptism was on the 7th January 1883, that of Arthur SKEA. The church was declared a national monument in 1996.

Fort Hare

Fort Hare was built in 1847. It was named after Lt.-Col. John HARE and remained a military post until 1882, when part was given to Lovedale and part to the town of Alice.

Kuruman

The London Missionary Society (LMS) established the Moffat Institute in Kuruman in 1882, as a memorial to Robert and Mary MOFFATT and in the hope that it would revive the mission station.

Upington

Upington’s history starts with Klaas Lukas., a Koranna chief, who asked for missionaries to teach his people to read and write. In 1871 Rev. Christiaan SCHRODER left Namaqualand for Olyvenhoudtsdrift as the Upington area was then known. He built the first church, which today houses the Kalahari-Oranje Museum. In 1879 Sir Thomas UPINGTON visited the area to establish a police post, which was later named after him.

In 1881 SCHRODER, Abraham SEPTEMBER and Japie LUTZ helped build an irrigation canal. Abraham (Holbors) SEPTEMBER, said to be a Baster and the son of a slave from West Africa, was farming in the area in 1860. He was married to Elizabeth GOOIMAN. He devised a way to draw water from the river for irrigation purposes. In 1882 he was granted land facing the river. In 1896 Abraham and Elizabeth drew up a will, bequeathing the land to the survivor and thereafter to their three sons. Abraham died in 1898. In 1909 Elizabeth appeared before the Court in Upington on a charge that squatters where living on the land. It was here that she heard that Willem DORINGS, a smous, was claiming the land as his. This claim was to have repercussions, even in 2000 when the great-great-grandchildren of Abraham were still fighting for the land in the Land Claims Court.

Elizabeth and her sons owed Willem £326, but Willem produced documents that they sold him the land for that sum. The family were under the impression that they had a debt agreement with Willem. They refused to leave the farm and Elizabeth died there in 1918. In 1920 the family were removed from the farm by the new owners who had bought it from Willem. According to Henk WILLEMSE, Abraham’s great-great-grandson, the family started action in 1921 to get their land back. He has documents dating back all these years, which also show that Willem DORINGS was William THORN. Part of their land claim was for the land on which the Prisons Department building stands in Upington’s main road. This belonged to Abraham’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who lost it when service fees were not paid. In 1997 Nelson MANDELA unveiled a memorial plaque to Abraham.

The Waterfront

A view of East London in the 1880's

The Victorian Gothic-style Clock Tower, situated near the site of the original Bertie’s Landing restaurant in Cape Town, has always been a feature of the old harbour. It was the original Port Captain’s office and was completed in 1882. On the second floor is a decorative mirror room, which enabled the Port Captain to have a view of all activities in the harbour. On the ground floor is a tide-gauge mechanism used to check the level of the tide. Restoration of the Clock Tower was completed in 1997. The Robinson Graving Dock was also constructed in 1882, as was the Pump House. The Breakwater Convict Station was declared a military prison in 1882. This allowed military offenders from ships and shore stations to be committed for hard labour.

Sources:

Drakenstein Heemkring

Afrikanerbakens; Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge publication

Burgersdorp: http://www.burgersdorp.za.net/burgersdorp_photos.html

Maritime Casualties: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/2216/text/MARITIME.TXT

The Will of Abraham and Elizabeth September: The Struggle for Land in Gordonia, 1898-1995; by Martin Legassick; Journal of African History, Vol. 37, No. 3 (1996)

Land Claim Case: http://www.law.wits.ac.za/lcc/wp-content/uploads/jacobs2/jacobs2.pdf

Rapport newspaper, 23 Jan 2000

Boswell’s Circus: http://www.boswell.co.za/

Article researched and written by Anne Lehmkuhl, June 2007

Steamships from abroad
The first steamship to reach the Cape, in 1825, was the Enterprise, of 464 tons. She called when on passage to India. Thereafter steamers called at very long intervals for the next 20 years, chiefly warships or ships en route to India; there was as yet no regular steam communication between the Cape and Europe. Sear our  thousands of passenger and shipping lists.One of these `birds of passage' made the first `record' voyage to the Cape. In 1851 the new P. and O. paddle-steamer Singapore was just leaving Southampton to take up her station in India, naturally via the Cape, when news reached Britain of the outbreak of the 8th Frontier War. Her owners immediately offered to take troops to the Cape, and so the first reinforcements were put aboard and rushed out in 37 days 8 hours.

Cape coasting steamers
In 1831 the little ship Sophia Jane arrived at the Cape. Her captain was prepared to sell her to anyone at the Cape who wanted to use her in the coasting trade. As the price he wanted was not forthcoming the Sophia Jane went on to Australia, the first steamer to reach that continent, and traded successfully along the Australian coast for many years.

Five years later, however, a company was formed in Cape Town: The Cape of Good Hope Steam Navigation Company. A steamer, the Hope, was built on the Clyde for this new company. A ship of 194 tons and 100 horse-power, she was able to carry 115 tons of cargo and 38 passengers. She was South Africa's first coasting steamer. She plied regularly between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth for some years. After she had been wrecked on Cape St. Francis in 1840, her owners ordered that the Phoenix, of 405 tons, should replace her. For ten years between 1842 and 1852 she ran between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, with calls at Mossel Bay and sometimes Plettenberg Bay. But in 1852, when larger and faster coasters were put into service, the Phoenix was sold to an Australian firm.

Mail service to Britain
For many years after 1825 the people of the Cape had agitated for a steam mail service between the colony and Britain. In the early eighteen-forties Britain was connected by steam with North America (the Cunard Line, South America and the West Indies (the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company), and with Egypt, India and the East (the Peninsular and Oriental Line). Australia and New Zealand were served by regular services of sailing ships such as those of the famous White Star and Black Ball lines. But the Cape was dependent on `passers-by'; no regular shipping services were in operation. True, there had been an attempt in 1818 to run a regular `packet-ship service' from Britain to the Cape, but that had lasted only a year.

In 1847 the merchants of Cape Town petitioned the government to make arrangements for a regular steam mail service to England. They were supported by the Press but at first nothing happened. Two years later, however, the Anti-Convict Agitation interested people in Britain in affairs at the Cape. In 1850 glad news arrived in Cape Town: the British government had made an agreement with the General Screw Steamship Company for a monthly mail service between Plymouth and Cape Town. For £30 750 p.a. the company agreed to send a steamer to the Cape every month, the passage not to exceed 35 days. After a week's stay at Cape Town the return trip was to be made, again in not more than 35 days. This service began with three ships, Bosphorus, Propontis and Hellespont, each 53 metres long and 7,6 metres broad, with a tonnage of about 800 and engines of 80 horsepower.

The Bosphorus inaugurated the Cape mail, leaving Plymouth on 18 December 1850 with 16 passengers, some light cargo, and the precious mails. She arrived in Table Bay on 27 January 1851. The well-known South African artist, Thomas Bowler, painted a water-colour of her arrival in Table Bay, but the event was not celebrated as it should have been because of the 8th Frontier War, which was then raging on the eastern frontier. The Bosphorus had actually taken five days more than the contract time of 35 days, but nobody cared about that, as the normal passage by sailing ship until then had been 60 days or more.

In 1852 the company's mail contract was extended, when it agreed to take mails to India via the Cape. The original contract was swallowed up in the extended one. For the new and much longer route much bigger ships were required, and a series of 1750-ton ships was built, steamers, but with a full three-masted rig. The first of these was the Queen of the South, which could carry 130 passengers. In 1853 she came out in 31 ½ days, beating the previous record by nearly four days. The new ships proved very popular in India as at the Cape, as they maintained a regular and for that time a comfortable service. One of them, Lady Jocelyn, is to be remembered since in 1853 she brought out to the Cape the final draft of the constitution which gave self-government to the colony.

