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

Tags: Castle-Union rivalry, Passengers, Shipping, Shipping conference, South African steamships