Passengers per Melrose to Natal 1880

On Saturday 10 July 1880 the Natal Mercantile Advertiser reported that 'considerable interest was manifested' on the arrival the day before at Natal from the Cape of the ship CRMS Melrose carrying 100 immigrants. The immigrants had been engaged in England by Mr Walter Peace, and had come out on the Balmoral Castle, under the auspices of the Immigration Board.

The Natal Mercury on the same day gave more detail:

'About 11.45 yesterday forenoon the CRMS Melrose was signalled from the Bluff as coming along the coast, and about 12.30 she came to the outer anchorage. It being well known that the Melrose was bringing a large number of immigrants the scene at the Point was one of unusual activity. Shortly after noon the tug Fox left the wharf for the Melrose. She had on board, in addition to the passengers for the Florence, Mr. Reid, acting for the Protector of Immigrants and Dr. Addison.

The Captain of the Melrose having declared as to the bill of health, the immigrants were at once visited by Mr. Reid. There were 100 immigrants on board ex Balmoral Castle who had come, some with free and some with assisted passage. The following are the occupations of the immigrants:- domestic servants 2, wheelwright 1, shipwright1, stone mason 2, plasterers 2, dressmaker 1, farm labourers 3, joiners 2, stereotype (sic) 1, gardeners 3, blacksmith 1, tailors 2, watchmaker 1, reader 1, cooper 1, printers 3*, machinist 1, for the Mounted Police 5.

The remainder of the immigrants are coming in the Venice. It was thought that the immigrants would be landed yesterday but the bar was so rough that it was considered advisable not to land them, but very probably they will be brought ashore today.

A great crowd, probably friends of the immigrants, had collected on the wharf on the return of the Fox but were much disappointed on learning that their friends were detained. As usual tents have been erected close to the Police Station for such of the immigrants as may have no friends to receive them. The passenger list of the Melrose will be found in our shipping column.

The following is the Melrose's report:- Left Cape Town 5th July 10.30 p.m.; arrived Algoa Bay 7th July 4.45 p.m., left 6 p.m.; arrived at East London 8th July 7.25 a.m., left 8.45 a.m.; arrived at Natal 9th July 12.15 p.m.

Experienced from Cape Town to East London light variable airs and fine weather, thence to Natal moderate breeze and fine weather.'

*Some of the immigrants were destined for employment by the firm of P Davis & Sons. The passenger list is grouped in families. Note that the first name and initial mentioned in the list is not always that of the head of the family, as some of these men had travelled ahead of their wives and children and were the Applicant rather than Immigrant; these would have been waiting to welcome the family on their arrival. A few were women travelling alone, one example being A W HUNTER who was to take up employment as a domestic servant. Some of the men were recruits for the Natal Mounted Police.

VESSELS MENTIONED

For about 20 years Melrose was a well-known visitor at Natal, regularly undertaking the coastal route between there and the Cape. Built in 1877 in Glasgow, her maiden voyage up the coast was not a success; she had to be towed back from Mossel Bay by Taymouth Castle. Weeks later, she had to put into East London with a broken shaft. She achieved dubious fame in July 1883 (presumably not the same voyage as the one reported above) when the Irishman James CAREY, a Fenian implicated in the Phoenix Park, Dublin murders of May 1882, was shot dead in the second class saloon of the Melrose shortly after she left Table Bay. Her Captain, BECHER, was later chief witness at the Old Bailey trial of Carey's killer.

The Balmoral Castle (the first ship of this name, built 1877, Glasgow, 2,48 tons) brought Sir Bartle Frere to his new appointment as Governor of the Cape in 1877. One of Currie's mailships she was soon superseded by larger and faster vessels, and by 1882 was in the hands of Spanish owners and renamed San Augustin. She then returned to the British register under her original name and was seen in Australian and New Zealand waters carrying frozen meat. Chartered by the International Line the Balmoral Castle was once more a visitor to Table Bay, until she was sold to a Quebec company, renamed Madiana and was eventually lost on a voyage from New York when she was wrecked on reefs off Bermuda 10 February 1903 carrying 82 passengers. No lives were lost.

The coaster Venice (511 tons, built 1878 in Glasgow) was intended for the South African inter-Colonial trade and ran between various coastal ports for about 20 years. Sold to an owner in Lourenco Marques in 1898 she was renamed Lusitano, later being converted to a hulk.