Meanwhile the discovery of gold in Australia (1851) meant a great increase in passenger traffic to that continent. Many ships appeared in Table Bay and included the Great Britain, then the largest and fastest ship in the world. She had been the first iron screw-steamer to cross the Atlantic. The General Screw Steamship Company therefore decided to expand its services to include a round-the-world service to Australia via the Cape, with a group of five specially built ships of 2500 tons each. The first of these was the Argo in 1853, closely followed by the Golden Fleece. They followed the sailing-ship route: from Britain round the Cape without calling at Table Bay, going far south into the Roaring Forties to reach Australia; on leaving Australia, south again into the Roaring Forties, then east round Cape Horn, passing northward up the Atlantic to the east of the Falkland Islands, and so to Britain. The Argo did this voyage in 1853 in 121 days and was the first steamer to circumnavigate the globe. Later she and her sister ships used to put into Table Bay on their way to Australia.

In 1852, also, the General Screw Steamship Company started a coasting service between the Cape and Natal with its smallest ship, Sir Robert Peel (233 tons). She was the first steamship to cross the bar and anchor in Port Natal (12 August 1852). In 1854 two specially designed steamers, Natal and Cape of Good Hope (500 tons each) were placed on this service.

Unfortunately all this building of new ships overstrained the financial resources of the company, and in June 1854 it was suddenly announced that the mail services of the General Screw Steamship Co. were to be wound up. The coastal services were maintained until the end of that year, when the two ships returned to England. It is interesting to note that the Cape of Good Hope became the pioneer ship of a new company subsequently renamed the British India Steam Navigation Company, whose ships are today well-known in Durban and other South and East African ports. Most of the mail-ships of the General Screw Steamship Co. subsequently returned to Cape waters, but as units of the fleets of other companies. Many of them became transports for the British government during the Crimean War (1854-56) and the Indian Mutiny (1857-58). Because of the cessation of the mail service and the Crimean War hardly any steamers called at the Cape in 1855.

Lindsay's Line
In 1856 W. S. Lindsay, M.P., made a contract with the British postal authorities to run a mail service to the Cape, sending a ship from Dartmouth every month to reach the Cape within 38 days, for a subvention of £28 000 a year. His ships were also to go to Mauritius and India. They were not fully powered steamers but sailing ships with auxiliary steam-engines. The first of them, the England, took 54 days to reach the Cape, having been without coal for the engine for the last fortnight. Her sister, Scotland, came out in 39 days, but no subsequent Lindsay sailing took less than 50 days. The `auxiliaries' were not a success and the service finally collapsed in 1857. Fortunately for Lindsay, however, almost all his ships were at once chartered by the British government as transports during the Indian Mutiny.

Union Line
On 18 November 1857 Table Bay was crowded with ships, no less than 54 lying at anchor. One of them was the Dane, pioneer of the new mail-ship company, the Union Steam Ship Company.
The Union Line, formed in 1853, in 1857 contracted with the British government to convey mails monthly between England and the Cape. This service has been running ever since without a break, except for the interruptions caused by the two World Wars.

Diamonds and Suez
In 1867 the discovery of diamonds near the Orange River completely changed the course of the history of South Africa. It stimulated both trade and immigration, which had been in the doldrums during the sixties because of prolonged drought and trade depression. In the early seventies several new companies started services between Britain and the Cape, but the only one to survive was Donald Curries Colonial Line, later the Castle Mail Packets Company, and still later one of the constituents of the Union-Castle Line. 

Meanwhile some famous ships visited Table Bay, e.g. the confederate cruiser Alabama (1863), and in 1869 the famous Great Eastern, that wonderful conception of the great engineer Brunel, which between 1858 and 1901 remained `the largest ship ever built'. In and after 1866 came the ships of the Ocean Steam Navigation Company (better known today as the Blue Funnel Line), and from 1878 the ships of the Orient Line. Moreover, many famous Atlantic liners called at the Cape in the late seventies and early eighties as troopships, bringing redcoats from Britain to take part in the various wars of the period: the 9th Frontier War (1877-78), the Zulu War (1879), and the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-81). All this shipping activity served to disguise to some extent the fact that after 1869, when the Suez Canal was opened, the Cape was no longer on the direct route to India, the East and Australia. Moreover, the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand (1886) occurred not long after the last of these wars, and again provided a great stimulus to South African trade.

Union and Castle
From 1872 Curries Castle liners competed successfully against the Union liners, so that, when the mail contract had to be renewed in 1876, it was divided between the two companies. By this time the mail service was a weekly one, the companies taking alternate weeks, while the length of passage had been reduced to 26 days. This arrangement lasted until the two companies amalgamated in 1900, but the length of passage was reduced with each renewal of the mail contract. 

Shipping conference
In the early eighties three other lines started regular steamship services to South Africa: Bullard, King's Natal Line, (today incorporated in the South African Marine Corporation), Rennie's Aberdeen Line (not to be confused with George Thompson's Aberdeen Line to Australia); and the famous Clan Line, which is today the controlling interest in the British and Commonwealth Shipping Company, the group which also includes the Union Castle Line. The coming of these three new concerns led to the first South African shipping conference (September 1883). The objects of the conferences were to regulate competition between the company concerned so as to maintain regular rates of freight, and to enable the conference lines to work together to keep `outside' lines from coming in to take the cream of the traffic when trade was brisk, and then withdrawing when trade was bad. The years 1883-1888 marked a depression in South African trade, which did not lift until the Rand gold-mines were in full production, and it was fortunate that the conference was held when it was.

Meanwhile several new services between Europe and Australia were introduced. The ships came via the Cape because of the high rates of passage then charged by the Suez Canal Company. In 1881 Sloman's ships from Hamburg to Australia started calling at the Cape and were followed in 1882 by the ships of George Thomson's Aberdeen Line. By 1884 ships of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Line and of the New Zealand Shipping Company were regular visitors on their way to New Zealand.

Castle-Union rivalry
It should be remembered that throughout these years the main interest of South Africa's maritime trade was the rivalry between the ships of the two mail companies until their amalgamation in March 1900. This is dealt with more fully in the article on Union-Castle Mail Steamship Co. Ltd.

Second Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902
This war stimulated South Africa's sea-borne trade exceedingly and many famous transatlantic liners arrived in South African waters as troop transports, while fleets of cargo liners and tramps brought supplies to the armies from all over the world. There was great congestion in all South African seaports, with ships anchoring outside waiting often for weeks for empty berths in port. This again led to a great increase in the number of ships wrecked during the winter gales.

Up to this time practically all the lines regularly visiting South Africa were British, but the Jameson Raid and the war, as well as gold, aroused Europe's interest in South Africa, and foreign lines started to send ships to Cape Town and Durban. A French line started a service to Madagascar via the Cape; the Austrian Lloyd started one to Durban via Suez. Neither of these lasted long, but in 1903 Portuguese mail steamers provided services to Angola and Mozambique via the Cape, services still maintained by the well-known Portuguese lines, Companhia Colonial de Navegaçao and Companhia National de Navegaçao. The German companies, Woermann Linie and Deutsch-Ost-Afrika Linie, had started their services to the then German colonies in West and East Africa respectively before the discovery of gold on the Rand, but in the 1890's they extended their services to South African ports. In 1904 these services were combined with the African service of the Hamburg Amerika Linie and the first `Round Africa' service started. At first the ships ran a joint service each in the livery of its own company, but in the reorganisation after the First World War it was decided (1924) that all the ships should carry the colours of the Deutsch-Ost-Afrika Linie.

Coasters
Meanwhile there had been a great increase in the number of coasting vessels and companies operating from South African ports. In 1855 Rennie who owned the Aberdeen Line) placed the Madagascar and the Waldensian in service between Durban and Cape Town. These 300-ton ships were licensed by the Natal government to carry mails between the two colonies, but both were wrecked, the former in 1858 and the latter in 1862, when the service was abandoned.

The well-known firm of Barry and Nephews, of Swellendam, opened up the harbour of Port Beaufort at the mouth of the Breede River and the up-river port of Malgas, 48 km from the mouth. To these ports they sent coasting schooners, carrying goods for distribution throughout the south-western districts from their headquarters in Swellendam. In 1859 they had the steamer Kadie built especially for this trade. She ran regularly between Cape Town and Malgas, carrying about £1000 000 worth of goods annually, but, when wrecked in 1865, she was not replaced.

