When my great grandfather, Thomas Gadsden, arrived in Natal on the barque
Priscilla in 1863, there was no lighthouse on the Bluff – the wooded promontory
which sheltered the harbour
of Port Natal, later named D’Urban.
Despite numerous shipwrecks in the area, especially during
the settler ship era of the 1850s, and the pleas of the town’s inhabitants, no
beacon had yet been erected as an aid to navigation. Whether Thomas noticed the
lack of a light on the Bluff in the early days of his arrival is not recorded,
and in any case his priority at that stage was to find gainful employment. He
acquired the position of turnkey at the Durban
gaol, probably not a well-paid occupation and certainly without much job
satisfaction. It seems likely that Thomas would look around in the hope of more
suitable employment.
The British colonial government finally overcame its
reluctance to provide a lighthouse for the Port and the foundation stone was
laid on 22 November 1864. However, with various delays impeding progress, it
wasn’t until two years later that the structure was completed in October 1866.
During that time, Thomas had undoubtedly become acquainted with the famous Port
Captain, William Bell, whose daughter Eliza Ann would later be Thomas’s wife,
and there must have been many an unofficial discussion on the topic of the new
lighthouse. Whether Thomas went through
normal bureaucratic government channels, making application for the position of
lightkeeper, with his father-in-law to be putting in a good word for him, or
whether Bell
had more influence in the matter, is uncertain. There’s no question that
Thomas’s future looked much brighter: he would have a reasonable and regular
salary and an extra perquisite in the shape of a keeper’s cottage.
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| Opening of the Bluff Lighthouse 1866 |
As far as we know, Thomas had no experience of
lighthousekeeping, though he may have had some maritime knowledge which would
come in handy. His mother Mary Ann Gadsden had been part-owner of at least one
vessel, the Susan, which is on record as having been involved in a collision
with another ship on a voyage between Liverpool and Waterford, Ireland,
in the 1830s. In any case, as soon as
Thomas was appointed as keeper of the Bluff lighthouse he would be given very
detailed instructions as to what was expected of him. He would soon discover
that lighthousekeeping was no sinecure.
At that time, Natal was a
fledgling colony, its population diminished in numbers since a downturn in the
economy during the 1860s had led to some of the settlers of the Byrne years
leaving for fresh pastures in Australia,
or even returning to England.
The town was still a straggle of unpaved streets and most houses were of wattle
and daub, tough some public buildings, such as the Court House, were of stone.
The Bluff was sparsely populated, densely wooded and
inaccessible other than by boat across from the Point or via a track constructed by Richard Godden for
conveying building materials. Therefore, the lighthousekeeper would not be in
easy reach of such civilization as existed below in the town of Durban. Provisions of all
kinds would have to be brought by boat and then hauled up the steep hill to be
offloaded at the lighthouse. Another serious matter was the lack of fresh
water, which also had to be carried in barrels for the use of the keeper and his
family. Thomas wrote to the authorities in some distress concerning the water
problem. It would not be completely resolved for some time and would have
drastic results for one of Thomas’s children, Phillip, who died in infancy of
typhoid (a water-borne disease rife in the Colony until well into the twentieth
century).
Hunting was good, the Bluff being home to various species of
buck as well as monkeys, birds and other wildlife. The sea was at Thomas’s
doorstep and like most keepers he would have spent some of his spare time
fishing.
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| View of Durban and the Bay from the Bluff, as Thomas Gadsden would have seen it. |
Unfortunately, Thomas left us no written record of his years
as keeper, though gradually a picture has been built up of what his life must
have been like. It was in many ways idyllic, looking out over the beautiful Bay
with its continual stream of shipping, happy with his lovely wife and their
growing children and kept busy with his duties. His brother-in-law, Douglas
Bell, became Assistant Keeper for some years. The keepers worked in shifts and
there was plenty for them both to do, keeping the equipment maintained and
everything shipshape and well-polished. Failure to keep the light burning
throughout each night would result in instant dismissal.
How Eliza Ann adjusted to the somewhat isolated life, near
the town but not of it, is not clear. The shock of losing her eldest child,
Phillip, must have been severe, though infant mortality at the time was
generally high. She had two further sons and two daughters, but like most
mothers never forgot her lost first-born.
We know of his existence only through his baptismal record in the St Paul’s register. From
the time of Phillip’s death Eliza Ann’s health slowly deteriorated and Thomas,
anxious about her, began to suffer from stress.
The constant night watches took their toll on Thomas's own
health and he made several applications to be removed from his lighthouse
duties and be given other employment.
After an argument with the then Port Captain, Alexander
Airth (William Bell had died in 1869) Thomas was dismissed from his post. He
pleaded to be reinstated, writing that he and his wife and children were
reduced to living in a tent on the Bluff.
His plea went unheard. This disaster took a further toll on
Eliza Ann’s health. Eliza Ann’s widowed mother was in no position to assist the
little family as she had been left in straitened circumstances after Bell’s death: George Cato, Bell’s
old friend from Cape sailing days, continued to pay Bell’s salary to his widow until her own
death.
Records show that Thomas’s position changed to that of
Timekeeper for the Harbour Board and he remained in that post until his death
on 25 October 1893 at the age of 54.
Eliza Ann survived him by seven years. Their eldest son William married, had a
daughter and died of enteric at Verulam in 1900 in his early twenties. Of the
other siblings Faith and Hope both married, and Sydney Bartle was the only one
of Thomas's children to continue the Natal Gadsden line, with the appearance in
1910 of William Bell Gadsden, named for Eliza Ann's father, the Port
Captain.
The lighthouse remained as Thomas Gadsden knew it until July
1922, when improved optical apparatus was introduced. Some ten years later came
the installation of electricity, and the iron tower, considered by then to be
unsafe, was encased in concrete. After seventy three years in service, the old
Bluff Light shone for the last time on 15 October 1940 and the following June
the lighthouse was demolished.