PASSENGERS BY MELROSE (EX BALMORAL CASTLE TO CAPE TOWN) ARRIVED NATAL 9.7.1880 

HUNTER, M 
PAWSON, W 
PAWSON, L 
PAWSON, F 
PAWSON, C 
HARDY, L 
EARNSHAW, R 
LEDDRA, J 
LEDDRA, M 
LEDDRA, M 
LEDDRA, J 
LEDDRA, M 
CONNEL, D 
CONNEL, J 
HOSKISON, M 
HOSKISON, J 
HOSKISON, J 
REID, T 
REID, M 
REID, J 
REID, M 
REID, S 
REID, T 
GORRIE, D 
GORRIE, M 
GORRIE, W 
GORRIE, J 
GORRIE, C 
BROWN, S 
GIBSON, J 
ADAMSON, G 
PATERSON, W 
HENDERSON, P 
HENDERSON, M 
HENDERSON, E 
ANDERSON, J 
CLARKSON, W 
PEDDIE, T 
NEASHAM, W 
NEASHAM, M 
NEASHAM, M 
NEASHAM, J 
NEASHAM, C 
NEASHAM, J 
YOUNG, J 
MCQUARRIE, J 
BURTON, W 
BURTON, F 
LOCKE, M 
LOCKE, B 
LOCKE, B 
FENWICK, R 
DIXON, J 
DIXON, M 
DIXON, E 
DIXON ,W 
DIXON, T 
DIXON, M 
DIXON, S 
SMITH, T 
SMITH, H 
SMITH, H 
SMITH, L 
DAWSON, W 
DAWSON, M 
DAWSON, W 
DAWSON, A 
DAWSON, J 
DAWSON, T 
DAWSON, J 
DAWSON, A 
CRAIBE, W 
CRAIBE, J 
CRAIBE, C 
CRAIBE, J 
CRAIBE, E 
WHITE, C 
EXCELL, W 
EXCELL, S 
EXCELL, S 
EXCELL, W 
EXCELL, W 
EXCELL, J 
EXCELL, A 
EXCELL, P 
SMITH, W 
SMITH, F 
EVEREST, T 
EVEREST, M 
EVEREST,A 
SHAW, J 
SULLIVAN, E 
SULLIVAN, L 
SULLIVAN, F 
SULLIVAN, P 
HUNTE, A W 
WRIGHT, D 
MCNAMARA, H 
BELLEMAINE, H 
BELLEMAINE, S 
BELLEMAINE, H 
BELLEMAINE, G 
BELLEMAINE, F 
BELLEMAINE, W 
BELLEMAINE, P 
BELLEMAINE, O 
SANDFIELD, G 
GULSON, J 
GULSON, E 
GULSON, F 
O'HARA, D 
HOPKINS, C 
HOPKINS, E 
HOPKINS, F 
WATSON, T 
WATSON, M 
WATSON, M 
GEORGE, W 
HOLLAND, C 
PUTTOCK, W

The coaster Melrose, Donald Currie's line, built 1877 Glasgow.

Souvenir Saturday: Landing by Basket at Natal

'As the mail boats now come into Durban Harbour alongside the wharf,
 this mode of transit is done away with ,,,'  remarks the sender of
this postcard, not without relief.

Passengers were still sometimes being landed by this method in 1899, including Boer War troops. Larger ships had to anchor outside though the Battle of the Bar (dredging etc to deepen the shallows) continued. 

The basket was lifted by the ship's derricks, lowered over the ship's side on to the deck of a lighter or tug below (which may well have been dancing up and down in choppy seas).On arrival the door of the basket was opened and the men emerged, slightly paler than they were before. The basket returned for another load. If there was a swell running the process could be held up for days. When ships could berth at the wharf, horses and mules were slung in canvas contraptions directly from the ship on to the wharf: terrifying for the animals but an improvement from the days of the Anglo-Zulu War  when this had to take place in the roadstead (i.e. outside the harbour). Incidentally, 352 864 horses and 104 000 mules were imported during the Anglo-Boer War, as well as 448 435 men.

.