The Union Line and the Castle also had coasters plying between Cape Town and Durban and even other ports, e.g. the Union Line's Namaqua went to Port Nolloth. In 1869 a German ship, the Bismarck, appeared on the Cape Coast, and in 1872 she distinguished herself by being the first steamer to cross the bar at the mouth of the Buffalo River and enter Buffalo Harbour, East London. She was wrecked soon afterwards.

In 1869 Thesen's also began their long association with South Africa. A. L. Thesen, a Norwegian ship-owner, was emigrating to New Zealand with his whole family in his schooner Albatros off Cape Agulhas his ship suffered storm damage and had to return to Cape Town. While there he was offered a lucrative charter to Knysna and took his ship there several times. As this seemed to him a profitable trade he bought land at Knysna and settled there. The little Albatros plied between Cape Town and Knysna for some years until she was wrecked. She was then replaced by the brig Ambulant. In 1895 Thesen's brought out their first steamer, Agnar, and four years later the Ingerid joined her. For many years these two ships enjoyed almost a monopoly of the trade between Knysna and Cape Town. Later, more ships were acquired and Thesen liners began trading to all South African ports. In 1921 the Houston Line, of Liverpool, bought out the Thesen Line and today Thesen's forms part of Coast Lines, of London.

The rise of the sugar industry in Natal and, later, of the motor industry in Port Elizabeth caused new coasting companies and services to be formed, e.g. G. C. Smith and Company, and African Coasters, both of Durban. Originally these, like most of the other coaster fleets, consisted of second-hand craft of various types, e.g. the ex-gunboats Homeford and Mead of Smith's Coasters, and the Kate, an exdredger. But, by the middle of the 20th century, all the coasting companies were adding to their fleets specially built motorships such as the Voortrekker (African Coasters) and the Zulu Coast (Thesen Line).

First World War, 1914-18
At first the war did not affect South Africa much. Some of the mail steamers were taken over for naval service, but their places were taken by the old mailships laid up in reserve (e.g. Norman, Carisbrook Castle) or by the big `East African' ships such as the Llanstephan Castle. But, as the Mediterranean was soon drawn into the war zone, most Allied or neutral liners normally using the Mediterranean sent their ships via the Cape instead. Thus various unfamiliar ships belonging to British, French, Dutch and Japanese lines became regular callers at the Cape for the duration of the war.

In 1917, when the Germans began their unrestricted submarine campaign, the British government was forced to requisition all British liners. The regular weekly Cape mail service thus came to an end and the mails were sent out in whatever ship was available whenever opportunity offered. Several Union-Castle ships were sunk, as were some belonging to Rennie's Aberdeen, the Natal, Clan, and Ellerman and Bucknal Lines, all well-known in Cape waters. The war came close to South Africa when German raiders (disguised as neutral ships) laid mines off Dassen Island and Cape Agulhas, sinking several ships. 

Post-war
After the war it took several years for shipping services to return to normal as older ships had to be refitted after war service and new ones had to be built to replace losses. The Union government had been impressed during the war by the need for cargo-ships and after the war the government bought three ex-German ships of about 5000 tons each, Huntress, Apolda, and Seattle. They were placed under the management of the South African Railways and Harbours and thus became the originals of what are today called Sarships. They were the first sea-going ships on the South African register. Ships belonging to the two premier Japanese shipping lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Osaka Shoshen Kaisha, which during the war had been diverted to the Cape route, continued to sail via South Africa after the war, mainly carrying Japanese emigrants to South America.

After the war the Dutch liners which had been diverted to the Cape on their way to Netherlands-India reverted to the Mediterranean route. But a new company was formed to provide direct communication between the Netherlands and South Africa, the Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrika Stoomvaart Maatschappij. Starting operations in 1919 with three secondhand cargo-ships of about 5000 tons each, in 1921-1922 it placed into service the two specially built 6000-ton passenger-cargo ships Springfontein and Klipfontein. From 1924 it worked in conjunction with the Holland-Oost Afrika Lijn and in 1932 the two lines were amalgamated as the Holland-Afrika Lijn. 

In 1921 T. B. F. Davis, of Durban, bought from the Royal Navy the old cruiser Thames and presented her to the South African nation as a training-ship. Renamed the General Botha and anchored in Simon's Bay, she was used from 1922 onwards for the training of young men as deck officers in the Merchant Service. The South African Naval Service, forerunner of the South African Navy, was also formed in 1921.

Four years later Italian ships came to South African ports when the Navigazione Libera Triestino began a regular service round Africa via the East Coast. A few years later a service in the reverse direction was also started. In 1933, through the Italian shipping contract, these services were augmented and an express passenger service added in return for a very liberal subsidy from the Union government. Under Mussolini's reorganisation of Italian merchant shipping these services were later run by Lloyd Triestino.

1925 was the year of the great seamen's strike in British ships throughout the world. Almost every British merchant ship manned by a White crew was strike-bound in harbour between 27 August and 10 October. Only those with Lascar, Arab or Negro crews were able to move. Many well-known liners lay in enforced idleness in the various South African ports during that period. The mail service was kept running with difficulty, some of the mail-ships sailing with volunteer crews of university students, etc., while some sailings were taken over by ships of the Natal Line (by this time a subsidiary of the Union Castle Company), which were manned by Lascar crews.

The following year was marked by two important innovations. In February there arrived in Cape Town the Orca, first of the `luxury-cruise' liners to call at South African ports; while in August the Carnarvon Castle, first Union-Castle motorship and the first mailship to exceed 20 000 tons, made her debut in Cape Town. She was not the first motorship to come to the Cape; in 1915 the Kangaroo, a cargo motorship of 4500 tons, was the first, calling at Cape Town on her way to her station in West Australia; the Norwegian cargo motor ship Afrika, 8000 tons, then the largest motorship in the world, called in 1920; and in January 1926 came the Japanese Santos Maru, the first passenger motor ship to arrive at a South African port. Since 1926 a steady stream of cruise liners has arrived in South Africa, interrupted only by the great depression of 1929-34 and by the Second World War. The Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Britain, 43 500 tons, reached Cape Town in 1936 and was for many years the largest ship to have docked there. This increased activity and the increase in the size of the mail-ships led to the enlarging of docks and improvements in seaport facilities.

After the Carnarvon Castle, a steady stream of new motor ships joined the Union-Castle fleet, culminating in 1938-39 in the Capetown Castle of 27 000 tons for the mail service and the two intermediates, Durban Castle and Pretoria Castle, of 17 300 tons each.

Unfortunately the depression of 1929-34 led to the disappearance of several long-established services such as the White Star Line's Australian service, the `Branch Service' of the P. and O. Line, and George Thompson's Aberdeen Line to Australia, which had celebrated its centenary in 1925. After 1935 there was a steady increase in world trade and every company whose ships called at South African ports put new ships into service. In 1936 the accelerated mail service started, reducing the passage of the mail-ships between Southampton and the Cape from 16 days 15 hours to under 14 days.

In addition to the fine series of new Union-Castle liners already mentioned, the Holland-Afrika Lijn brought out in 1934-35 its famous trio of `express ships', Bloemfontein and Jagersfontein (10 000 tons) and Boschfontein (7100 tons); the Italian `express liners' Duilio and Giulio Cesare, of 22 000 tons, appeared; in 1935-38 the Natal Line brought out its biggest ships, Umtata, Umtali and Umgeni (8400 tons); the Deutsch-Ost-Afrika Linie achieved new standards with the Pretoria and the Windhuk, of nearly 17 000 tons each, in 1936; while in 1939 the quadruple-screw motor ship Dominion Monarch, of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Line, with her tonnage of 27 155 took away from the Capetown Castle the distinction of being the largest ship in service to South Africa.

Second World War
Unfortunately all this shipping activity was completely disrupted with the outbreak of the Second World War in Sept. 1939. The German ships disappeared straight away, the Italian and Dutch ships soon afterwards. All British merchant ships fell under Admiralty control immediately; many of the Union-Castle ships were taken over by the Royal Navy for use as armed merchant cruisers or troopships. Ships well known in the South African trade found themselves in convoys to Malta or North Russia, in service to Singapore or Australia, or bringing American troops and supplies across the Atlantic to Britain. Many Union-Castle ships were lost, as were ships belonging to the Clan, Blue Funnel, Ellerman and Bucknall, Natal, and other well known lines. Several enemy ships were captured in South African waters and most of them were recommissioned with South African crews and managed by the Railways and Harbours. One of the most interesting of these was the Finnish four-masted barque Lawhill, which made several unescorted trips between Cape Town and the Argentine, outward with maize and homeward with wheat.

Post-war, from 1946
Normal sailings could not be resumed immediately peace had been signed. Ships were still subject to government control and were used to repatriate soldiers, prisoners of war and refugees and to bring back stores. When released from government service, they had to be refitted for their peace-time trade. New ships had to be built to replace those lost in the war. So it was not until 1947 or later that shipping returned to normality.

The immediate post-war period as far as South Africa was concerned was characterised by reconstruction and new ships; immigration; a new mail contract; and the establishment of new lines and services. The first three are dealt with in the article on Union Castle Mail Steamship Company Ltd.

In 1946 several new South African shipping companies were formed but most of them proved to be ephemeral. The South African Marine Corporation (Safmarine), however, has gone from strength to strength. Starting in 1947 with three ex-United States `Victory' ships of 7500 tons each, it had in 1966 two big passenger mail-ships (S.A. Vaal and S.A. Oranje), two big bulk-carriers for pig-iron, another for sugar, ten ordinary cargo ships and four fast refrigerated ships for fruit-carrying. With another five cargo ships and a refrigerated ship that were scheduled for completion in 1966-67, it has a total of as ships with a tonnage of over 276 000 and a carrying capacity of 330 000 tons dead-weight. In 1961 Safmarine (the name by which the corporation is generally known) took over the fleet and assets of the Springbok Line, a South African subsidiary of the Clan Line which had been formed in 1959 and which had itself absorbed the long-established Natal Line. The two mail-ships mentioned above were taken over by Safmarine in January 1966. This company thus became the first South African line to own deep-sea passenger vessels and to share in the mail contract between South Africa and Britain. Safmarine is therefore easily the biggest South African shipping concern and has now joined the major shipping lines of the world. Most of its deck officers are ex-cadets of the General Botha, while its crews are Cape Coloured men, who make excellent seamen.

In 1951 the Merchant Shipping Act (No. 57 of 1951) was passed and the regulations promulgated under it were published as Government Notice No. 1630 of 16 October 1959. These measures gave South Africa shipping legislation as up-to-date and complete as that anywhere in the world.

Many new Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese and French ships were put into service to South Africa in this post-war period, while British lines also increased their tonnage. The almost outstanding of these lines was the Ellerman and Bucknall Line, which placed into service between 1952 and 1954 the four fine passenger ships City of Port Elizabeth, City of Exeter, City of York and City of Durban, each of 13 400 tons, with comfortable accommodation for 100 passengers, and capable of doing the trip between Cape Town and London in 16 days.

Meanwhile the South African coasting fleet has also expanded, with new ships replacing old. Various new firms started operations in and after 1946 but most of them have either disappeared or been absorbed by the older companies. In 1963 the three chief coaster companies were: the Thesen Steamship Company, of Cape Town; Smith's Coasters and African Coasters, both of Durban. Each of these has six or more ships, mostly motor ships, and between them they provide services between all the seaports of Southern Africa. Plying between Durban and Mozambique ports are also two Portuguese coastal fleets. Up to 1960 there were also services to the Congo and West African ports but, owing to the new African governments in these regions, trade with South Africa has sharply diminished.

Record passages
In 1825 the first steamship to the Cape, the Enterprise, took 58 days 4 hours on the trip from Falmouth to Cape Town. The first mail steamer to the Cape, the Bosphorus, took 40 days 7 hours in 1851. The record for the General Screw Steamship Company was that of the Queen of the South, which in 1853 did the trip in 31 days 12 hours. The first Union liner to beat this was the Saxon, which ten years later came out in 31 days. In 1872 the Penguin, chartered by Donald Currie, was the first record breaker for his line when she came out in 24 days 18 ¼ hours. Thereafter the record oscillated between Union and Castle liners until the amalgamation of the two lines, except that, in 1880, the new liner Orient, of the Orient Line, did the run in 17 days 21 hours while on her way to Australia. The last Castle Line record-holder was the Dunottar Castle, which in 1890 took 17 days 19 ¾ hours and in July 1891 reduced this time to 16 days 22 ½ hours. But her record did not last for long, as in the next month the Scot beat her by a day and a half, taking 15 days 10 hours. In 1893 the Scot established her great record, which stood for nearly half a century, when in March she arrived in Cape Town after a trip from Southampton of 14 days 18 hours 57 minutes. Her best homeward run was even speedier, 14 days 6 hours 11 minutes.

These records stood until 1936, when the new motor mail-ship Stirling Castle broke them. She left Southampton on 21 August, arriving in Cape Town on 4 September after a passage of 13 days 9 hours. This was the last deliberate attempt to break the record, but it has been broken twice since then.

In 1938 the re-engined Carnarvon Castle was held up by a mechanical fault when leaving Southampton. The ship's engineers, aided by others flown from Harland and Wolff's shipyard, worked night and day to repair the damage. This accomplished, the liner left Southampton after a delay of more than a day and a half. But, by pushing her to full speed all the way, she arrived in Cape Town on time, after a passage of 12 days 14 hours. In January 1954 the Edinburgh Castle was delayed by a boiler breakdown when off Plymouth on passage to Cape Town. This could not be rectified as quickly as the breakdown in the Carnarvon Castle, as it took more than a day for the boiler to cool down sufficiently for work to be done on it. After a delay of nearly four days the ship resumed her voyage at her full speed of nearly 23 knots, to reach Cape Town in 11 days 23 hours, the record until 1965. In that year the duration of the mail-ship's trips between Southampton and Cape Town was reduced 11 ½ days, this new normal passage time being less than that of the previous record passage. The first ship to come out at this accelerated speed was the Windsor Castle, which in July 1965 came out in 11 days 10 hours.

South African steamships
The ending of the Dutch East India Company's rule of the Cape (1795) cancelled its prohibition of the building of seagoing ships in the Colony. Not much use was made of this new privilege until after the coming of the 1820 Settlers to the Cape. With the consequent opening up of new harbours such as Port Elizabeth, Port Frances (i.e. Port Alfred) and later Buffalo Harbour and Port Natal and the absence of adequate transport facilities overland, the need for coastal and short-sea services grew rapidly. So in the last three-quarters of the 19th century large numbers of small sailing vessels were put into the trade, many locally-built. The ships belonging to Barry and Nephew of Swellendam (trading through Port Beaufort at the mouth of the Berdee River), to Hendrik Stephan of Cape Town, and later to Thesens of Knysna and Samuel Crowder of Durban, were well known round the Southern African coast, and these and other ships continued to trade until about the turn of the century.

It was not, however, until 1836 that a steam-driven coasting-vessel appeared on the Cape coast. She was the Hope, a paddle-steamer of 194 tons owned by the Cape of Good Hope Steam Navigation Company, a Cape Town firm, and used successfully on the Cape Town-Port Elizabeth run until she was wrecked in 1840. This was before the dangerous stretch of coast between Cape Town and Durban was fitted with lighthouses. In 1842 her owners put the bigger Phoenix (405 tons) on the run, but when in 1850 the owners of the first mail-ship company to the Cape put the Sir Robert Peel on the route, followed by the screw-propelled Natal and Cape of Good Hope, each of 500 tons, the Phoenix ceased to be profitable. Her owners therefore in 1852 sold her and liquidated their company. The three new ships also did not last long, their service ceasing in December 1854.

Meanwhile in 1842 William Cock, the 1820 Settler who spent most of his life trying to develop the harbour of Port Frances at the mouth of the Kowie River, had built the small paddler Sir John St. Aubyn as a tug and coaster, but she was wrecked in 1843.