Francis Farewell's wife

Was Francis Farewell married? - asks a reader of this blog. Yes, he certainly was. Shelagh Spencer gives the details (Vol 6 of British Settlers in Natal) as follows:

1822 Aug 17 - Farewell married Elizabeth Schmidt, daughter of Ludwig Wilhelm Schmidt ... and his wife Carolina Petronella Wolhuter, aunt of F M Wolhuter* who in later years was a prominent Pietermaritzburg resident. 

Schmidt had come to the Cape as a soldier, and afterwards had farmed at Stellenbosch. He died when Elizabeth was a child, and her mother then married Johann Ludwig Petersen, of Magdeburg, who had also been a soldier. He and Carolina had a boarding house in Cape Town, at which Farewell had been resident, hence his encountering Elizabeth. ... Under their marriage contract Farewell settled 3 000 pounds on Elizabeth.

For much more on this fascinating topic, as well as information on Farewell's rarely discussed earlier naval career, see the above source.

*F M Wolhuter is of particular interest to Mole as he claimed to have known Captain William Bell when the latter was serving on the vessel Thorne at the date of her wreck in 1831.

Mrs Farewell as she might have looked when out of doors at the encampment at Port Natal in 1826. She wears a simple muslin dress, the waist a little higher than normal,  and the sleeves with high puffs. These had been popular since the beginning of the decade. The typical long sleeves have cuffs which fall over the wrists and one wonders how the daily tasks were carried out with this extraordinary impediment. Mrs Farewell wears a Cape-made plaited straw bonnet over her white cornette cap. [Drawing by Daphne Strutt.]

Passengers to Natal per Globe 1850

Natal Witness 13 September 1850
ARRIVAL OF THE GLOBE
This vessel, after a fast passage of 76 days from London, was apparently able to enter the harbour immediately rather than anchoring outside in the roadstead.

The report in the Natal Witness September 13 1850 mentions that she carried 'Messrs JC Byrne and Co's large iron hotel' among her other cargo. Packed into crates, the corrugated iron sheets were intended to provide an 'instant' 22-room structure, another of Byrne's brilliant but ill-fated notions. Moreland, through shortage of money, was forced to offer the materials for sale to the Government but this idea came to nought and eventually the hotel, never assembled, formed part of the assets auctioned off in Byrne's insolvent estate.

Among the passengers was Charles BARTER (incorrectly given in the Witness as BARBER), later author of 'The Dorp and the Veld', 1852. Robert BABBS became a pioneer sugar farmer. Daniel WASHBOURNE brought with him the tools required for erecting Byrne's hotel, and was for a time employed by Moreland as a clerk and tutor to the latter's children. Robert DAWNEY became the successful owner of a Pietermaritzburg pharmacy, and a fellow passenger, CHALLINOR, also prospered as a chemist.

ARRIVED

September 4th - The schooner Henry Warburton, 152 tons, from Liverpool, Captain P.W. Pentin. To come into the Harbour the first fair wind. Ten cabin passengers, and general cargo.

Mr Holden Splatt 
Mr James West, senior 
Mr James West, junior 
Mr Henry West 
Mr Richard Houston and lady 
Mr Wm. Booth, and man servant 
Mr Frank Eastwood 
Mr Henry Eastwood 
Mr Edward Parke Lamport, Agent.

September 6th - Hannah, schooner, G. Wetherall, from Cape Town.

September 7th - The barque Globe, 332 tons, Capt. John Liddell, came in without having anchored outside. Sailed from London on the 23rd of June. She contains Messrs J.C. Byrne and Co's large iron hotel, and general cargo.

The following is a list of the passengers:

Messrs 
Charles Barber (Barter) 
Richard Lawton 
Daniel Washbourne 
Henry J White and lady 
James Handley 
Henry Green 
Wm M Ravden (Rawden) 
HJ Leuchars 
Alfred George 
Robert Robertson and son Henry 
Wm Chutre (Chuter) 
John Gavin 
Wm Lewis 
GJ Challinor, lady and child 
Robert Babbs and lady 
Robert Dawney 
EP Lamport, Agent

SAILED 
The Sandwich, for Re-Union, with Cattle. 
The Fabberty, for Mauritius, with Cattle. 
The Rosebud, for Cape.

INSIDE 
Sarah Bell, Hannah, Globe, Flora, and Henry Warburton.

VESSELS EXPECTED 
From London 
Diamond, Toronto, Highland Maid, Nile and Justina.

From Hull 
Palace, Haidee, and a Schooner.

From Liverpool 
Unicorn

From Launceston 
Lalla Rookh

From Cape Town 
Water Witch

What does Heritage mean to You?

How will you be celebrating Heritage Day in South Africa today?

Perhaps because I’m a family historian I find heritage lurking in the minutiae of my ancestors’ lives, those heirlooms and memorabilia which are tangible links to the individuals whose DNA I carry.

For me, a Voortrekker woman’s kappie (sunbonnet) with its wondrously delicate, complicated stitchery, preserved behind glass in some museum, is more resonant, provokes more emotion, than a vast circle of bronze ox wagons standing silently on lonely veld, or the forbidding brick edifice of the Voortrekkermonument. 

On this Heritage Day, take a photograph of a small but vital item in your family history collection: a letter signed by your ancestor, a diary page, a medal (not forgetting its all-important engraved inscription on the rim), an obscure ambrotype in its frame, a handmade lace fichu miraculously preserved in tissue paper, a group photo – while you’re at it add the names of as many of the people as you can identify and ask other family members for help with those to whom you cannot put a name. Nothing worse than unidentified group pics.

My great grandfather’s service papers, giving details of his career in the British army up to his discharge at the end of the 1870s, mean more to me than monuments and scattered white stones on the field at Isandhlwana. Indeed, does that battle-scarred place, heavy with history and blood, require anything more than the mountain itself to mark the honour and courage of those British and Zulu soldiers who fell in its shadow? In this instance, the mountain, intrinsically part of our ‘natural’ heritage (like all mountains, trees, flora and fauna), takes on a separate, significant role emerging as ‘cultural’ heritage. 

Take a photograph of Isandhlwana or any geographical feature – or, if you prefer, a listed building, a plaque, a statue - of heritage import in your area and submit it to Wiki Loves Monuments – the annual competition closes today. Google it. While you’re on those pages have a look at other people’s submitted photographs showing what heritage means to them. It is a staggering and enlightening collection.

As family historians we find heritage speaking to us from gravestone inscriptions, where fortunate enough to find these have avoided vandalism or greed and still retain their lead letters – so many have been picked out of their granite beds, destroying vital information and defacing the memorial. Sometimes even the graves themselves are opened, in the vain hope of finding treasure trove within, but in the process unnecessarily disturbing ancestors whose bones lie there. 

Whose ancestors they may be is immaterial: they are, like the Unknown Soldier, representative of ALL ancestors and deserving of respect. Let us NOT vandalise any graves this Heritage Day! Take a photograph of a family tombstone – or ANY memorial inscriptions accessible to you and perhaps vital to other family historians; share them by putting the photos online through eGGSA’s gravestone volunteer project. Google it.

On Heritage Day spend some time tidying and consolidating your family history files, making sure they are backed up and also ensuring that, should you be run over by a bus tomorrow, someone else would be able to pick up the torch and continue your work with a reasonable understanding of the material you have collated so neatly! Tempus fugit. Start/Finish writing that family narrative! Publish or Perish!

And while you stand around the traditional Heritage Day braai with loved ones and other relatives, talk about your shared ancestors, spread the word, engender some interest in the topic among the younger generation (they are the ones who will pick up that torch of yours later), show them some of your jealously hoarded memorabilia, tell ancestral anecdotes which will remain in their memories and be retold on other Heritage Days. Phone or email a distant relative, visit a lonely one – make their day: they all have stories to tell, photographs and information to share.

These are just some of the hundreds of things you could do to mark this Heritage Day – make it special, productive and enjoyable rather than just another blank day in the calendar before, inevitably, work obtrudes and the Present once again gets in the way of the Past.

Happy Heritage Hunting.