The Aberdeen firm of John T. Rennie and Son, which since 1849 had been sending sailing ships to India or Australia via the Cape, in 1855 had built two 300-ton barque-rigged steamers, Madagascar and Waldensian, for a service via the Cape to Madagascar. The ships were, however, immediately requisitioned for service in the Crimean War, so that it was not until 1857 that they sailed for the Cape. There they were placed in service between Cape Town and Durban, calling at intermediate ports, and carrying mails between the two places, as at that time Table Bay was the terminus of the mail-ships from England. They proved very popular in this `inter-colonial mail service' but when both were wrecked within five years Rennies abandoned the service.

Coasting steamers
In 1863 an opposition line to the Union Line, which then held the mail contract, was formed with the support of Port Elizabeth merchants to sail from Falmouth direct to Port Elizabeth. Known as the Diamond Line, it started operations in May 1864. Seeing the danger the Union Line in February stole a march on its rivals by sending its mail-ships to Port Elizabeth, thus starting that coastwise service of the mail-ships which is still in operation. Although the Diamond Line soon disappeared, the Union Line continued to send its mail-ships along the coast, finally extending the service as far as Durban.

Between 1859 and 1873 a number of steamers were put into coastal services, usually local (i.e. not along the full seaboard of Southern Africa), but none of them lasted long. Many were wrecked, while others found that their services were not profitable. Until about 1890 the coastal services were left to the sailing vessels and those coasters operated by the mail-companies, the Union Line and, after 1872, its new and formidable rival, Donald Curries Castle Line.

By 1890, however, when steam-engines had become more economical and supplies of coal more cheaply available, steam coasters again started appearing. First of these was the 360-ton Nautilus, for west coast services; then Hendrick Stephan brought out two smaller ships, Aurora and Luna. In 1896 Thesens of Knysna had their first steamer, the Agnar (427 tons), followed by the 690-ton Ingerid four years later. The Thesen fleet, which later included the Nautilus, soon became the best-known on the coast. Other small steamers started operating from Durban and Port St. Johns.

The year 1909 saw the first foreign-going steamer added to South Africa's shipping register. This was the South Africa, a 1981-ton single-screw ship built to fetch nitrates from Chile for her owners, the Cape Explosives Works (De Beers) of Somerset West, for use in the manufacture of dynamite. Some years after the First World War, however, the De Beers' scientists discovered a method of extracting nitrogen from the air, so the smart South Africa became redundant and was sold. Meanwhile Thesens had been adding to its fleet, usually with second-hand tonnage, but in 1915 with the first ship specially built to its order, the Outeniqua, a fine ship of 1019 tons.

Post-war activity
After the Peace of Versailles (1919) General Botha, the Union's Prime Minister, determined that South Africa should have her own ships; so three ex-German cargo-vessels – Apolda, Huntress and Seattle – were acquired and managed by the Marine Division of the S.A.R. & H. These 5000-tonners were used in a triangular service from Durban with maize or coal to India, thence to Western Australia with `gunnies' (jute bags), and home with jarrah and karri hardwoods for use as railway sleepers.

At about the same time the well-known London firm of Mitchell Cotts, managers of the Sun Line of cargo ships and leading coal-bunkering merchants, started, through its Cape Town subsidiary, the British Africa Shipping Company, using three ships, one a war-built `Standard' type cargo ship, the others ex-German ships. Only one of these was registered in South Africa, the Africshore (built 1888; 2612 tons). The service proved unprofitable and the ships were withdrawn after a few years.

In June 1921 the Thesen Line was bought by the Houston Line of Liverpool, one of the Clan Line group of companies today known as the British and Commonwealth group. No change was made in the names or the colouring of the ships, but they were thereafter registered in Cape Town. The Houston sent one of its smaller ships, the Hellopes (1890; 1703 tons) to join the Thesen fleet, of which she became the largest and fastest unit. She was, however, found not very suitable for Thesen's services and, after trying vainly to open new trade contacts with Madagascar and East Africa, was sent back to Britain in 1926. Also in 1921 Thesens bought from a Portuguese firm the 1200-ton Zambezia, which ran successfully for them until 1930, when she was bought back by her original owners. Four ships were added in 1922 but none lasted very long with the company except the oldest, the Pondo, which was sold in 1936.

Meanwhile the Durban sugar firm of G. C. Smith & Co. in 1920 bought two small ships, the Karin (1918; 648 tons) and the ex-dredger Kate (1894; 1154 tons), later adding to them the ex-anti-submarine gunboats Homeford and Mead (built in 1918 and 1919; just over 600 tons). These ships were used to carry sugar from Durban along the coast, usually as far as Port Elizabeth, returning with whatever cargo was available. In 1927 their owners set up a subsidiary, Smith's Coasters (Pty.) Ltd., to handle the shipping side of the business. Their original pair of ships had gone by 1930, but the latter two had long and interesting histories.

The three cargo ships owned by the S.A.R. & H. having proved profitable, but being all old, they were replaced in 1925 by the Aloe and the Erica, specially designed 5100-ton freighters, and in 1931 their improved sister Dahlia of 5200 tons. This service was usually called `Sarships'.

The great trade depression between 1930 and 1935 led to the bankruptcy of many shipping companies and the scrapping of many ships, not necessarily old, which could not be run profitably. In 1936 the Houston Line, which had lost money during the depression, sold the Thesen Line to Mitchell Cotts (South Africa of Cape Town). Again there was no change in the appearance or names of the ships. An interesting feature of the new organisation was the appointment of O. Thesen as managing director of the Thesen Line. Just before this the Thesen Line had bought a Dutch ship and renamed her Griqua (1917; 1352 tons) and she proved a very suitable ship. In 1937, however, the Outeniqua was wrecked.

There were at this time a few small coasters working out of Cape Town, three of which were subsequently bought by Thesens. Two of these were specially built motor-coasters, Dalness and Durness (1937-38; 246 tons), renamed Namaqua and Basuto by Thesens, and the Lars Riisdahl, a three-masted topsail schooner of 149 tons, the last unit of Stephan's fleet, bought by Thesens of Knysna.

In 1933 a company called African Coasters, which later became the leading coaster company in the Union, was established in Durban. It started in a small way with the small steamers Frontier (1921; 163 tons) and Border (1917; 184 tons) and the motor ship Cecile Mapleson (1924; 349 tons). The Frontier was wrecked in 1938 and replaced in the same year by a 274-ton vessel of the same name built in Holland. Smith's Coasters replaced their first pair of ships with two notable ships built in 1936-37 in Scotland, the Nahoon and the Gamtoos, each of 790 tons.

Second World War
The outbreak of war in September 1939 caused great changes in South African shipping. Several enemy ships in South African waters were immediately seized. First of them was the German Hagen (1921; 5988 tons), taken over by Sarships a few days after war was declared. An Italian ship, Erminia Mazzelia (1917; 5782 tons) was seized when Italy entered the war, renamed Agulhas and added to Sarships. The great Finnish four-masted barque Lawhill (1892; 2816 tons) was added a year later when she put into East London for stores, unaware that Finland had become one of the Union's enemies! When Denmark was overrun by the Germans three big Danish ships were re-registered in South Africa and put under the management of Sarships for the duration of the war.

During and after the war a number of new shipping enterprises were started in South Africa, but few of them survived more than five years. In 1945 E. A. Eugenides, a Greek ship-owner then resident in the Union, started South African Lines, with one ex Swedish motor ship and two old British steamers. Renamed Kaapland, Namaqualand and Damaraland, the three ships were used on various services without much profit, until in 1950 with the aid of the Union government the company was allowed to join the Shipping Conference which regulated the trade of the established lines running between Britain and the Continent and South Africa. Soon afterwards the Namaqualand and the Damaraland were sold. New motor ships, Mossel Bay, Walvis Bay and Table Bay, were added to the fleet which, after the death of Eugenides in 1954, had become German-controlled. All these ships have since been sold and the company obtained control of the Tugelaland, Kaapland (second of the name), Krugerland, Oranjeland and Komatiland, all modern ships of six to ten thousand tons each.

Meanwhile there had again been a change in the ownership of the Thesen fleet which in 1949 was bought by the well-known Liverpool firm, Coast Lines Ltd. Thesens became a subsidiary under the style Thesen's Steamship Company (Coast Lines, Africa) Limited. No change was made in the appearance of the ships but the word Coast was added after each ship's name, e.g., Namaqua became Namaqua Coast.