Hamilton Family Group at Genoa, Stevenston, Ayrshiren

Passengers to Natal per Dane, Priscilla 1863

Natal Mercury June 23 1863

Arrived:
June 20, RMS Dane, from Cape Town and intermediate ports. Cargo, general. 
PASSENGERS 
From Cape Town: 
Lieut Harrison 
Messrs 
P Milner 
Briggs 
Baumes 
Hofstedt 
From Algoa Bay: 
Messrs 
Schieffs 
Moreland 
Tomlin 
Mr Henry (Consul General Belgium) 
Mr and Mrs Botha and child 
Mr and Mrs Thornhill and three children 
From East London: 
Miss Driver 
Messrs 
R Walker 
Johnson 
Lieut Tolner (Tollner) 
Dr Tate 
Mr and Mrs McKay and two children 
Professor Hansen 
Report: 
Left Table Bay June 12 at 3 p.m., arrived at Algoa Bay on the 15th, at 1 p.m.; left Algoa Bay on the 16th, at 1 p.m., arrived off East London on the 17th, at 1 p.m., sea too high to land; left East London on the 18th, at 1 p.m. arrived at Port Natal and came to anchor on the 20th, at 10.30 a.m. 
- J Brown, agent.

June, Priscilla, barque, 253 tons, G Brown, from London, sailed 2nd April. General cargo. 
PASSENGERS: 
Messrs 
J Vincent 
Herbert 
Reginal Bowers 
Gadsden 
Mrs Greening, son and daughter 
- Handley and Dixon, agents.

June 21, Eleonore, barque, 302 tons, C Jonains, from Algoa Bay, sailed 10th June. 
PASSENGER: 
Mr Hugill

June 21, Eveline, schooner, 101 tons, G Murison, from Cape Town, sailed 16th June, 
PASSENGER: 
Mr HB Portland 
- McArthur and Co., agents.

Sailed:

June 18, Heathel [sic, Heather] Bell barque 257 tons, R Thomas, to Ceylon, in ballast. 
PASSENGERS: 
Mrs Eastwood and two children.

Passengers to Natal: Bermondsey and William Shaw 1862

Natal Witness 17 October 1862

ARRIVALS
Oct 9th - William Shaw, schooner, 39 tons, Ledson, from Port Elizabeth.
GC Cato, agent.

Oct 12th - Bermondsey, ship, 597 tons, Norsworthy, from London; sailed 9th April.
Agent: the Captain.

PASSENGERS
Mr and Mrs Yearsley
Mrs R Norsworthy
Mrs Turner
Miss Oliver
Miss B Flower
Miss EF Burnett
Messrs
Wood
Bowman
Taylor
White
Oldham

For Moulmein (in Burma?)
Messrs
Warwick
Simkins

Souvenir Saturday: Durban Market Square 1860s

Market Square, Court House, Post Office, Mart etc, Durban.ca 1862

This is as close as we'll get to a contemporary photo of Durban when my great grandfather Thomas Alfred Gadsden arrived on the barque Priscilla in 1863. His first employment was as turnkey at the local gaol, unfortunately not shown in this picture.


molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/natal-immigration-in-1860s.html

molegenealogy.blogspot.com/p/keeper-of-bluff-light.html

St Helena Records on Display for Heritage Day

Heritage Day Exhibition

Friday 26 September
Time: 9:00-16:30
Saturday, 27th
Time: 9:00-12:00
At Meadowridge Library, Howard Rd, Bergvliet. 

On display will be St Helena Records, Census Lists, family trees and more.

Entry is free. 

Contact Merle Martin
South African St Helenian Heritage Association.
0217018422,
0768433541,
saint.helena.island@gmail.com

Passenger Arrivals at Natal 1846

January 3 1846 - Arrival of Margaret from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal

January 4 1846 - Arrival of Mazeppa from Port Elizabeth, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mrs Watts
1 Steerage

January 15 1846 - Arrival of Louisa from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mr, Mrs and L Buchanan and 4 children
Messrs Lodewyk, Munting, Tayler and Cato, 1 servant
6 Steerage

January 20 - Arrival of California from Algoa Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mr and Mrs Shepstone and 4 children
Messrs Jarne, Daniel and Green, 2 servants

Durban from Berea ca 1850 by James West

Passenger Arrivals at Natal 1845: the Rosebud, George H Harrison

December 3 1845 - Arrival of Rosebud from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
His Honour the Lieut Governor and 3 Miss Wests
Mrs Murison and child
Mr and Mrs Poetter and 5 children
Mr Gregor and child
Miss Thorne and 5 servants

December 3 1845 - Arrival of George H Harrison from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
The Recorder, Mrs, 2 Miss, Mr Henry Cloete and 4 children
Messrs Van Der Byl, Joubert and Chrappirie [? Chiappini]
11 in the Steerage