Safmarine
The other post-war company which made good is the South African Marine Corporation Ltd., usually called `Safmarine'. Started with American help in June 1946 chiefly through the vision and the efforts of Dr. H. J. van der Bijl, head of the Industrial Development Corporation, it acquired three ex-American `Victory' ships of 7610 tons each, had them refitted to South African standards, renamed them Constantia, Morgenster and Vergelegen (after the famous Cape Dutch homesteads of those names in the Western Province) and put them into service between South African harbours and New York and other American Atlantic seaports. The crews of these (and subsequent) Safmarine ships were Cape Coloured men, the officers being Whites, an ever-increasing number ex-cadets of the General Botha. This service prospering, it was extended to include Canadian Atlantic ports. When in 1950 Safmarine was allowed to join the Shipping Conference new services to and from Britain and the Continent were started. More ships being needed, a number were obtained on long term charter while plans were made for new building.

The first of the new programme came from Scotland in 1955, the South African Merchant (9900 tons), while shortly afterwards three very similar ships on time charter were bought and renamed South African Trader, South African Transporter and South African Pioneer (9700 tons each). At the same time the three `Victory' ships were renamed South African Vanguard, South African Venture and South African Victory. This change in nomenclature was decided on as it was found that the names of the three original ships were difficult for people overseas to pronounce.

Merchant Shipping Act
In 1951 the Merchant Shipp Act (No. 57 of 1951) was passed by the Union Parliament, and the regulations promulgated under it were published as Government Notice No. 1630 of 16 October 1959. These measures gave South Africa the most up-to-date and complete shipping legislation in the world.

Springbok Line
In 1959 a new South African line was started by the British and Commonwealth group which owns the Clan and the Union-Castle Lines. This was the Springbok Shipping Company, formed by taking over the fleet of the old-established Natal Line (Bullard King and Company), a British concern which had been owned by Union-Castle since 1919, and adding several Clan liners. All the six ships of the new fleet were called after South African antelopes with names ending in `-bok', e.g. Klipbok (ex Umtata) and Bosbok (ex Clan Sinclair). This arrangement did not last long as in 1961 British and Commonwealth acquired certain previously American-held shares in Safmarine, and arranged to incorporate the Springbok ships in the Safmarine fleet. Once again the ships were renamed, being given names beginning with `South African'. The Klipbok was sold for scrap, the others becoming the South African Farmer, S.A. Shipper, S.A. Statesman, S.A. Seafarer and S.A. Financier. Two more Clan Liners were added to Safmarine as the South African Scientist and the South African Sculptor, but after a year were transferred to the Union-Castle's cargo-fleet as the Kinnaird Castle and the Kinpurnie Castle.

Meanwhile Safmarine had started on an imposing shipbuilding programme of its own, first with a fleet of six refrigerated cargo ships of 10 200 tons deadweight and 17 knots speed, built between 1963 and 1968, mostly in Scotland and Holland, the Langkloof and her sisters, all called after well-known fruit-growing areas in South Africa; and between 1966 and 1969 a series of eight dry-cargo-ships fitted for lifting heavy weights, each of over is 12 500 tons deadweight and of 20 knots speed, the S.A. Alphen and her sisters. (In 1966 it had been decided that the `South African' prefix should be shortened to 'S.A.' on all ships so called, while those such as the Langkloof and her sisters which had no prefix should add the 'S.A.' to their names).

The year 1966 was a most important one for Safmarine. In January it was announced that Safmarine would in future share the mail contract to Britain with Union-Castle. The mail-ships Transvaal Castle (1961; 30 000 tons) and Pretoria Castle (1949; 27 500 tons) were accordingly taken over by Safmarine at Cape Town and renamed S.A. Vaal and S.A. Oranje respectively in January and February 1966. Three years later they were transformed from British to South Africa registry. The 1966 statement also announced that when the mail-ship Edinburgh Castle had to be withdrawn she would be replaced by a newly-built Safmarine mail-ship.

In 1966 also a move of great importance was made when Safmarine took over the Thesen Line from Coast Lines. At the same time African Coasters and Smith's Coasters amalgamated to form Unicorn Lines. Then Safmarine traded shares with Unicorn Lines, whereby the latter added the Thesen Line to its fleet while Safmarine acquired nearly one-third of the shares of Unicorn Lines. Thus most of South Africa's coasters became part of one large and expanding corporation, while Safmarine became a large shareholder in the new concern. The combined fleet numbered 24 units of approximately 67 000 tons deadweight. Within a few years certain of the older and smaller ships were sold, but new units were bought or built for the fleet, including the 4500-ton Tugela, Pongola and Sezela, and the 7000-ton Ridge and Verge, all built in Durban in 1967 and after. In 1973 Unicorn's fleet numbered 26 ships of about 85 000 deadweight tons. Its services now extend far beyond the coasts of South Africa.

Toward the end of the 1960's an interesting `revival' took place when the Durban-based firm of Rennies once again started coastal shipping services between Durban and Cape ports, which they had given up a century before. Today there are eight modern coasters belonging to Rennies or their subsidiary, the Green `R' Line. Their services extend beyond the Cape as far as Port Nolloth, Luderitz and Walvis Bay. 

Safmarine had meanwhile been co-operating with other concerns to run various specialised services. In 1964 it and the international firm A. P. Moller jointly formed `Safbulk', to run four bulk-carriers taking iron ore from Port Elizabeth to Japan. The two manned by Safmarine were the Safdan Helene and the Safdan Yvonne. After four years, however, these two, proving more expensive to run than anticipated, were sold. In 1965 a special ship for carrying sugar in bulk from Durban to Japan was built for S.A. Sugar Carriers, in which Safmarine have an interest. The ship, S.A. Sugela, of 24 000 tons deadweight, is manned and managed by Safmarine. A second ship was to be added for this trade.

During the next year the Industrial Development Corporation, which has a big financial interest in Safmarine, arranged for the purchase of a number of tankers of between 26 000 and 60 000 tons deadweight, to be manned and managed by Safmarine These ships, however, were registered abroad, as the oil is fetched from Arab countries which refuse to trade with South Africa.

Experience with these ships caused Safmarine in 1970 to order three giant tankers from Japanese shipyards. These appeared in 1972-73 as the Kulu and the Gondwana, of 215 000 tons deadweight each, and the 270 000-ton Sinde. One of the earlier tankers, the Thorland, was sold after a disastrous explosion, and all the others disposed of except the Burland, Kuland, Marland and Lankus, still trading for Safmarine at the beginning of 1973. In 1970, too, Safmarine announced that it was intending to procure four 30 000 ton container-ships each to carry about 2000 containers at a speed of 23 knots. In the next year Safmarine ordered from a Japanese shipyard a bulk-carrier of 15 4 000 tons deadweight, later named S.A. Vanguard, capable of carrying ore or oil. She was expected to join the fleet early in 1974.

Meanwhile a ship of a completely different sort came under the wing of Safmarine. This was the cable-ship Cable Restorer, bought by the South African government in 1969 to look after the first 1600 km of the undersea telephone cable between the Cape and Lisbon. She was brought on to the South African register in 1972, and is manned and managed by Safmarine. Also in 1969 Safmarine made an agreement with the Dutch Royal Interocean Line to take a half-share of its service to Australia and the Pacific. For this to be done a new concern, Capricorn Lines, was established, each partner holding 50 % of the shares. Two of the four ships in this service were reregistered in South Africa and all were renamed: the Straat Adelaide, Straat Amsterdam and Straat Auckland simply had the prefix `Straat' replaced by `Safocean', but the Straat Accra became the Safocean Albany. In these ships the officers are Dutch or South African, the crews Zulus. The last two ships named wear the South African ensign.

As by this time Safmarine had become an internationally known and respected shipping company it was no surprise when it was announced in January 1970 that Captain Norman M. Lloyd, R.D., R.N. R-master of the S.A. Vaal and an ex-cadet of the training-ship General Botha, had been appointed Commodore of the Safmarine fleet, the first such appointment to be made by the Corporation. Ill-health forced Commodore Lloyd to retire in October 1970 and he was succeeded as Commodore by Captain D. W. Sowden.

Present Safmarine fleet
At the time of writing (March 1973) Safmarine's fleet of mail-ships, refrigerated and dry-cargo ships and tankers totals approximately 677 000 tons gross, capable of carrying about 1 million tons deadweight of cargo, stores and fuel. Ships building or on order add to this another 230 000 tons gross or 350 000 tons deadweight, while to these must be added Safmarine's holdings in Capricorn Lines, Unicorn Lines and South African Sugar Carriers. Alone or in conjunction with associated companies Safmarine maintains services to practically every part of the world outside the Communist countries.

Merchant fleet today
The biggest of Safmarine's ships, the oil-tankers (305 000 gross tons), are not registered in South Africa and so do not wear the South African ensign. Thus the shipping statistics issued by Lloyd's Register of Shipping do not reveal the true size of the South African-owned merchant fleet. Figures available in July 1972 placed South Africa 42nd nation in the world order of tonnage, having 249 ships of 100 tons gross and upwards with a total of 511 190 gross tons. Compare these figures with those of some of the earlier returns: 1945 35 485 gross tons (end of the Second World War); 1950 139 739 gross tons (post-war boom at its height); 1953 77 789 gross tons (back to `normal').

Source: Standard Encylopeadia of South Africa

Copyright: Naspers

Acknowledgements: Naspers

St. John's Parish Cape Town

The parish of St. John’s, Cape Town, began with the arrival of Bishop Gray on that memorable Sunday, 20th February, 1848. With the Bishop were the Rev. and Hon. Henry Douglas who immediately began work in what was called the Rogge Bay area. He was Curate at the Cathedral, but on August 4th, 1848, he was licensed as Priest-in-charge of the district of St. John’s. He began by hiring a store at the corner of Bree Street and Prestwich Street – this was called St. John’s Chapel – and here the work was carried on amongst the fisher folk and others who lived in the area. Bishop Gray appealed to the public and a sum of £350 was collected; some of this was used for the fitting up of the temporary Chapel. Quite a considerable congregation was gathered and a school was carried on. There are minute books and other records of these days, as well as the registers of marriages and baptisms, and in 1853 there were issued a leaflet dated 12th May, headed:

New Church and Schools in Cape Town

“An endeavour is now being made, by the erection of a new Church in which all the sittings shall be free, to meet the urgent need of additional accommodation for the Poor which has been so long felt and acknowledged to exist in this Town. A prospectus of this Church was laid before the public about five years ago, when subscriptions for this purpose were received in Cape Town to the amount of about £350. A portion of this sum was expended at the time, in the fitting up of a store in the neighbourhood of the north wharf in Bree Street to serve as a temporary school and chapel.

In this chapel has since been collected a considerable congregation from the neighbourhood, and a large number of children in the schools: and it is to be observed, as an indication of the willingness which exists to contribute to the supply of their own spiritual needs that the current expenses of the Chapel and the schools connected with it, including the rent of the buildings, have been mainly defrayed by the voluntary contributions of the congregation.

The Church now in the course of erection is situated in the midst of that poor and densely peopled district of Cape Town which lies between Strand Street and the Sea. In this neighbourhood, as must be well known by all who are acquainted with the Town, reside most of the persons who are employed on the wharves, the boatmen, and others connected with the shipping of the port, while the lodging-houses to which the sailors usually resort when on shore, are nearby, all of them close at hand. Besides these, of whom the majority is Europeans, the district includes also a large proportion of the coloured, and the heathen, and Mohammedan population of the town.

It is for the benefit of these numerous and much neglected classes that the new Church is specially intended. There is also attached to the Church a spacious schoolroom with ample accommodation for 350 children. It is intended that these schools should be open for the instruction of the children of the neighbourhood during the day, and for adults of all classes on at least three evenings in the week.

The object in presenting this brief notice of the work now in progress, and of the intentions of those principally concerned in it is to seek the aid and co-operation of all who acknowledge the claim which these classes, for whose benefit the new Church and schools are specially intended, have upon their Christian sympathy and consideration. It should be borne in mind that Cape Town is the principal port of the whole colony and that through the means of some of the classes above referred to, viz., the sailors, boatmen, and people on the wharves, is the whole of the loading and unloading of the export and import trade of this end of the Colony conducted, and that to them in consequence, are nearly all classes more or less directly or indirectly under obligation. While from their closer connection with the interests of the mercantile community, they seem to have, upon the gentlemen of that class, the greatest claims.

It is earnestly hoped, therefore, that aid will be forthcoming for the speedy completion of the works now in progress. They are expected to cost altogether £3,250. Of this amount when the buildings were commenced there was an available sum of about £2,200, and an additional sum of £900 beyond that at present relied upon will be required. And as it is specially provided that all the sittings in the new Church shall be free, it becomes necessary that the whole cost shall be actually raised before the completion of the building, as there will be afterwards no fund from which to draw, to any extent, for the liquidation of the debts contracted in the course of erection: but the fact of the poverty of the neighbourhood and of all the new Church accommodation being provided for its inhabitants free of expense seems to give the buildings special claims upon the liberal support of the more wealthy of our community and affords grounds of confident hope that real endeavours will be made to raise the amount still required.

The site which has been at length obtained, in exchange for another piece of ground afforded for the purpose some years ago by the liberality of the government, is most advantageous, being in the very centre of the district. The nature of the ground, however being on a steep inclination, is expensive to build upon, and requires an arrangement of the school and Church which would not otherwise have been adopted. The school, of which the walls are now almost completed, constitutes the foundation of the Church. It is 14 ft. in height and is composed of the most solid masonry, being built of the dark stone of the neighbourhood, and supported by massive buttresses. The Church of which the floor will raise two steps above the level of Long Street, rises above the school, and will be built of the white free stones found in the neighbourhood of Table Mountain. It will consist of nave, chancel and two aisles.

The whole building will be of the early English style, according to plans furnished by John Calved, Esq., who has also undertaken the execution of the work. It will, when completed, form a conspicuous object from Table Bay and constitute one of the principal ornaments of Cape Town.

Contributions to the Building Fund will be thankfully received : -in Cape Town by the Hon. Ewan Christian, Esq., who has kindly undertaken the office of Hon. Treasurer; by the Very Rev, the Dean and Clergy of Cape Town; by Mr. Peuketh of the Royal Engineers, and by the Rev. Henry Douglas, Curate of the District. In England At the office of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 79, Pall Mall, London; Viscountess Milton, 4 Grosvenor Square; The Rev. E Stuart, 2 Munster Square, Regents Park, London; Hon. and Rev. Arthur Douglas; Kidderminster, Lady Alive Douglas, Dalmahoy; and Lord Aberdour, Saughton, Cramond Bridge, Edinburgh.

The promoters of this work would earnestly desire the prayers of their brethren to Almighty God that His blessing may rest upon it and render their labours effectual for the promotion of His Glory and the extension of His Kingdom upon earth.”

So ends this interesting piece of information of old Cape Town. Meanwhile, the foundation stone had been laid on the 24th of February, 1853, and the work went slowly on. The spiritual work continued to be carried on from the Chapel in Bree Street; during this year, Henry Douglas was made Dean of Cape Town, and the work continued under a succession of Priests in charge. The Church was occupied in 1856 and consecrated by Bishop Gray on St. John’s Day, 1859, and there is a letter recording the consecration and speaking of St. John’s as the Church so dear to the heart of Bishop Gray.

The Church as finished in 1856 had no porch, no circular vestry and the chancel arch came right down to the floor of the Church, and there was a chancel wall two feet high separating the nave from the chancel. Where the organ chamber now is, was a window corresponding to the other side where the memorial altar now stands. The Church was lit by candles and there were two large chandeliers hanging in the nave. Underneath the Church was the school, which was supported by a grant from the government, and had one teacher. So the Church of St. John went on in the next five years from the departure of Henry Douglas in 1853 to 1858 when the Curates who officiated were the Revs. U. F. Childe, G. M. Squibb, Daniel Smith and John Eedes, all of whose portraits, with those of later Rectors, can be seen in the Vestry.