December 28 1845 - Arrival of Pilot from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
The Secretary and Mrs Moodie and six children
2 Mr Hardings
Col Piper RE
Lieut Jervois RE
Lieut Gregory RA
Mr Johns
Mr Melville
11 servants and 2 Steerage (Kinghurst and Williamson)

Passenger Arrivals Natal per Douglas 1949 plus William Ireland

 Natal Witness 2 March 1849

The following passenger lists include well-known coastal vessels which made regular voyages between Table Bay and Natal: the Gem, commanded by W. GLENDINING, Douglas with her captain, SMERDON, and Rosebud, under A MURISON. At 100 tons and less, these schooners were small - the mere thought of the choppy passage from the Cape makes one feel queasy. (Incidentally, it was the Rosebud which brought J C BYRNE to Natal from Table Bay in July 1851 to attend the proceedings of his bankruptcy case.)

Of particular note is the arrival of Rev Wm IRELAND, the American missionary and his first wife, Jane. They had called briefly at the Cape, leaving for Natal on January 14th and reaching that port just under a month later. It's possible that the Douglas had made a stop at Algoa Bay, as this ship usually made the journey in about 8 - 11 days, weather permitting.

Rev IRELAND was destined to take over from J C BRYANT (see letter from him in article on the Aliwal) who was retiring due to ill-health from the mission at Ifume where he had laboured for two years. This mission station was 35 miles south of Durban and 6 miles inland from the sea. The first Mrs Ireland died on January 25 1862, and the widower went home to America, bringing back with him to Natal a second wife, in 1865 - he chose well: she was Oriana GROUT, daughter of the veteran missionary, Rev Aldin GROUT. [See Pictures at end of Page.] Between 1865 and 1881, IRELAND was the principal of the now famous Adams College, and 5 children of the 7 born to him and Oriana survived.

In 1885 Wm Ireland read his historical paper on the occasion of the Jubilee of the American Mission; the basis for this paper was his original "Sketch of the Zulu Mission" written some time earlier. He died in 1888, and his widow was put in charge of the girls on the Mission. She returned to America in 1897, dying there in 1902, but their daughter Lilla Lacon IRELAND is recorded as being at Adams Mission in 1900. She too returned briefly to America, but came back to Natal, remaining until the 1930s and teaching at Inanda Seminary.

Rev IRELAND's rooms are still preserved at Adams College Museum, and his name and work are remembered with gratitude and esteem to the present day. Recently two of his descendants, Isabel JACKSON and Jane McINNES, visited Natal from Michigan and were welcomed by Adams College. It was a most auspicious moment for their pilgrimage, since Adams were celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the mission.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE

ARRIVALS

Feb 8th - Gem, schooner, 102 tons, W Glendining, from Table Bay, 12th January, from Algoa Bay, 29th January. About 90 tons general cargo.

PASSENGERS

From Cape Town 
Capt Griffith 
Lieut Rollins, 45th Regiment 
Mr A Patrick 
Mrs Edwards 
Jos Helman

From Algoa Bay 
Messrs 
Kuhr 
Caldecott and son 
Mrs Webb and child 
Four Labourers in the Steerage. 
H Jargal, Agent.

Feb 15th - Douglas, schooner, 99 tons, W Smerdon, from Table Bay, January 14th. Cargo sundries. 
PASSENGERS 
Mrs Capt Shaw, 3 children, and 3 servants 
Mr and the Rev Mr Ireland, American Missionary 
Rev J Green, Rector of Pietermaritzburg 
Mr Green, Surveyor, and Mrs Green, 1 child 
and servant, Mr Whitta 
Two Steerage passengers 
GC Cato, Agent.


Feb 16th - Rosebud, schooner, 83 tons, A Murison, from Cape Town, Jan 21st. 120 tons general cargo. 
PASSENGERS Miss Simpson 
Mrs Short and family 
Mrs Brown and family 
Messrs 

Fordham 
Cannon 
Herbert 
JA Ross, Agent.

DEPARTURES

Feb 23rd - Douglas, in ballast. 
PASSENGERS 
Major and Mrs Seagram and child 
Messrs 
Marquard 
Hursthouse 
Vos 
Smuts 
Martin 
GC Cato, Agent

The Rosebud is supposed 
to have sailed yesterday.