In 1858 the Rev. Wm. Bebb was appointed first Rector, and he stayed for 9 years until 1867. Again a Curate took charge for about a year until in March, 1869, began the long and faithful ministry of the Rev. Thomas Browning. He deserves a special biography to himself. He was born in 1830, educated at Trinity College, Glasgow, and came out to South Africa when he was 26. At first he was a tutor at the Diocesan College Rondebosch, and then he became first Rector of Clanwilliam. The story of his appointment to Clanwilliam is as follows. He was at breakfast at Bishopscourt when Bishop Gray was speaking of a remote and not attractive village in sore need of a Priest. With no house, no Church and no certain income. The Bishop said, “Wherever can I find a man for such a post?” Thos. Browning answered quickly: “I will go, my Lord.” The Bishop said, when can you go, and Browning answered, “To-morrow.” So he borrowed one of the Bishop’s horses and rode off the next morning. There at Clanwilliam he built the church, making most of the church furniture himself with his own hands and at the same time building up the spiritual fabric.

Thomas Browning

Such was the man who came as Rector of St. John’s in Lent, 1869, and stayed for 40 years. The Parish had need of such a man of indomitable spirit, for in addition to a parish of 10,000 souls, there were the hospitals of which he was Chaplain and entirely responsible, and also the Breakwater convict station for whose spiritual charge he was appointed by the Government. This convict station provided the labour for the building of the breakwater which Mr. Gladstone had urged as a need for the protection of Cape Shipping in 1846. So in 1860 Prince Alfred, later Duke of Edinburgh, ceremonially began the work which figures so frequently and often in the annals of St. John’s parish.

Four times a week for 25 years Thomas Browning walked down to the breakwater prison, as well as twice on Sundays. Of this prison, Mr. L.G. Green tells us in his new book, “Tavern of the Seas.” “For human misery in the mass and over a long period I suppose there has never been anything in South Africa to match the Breakwater Prison. Some of the warders are still living- the evidence is abundant-for more than a century, white, coloured and native prisoners toiled in the quarries and harbour, carrying out one gigantic task after the other. The prison became one of the most feared in the world, a place that ranked in the criminal mind with Dartmoor and Devils Island. You can still form an idea of the terrors of this prison by walking through the open gates in Portswood Road and gazing at the treadmills and the solitary confinement cells. The gates are wide open now, but something of the atmosphere of hardship and despair still remains within the turretted wails. Here was the old Newgate under our southern sun.”

Such was the prison where Thomas Browning laboured for forty years, a labour now forgotten and never appreciated. He lived in a hired house, 44, Bree Street, and at once began his apostolic labours. St. John’s never seems to have been a Church of large numbers, for at Canon Browning’s first Easter, March 28th, 1869, the number of communicants was 56, and at Christmas that same year there were 46.

During these early years, St. John’s was assisted by the afterwards famous Archdeacon T. F. Lightfoot, who, before the building of his own Church of St. Paul in 1880, took many of the services at St. John’s in the years 1871-72, 1873 and 1874. But what it lacked in quantity it scans to have made up in quality. From people living in their dignified old houses built in the Old Dutch style and living in the streets round about, Adderley Street, Loop Street, Long Street, Buitengracbt Street, and Burg Street. Secondly, it was a haven for the poor fisher folk who lived around in Sea Street, Fish Lane, Progress Lane, Waterkant Street, Michau Street, Jarvis Street, Riebeeck Street, Prestwich Street, most of which have ceased to exist as residential areas. With the arrival of T. F. Lightfoot, many of the poorer folk who lived higher up went to the Mission begun by him in Buitengracht Street. Many of those baptised in the early years in St. John’s became the enthusiastic supporters of the famous Archdeacon at St. Paul’s.

In addition to the pastoral work, Browning started a fund for the completion of the Church. The East Window being of plain glass caused particular distress with the glare from the sun. During 1875 there are frequent references to the new East window being ordered from England, and in January, 1877, the vestry minute book states that the window had been received and had been put in place, the cost of which, with repairs to Church and school included, is placed at £119. In 1878, on the first Sunday in Lent, the new font, porch, vestry, organ chamber, with stone reredos and stone credence, were dedicated by Bishop West Jones. Most of the well-known Clergy of Cape Town were present. The total sum expended being £838 3s. 2d.

It is interesting to record that it is due to Thomas Browning that Archbishop West Jones was chosen as 2nd Bishop of Cape Town. In the historical records of the Church of the Province we are told that in 1872, while on a visit to England, he stayed at Summertown, Oxford, and marked West Jones down “as just the man for us” that is to succeed Bishop Gray. Incidentally, the same book notes of Canon Browning that he was a most interesting host, and his deep interest in Egyptian history, the Poet Dante and modern authors was much appreciated by his friends, and that once when he broke his arm one Sunday morning he first celebrated and then saw the doctor.

After the dedication of the additions to the Church in 1878 there was no more building attempted, though dissatisfaction with the situation of the school caused letters to be sent to the government about the vacant land next to the Church on the site where the Chrysler building now stands. This was subsequently offered to the parish for the sum of £300, which Canon Browning felt could not be paid. We can now reflect on the golden opportunity lost then, which can never be ours again. He was made a Canon in 1905. In his annual reports sent in year by year, we get a picture of what was happening. As he got older the Canon found the work increasingly hard. One report ends with the plaint, “My work is so overwhelming that one man cannot undertake it. I sorely need an assistant Priest but I have not sufficient income to offer. Signed Thos. Browning.” And, no wonder! With a parish that extended to the end of Green Point, which contained the New Somerset Hospital and the old Somerset Hospital, with the convict station in addition to St. John’s with its school and pastoral work.

Rev. A. W. Giddy

Year by year the work went on and had to be maintained; priests came and went but the Canon continued. At the later part of his Ministry, in 1905, came the Rev. A. W. Giddy, the son of a member of the congregation, who, on the Canon’s death in 1909, succeeded him as Rector. During these years there is little to record of general interest. The store was built in 1900 on Church land on the north side of the Church by R. H. Morris & Co., at a cost of £1,250. The Rev. A. W. Giddy stayed until 1913 when he was succeeded by the Rev. O.J. Hogarth. With this appointment we come to what may be called the modem period of St. John’s. There is ample information available for this energetic Priest began in April 1914 the monthly Church Bells, which gives all the parish information and which continues to this day, thirty-two years later. The new Rector began the Browning Memorial Fund, which at its inception had no less an ambitious scheme than. The raising of £10,000 for the building of a new Church, hall and Rectory in the new part of the parish nearer Green Point.

The old St. George’s cemetery was sold in Somerset Road and St. John’s received £3,000 as its compensation for the site, which bad been given for the erection of a new Church and hall. It is good to record that Mr. John Garlick gave the sun of £250 for the Browning Memorial and Mr. J. Foulds £150, and with this a start was made with the building of a hall at the corner of Ebenezer Road and Somerset Road in 1916, where meetings could be held. Mr. Hogarth gradually came to the conclusion that St. John’s, as situated, had no particular future, and left in 1919. All the optimistic hopes of a large Church haIl and Rectory on one site had not come to fruition, though a Rectory had been purchased in Portswood Road, Green Point.

Archdeacon Hogarth

St. John’s owes much to Archdeacon Hogarth as he afterwards became. During his time St. John’s was passing through that period of transition from a Parish Church with its purely pastoral functions, to that of a City Church with its special appeal and vocation, and at that time this was hardly realised. The three hours’ service was first held in 1916 on Good Friday.

Archdeacon Hogarth was succeeded by the Rev. J. Sellors in 1920, and soon after his arrival the Cape Provincial Council informed the Church Wardens that the site upon which the Browning Memorial Hall had been erected would be required by them. The altar was therefore removed from the Hall and placed at the end of the north aisle in St. John’s. This change was said to add to the dignity of St. John’s and also provided a fitting home for the altar. The Rev. J. Sellors’ incumbency is memorable for the foundation of St. Alban’s Church, Green Point, and as this is narrated month by month as the work progressed, I will content myself by quoting from the monthly records in Church Bells, the parish paper.

The church was deconsecrated by the Archbishop on 14 June 1970.

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