VESSELS EXPECTED

The Norfolk, from Algoa Bay.
GC Cato, Agent. 
Workington, from Table Bay.
GC Cato, Agent. 
The Romp and the Elizabeth Jane were advertised in London to leave on the 10th or 15th November, and about 40 passengers had taken their passage for Natal. 
GC Cato, Agent.

Rev William and Oriana Ireland of
Adams Mission

Passenger arrivals at Natal 1847 continued

June 24 1847 - Arrival of Sarah Bell from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Captn Parish
Ensign Smyth
10 soldiers
45th Regt
Mr and Miss Holl
P Short
2 soldiers

July 29 1847 - Arrival of Norfolk from Algoa Bay, bound for Port Natal
July 31 1847 - Arrival of Flora from Algoa Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Captain Murison and family
Miss Cordon
Rev Mr and Mrs McKenny
Mr Elster
Mr Muller
Mr Rossouw
3 in Steerage

August 7 1847 - Arrival of Gem from Cape Town, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mr Angas and Servant

August 27 1847 - Arrival of Rosebud from Cape Town, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Dr Blaine
Mr Cullen
Mrs Gregory
Mr Roser

August 27 1847 - Arrival of Nukut from Cape Town and Buffalo River, bound for Port Natal
September 10 1847 - Arrival of Sarah Bell from Bombosi, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Messrs P and F Milner

September 22 1847 - Arrival of Elizabeth from Bombosi and Buffalo River, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mrs Poppe

September 24 1847 - Arrival of Douglas Buffalo River, bound for Port Natal
September 27 1847 - Arrival of Rosebud from Cape Town, bound for Port Natal
September 13 1847 - Arrival of Vibilia from Algoa Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mr Elster

September 13 1847 - Arrival of Gem from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mr C Boucher
Mr Freeman
Mr Smyth

Feniscowles farm Umbilo Natal: Eliza Feilden's home

Passenger arrivals Natal 1847

February 24 1847 - Arrival of Nancy from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mr and Mrs Steytler
Mr and Mrs Davis
Miss McRae
1 Steerage

March 4 1847 - Arrival of Elizabeth from London, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Messrs
Hunt
Davidson
Royal

March 11 1847 - Arrival of Flora from Algoa Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Kuhr
Ham
Miss Cooper

April 5 1847 - Arrival of Sarah Bell from Algoa Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Mr Taylor 45th Regt
Mrs Taylor
Mr Graham Taylor
Dr Sparrow
Asst Surgeon 45th Regt
Messrs
Board
White
Davis
Proudfoot
(See 'Witness' April 9th)

April 7 1847 - Arrival of Rosebud from Table Bay, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Bergthiel
Suffert
Manual
Lawton
Woodley
Herbert
Mrs Lawton
Murison
T Milner
Mr Anderson
5 Steerage Passengers

May 22 1847 - Arrival of Mazeppa from Port Elizabeth, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Cabin
Revd and Mrs Holdron and family
Miss Campbell
Steerage
Mr and Mrs Donoghue and 6 children
Miss Hawkins

June 6 1847 - Arrival of Le Packet from Isle of Bourbon, bound for Port Natal
June 10 1847 - Arrival of Nimrod from Simon's Bay, bound for Port Natal, and from Algoa Bay, bound for Mauritius
Passengers
Lieut Cameron
45th Regt Landed per mail and proceeded immediately.

June 18 1847 - Arrival of Rosebud from Cape Town, bound for Port Natal
Passengers
Messrs
Ross
Cobin
Taylor
Watermeyer
Miss Watermeyer
Captain Lachlan
Mr ?Hood
Mr Sikkerling [sic]
Mrs Mandy
Mrs Brewer and child
Mrs Forbes and child
Steerage
Mr McDonald
Mr Miller

Durban docks ca 1887: was your ancestor here?

Durban Docks circa 1887. Extremity of Point Wharf showing original Wharf Shed A erected in 1881 (with curved roof) and the Sheers erected at the end of the main wharf, the total length of which at this period did not exceed 1500 feet. In the left foreground is a craft known as the Anchor Boat used for laying moorings about the Bay. The funnel of one of the paddle tugs (probably Forerunner) can be seen in front of the ship in full sail. To the right of A Shed is the Customs House.

Passengers per Tugela, Prince Alfred and Gordon, Natal 1865

Arrival of TugelaL Natal Mercury 28 February 1865

This vessel was one of Rennie's Aberdeen Direct clippers, most of them under 500 tons. The ships of this line took from 49 to 95 days to make the passage direct from London to Durban. On this voyage, under Captain STUART, the Tugela departed Dec 11 1864 and arrived at Natal Feb 24 1865. According to a report elsewhere in the same edition of the Mercury, the journey had been very much protracted by foul winds. She had been within 250 miles of Natal twelve days before her arrival, but had to wait for a change of wind in order to make the Port. "She brings an addition to our population of more than a hundred souls ... Eighty of them came out under Government auspices ... and they seem a happy and very respectable party of settlers."

Note the division of the list into Cabin, Second and Third Cabins and Government Emigrants - but at least the latter are individually named, which wasn't always the case in newspaper columns.

The Government passengers wrote a letter to the Surgeon on board the Tugela, Dr J WRIGHT MATTHEWS, signed by all of them, expressing their gratitude and appreciation for his "assiduous attention", affording them the benefits of his medical skill during the voyage and the alacrity with which he had answered every call in case of sickness. The saloon passengers wrote a similarly congratulatory letter to the Captain, expressing themselves fortunate "in our vessel, in the officers and crew" as well as the Captain himself, and that "should we have again to commit ourselves to the perils of the deep, may we have the good fortune to meet with so good a ship and so excellent a commander."

This polite and pleasant custom of a letter of thanks to the Captain was a feature of the earlier voyages, before the anonymity of many sailings and numerous Captains rendered such expressions obsolete.

Feb 24, Tugela, ship, 476 tons, GR Stuart, from London, sailed Dec 11.
PASSENGERS
Cabin
Mr and Mrs Fraser
Mr CT Saner
Mr N Briggs
Mr J Pinchin
Mrs Anne M Jones
Messrs WM H and George P Jones
MR I Bond
Mr Ebenezer Pearse
Mr Henry Winter
Mr G Westray
Mr R Acutt
Dr JW Matthews
Second and Third Cabins
Mr G Hyde
Mr C Thompson
Mr and Mrs Wood
Messrs
Swiften
R Wood
WJ Minchinton
Jas Bonifant
Edmund Edgar
Geo Platt
Alfred Adams
CT Wordsworth
Jas Liddall
Government Emigrants
Miss Anandale
Christopher, Elizabeth and Charlotte Allen
Robert Beck
Martha, Emily, John, James and Willliam Baxter
Emma Boyer
John Brower
Ebenezer Crowley
James Craggs
Elizabeth and William Child
Alex, Christina and Ann Chadwick
Eliza and Jas Duggin
Joh, Margaret, William and Thomas Elgin
Ann, Theophilus, and Robert Gregory
John, Mary, Louisa, Rachael and Emma Green
Edith Gillett
David and James Guthrie
H Hill
Jabez Hall and wife
George Hill
Jane Hunter
Francis Wm Hill
Jane Kelly
James and Margaret Kerr
Henry Lee
Harriett A Lane
Charles G Levy
Anne and A Mc Roberts
David Munro
Thos Osborne
Richard Pigeon
William, Mary A and Thomas Palframan
William Rocket
Henry Roberts
Mary St Leger
F Southam
Francis Spinklewood
Richard, Mary, Ellen, Sarah, Richard, and Fredk Stone
S, Edith, Henry, William and Sarah Wood
Margaret Thompson
Agnes Wright
H Wood,
Muirhead, Findlay and Co, agents.

Feb 24, Prince Alfred, barque, 258 tons, Airth, from London. General cargo.
PASSENGERS
Cabin
Mr and Mrs Colevile and five children
Miss Cutting
Miss Williams
Mr Rolls
Muirhead, Findlay and Co, agents.

Feb 26, Flora, schr., 113 tons, Spalding, from London, sailed Dec 9.
Jno Brown, agent.

Feb 26, Gordon, barque, 151 tons, A Watson, from London, sailed Dec 9.
PASSENGER
Mr Alfred Bennett Gordon
John Brown, agent.