Algoa Bay - Port Elizabeth - shipping

The surf-boat, Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth. 

                                                    

Cape Shipping 1829 including Conch under Cobern

The schooner Conch was making regular sailings carrying colonial produce and passengers between Algoa Bay and Table Bay, and other ports, before William Bell took over her command. Here she is under another master, Cobern, variously given as 'J' and 'T' but probably the same person. Extract from SACA 31 Dec 1829.

Ships in Algoa Bay in the 1820s, by Thomas Baines

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 3 Burton/Gardiner

Wreck of a Brig

The Grahamstown Journal, founded in 1831, kept everyone abreast of maritime and other news. 

In March 1837 this newspaper regretted ‘to announce that in Algoa Bay during a severe gale on Friday last the Maria parted from her moorings and in spite of every effort came ashore. No loss of life was sustained, but the vessel, we understand, is a total wreck.’

The 159 ton British-built brig, under command of Captain J Burton, was caught in one of Algoa’s notorious south-east gales on 11 March, when her windlass broke and she ended up on the rocks.* It was a fate that could be suffered by any ship visiting this Bay. Fortunately all souls were saved and Captain Burton, though not in the way he might have chosen, acquired a certain immortality by virtue of the press reference. 

In the same month, the Journal reported the arrival of Captain [Allen] Gardiner, R.N., at Cape Town, ‘with Missionaries of the Established Church, for Port Natal.’ 

Two months later, Gardiner’s young daughter Julia Charlotte Francis, who had been in declining health, died on board the brig Skerne (Captain W Rice) during passage to Port Natal. She was buried at Berea. In 1851 Gardiner would die of starvation and thirst on the unfriendly shores of Tierra del Fuego, a martyr to the missionary cause.

Death of Gardiner Sept 1851

Memorial to Julia and her father
http://www.eggsa.org/library/main.php?g2_itemId=1724128
Note that the surname was GARDINER
not GARDENER as given on this M.I.

**windlass: a winch turned by a crank or lever to wind up rope or chain e.g. anchor cable

http://www.natalia.org.za/Files/4/Natalia%20v04%20article%20p28-41%20C.pdf  Gardiner memoir by his wife

Coastal Ships, Mariners and Visitors: Cape Colony 19th c 2

PORT ELIZABETH IN THE 1830s

Port Elizabeth Algoa Bay by Thomas Baines

Arriving eventually at Algoa Bay after an uncomfortable voyage up the coast from Table Bay, Cornwallis Harris was not favourably impressed with what he found:

‘Algoa Bay is exceedingly open and exposed and the anchorage very insecure. During high winds ships not unfrequently go on shore, a tremendous surf often rendering it dangerous, and at times even impossible, for boats to land. We were fortunate in being able to prevail on the Port Captain to take us ashore in his barge … The town of Port Elizabeth, though rapidly increasing, does not consist of above one hundred and fifty houses.  It is built along the sea-shore on the least eligible site that could have been selected.’ 

In this unpromising spot Cornwallis Harris and party attempted to buy horses to continue their journey inland.

 ‘We understood (these could) be obtained in the adjoining districts in considerable numbers, and of an excellent quality.  It was with inconceivable difficulty, however, that we at length succeeded in procuring two miserable quadrupeds, that appeared to have scarcely sufficient stamina to carry us to Graham’s Town. The recent (Frontier) war having trebled the price of every thing, and of live stock in particular, the demands upon us were exorbitant.’

THE SCOREY AND CAITHNESS FAMILIES

Of greater interest than Cornwallis Harris’s opinion of Port Elizabeth and its available horseflesh is his casual remark, ‘We tarried a week at Mrs. Scorey’s fashionable hotel.’

This hostelry, previously the home of Captain Moresby and said to be the first private house built in Port Elizabeth, was called Markham House. It had changed hands and as a hotel had been run successfully by a lady named Anne Robinson. She had married in 1829 at Port Elizabeth one James Scorey, master of the schooner Flamingo. (Scorey is noted for having put up a flagstaff for the use of the port in 1829.) At the time of Cornwallis Harris’s visit in 1836 Anne was Mrs. Scorey and her inn with its elevated position and riverside garden continued to be popular. The open space in front of the hotel was known to local residents as Scorey’s Place. The hotel was doing well enough for James Scorey to retire from the sea in 1834.

James Scorey was the uncle of Mary Ann Caithness (b 1820). Mary Ann’s mother (confusingly another Ann Scorey, b 1796) had married James Caithness snr (Master Mariner) at Eling, Hampshire in 1814. James Ramsey Caithness jnr. (b 1815) following in his father's footsteps and perhaps encouraged by reports sent ‘home’ by James Scorey, took up residence at the Cape and plied the coastal trade. He became captain of the brig Lady Leith (which met with disaster in 1848). Henry George Caithness commanded at various dates the vessels Louisa and Fame.**

Scorey's Hotel is the large building at left, with
 the gardens in the foreground leading down to the river.

WILLIAM BELL

Part of this close-knit colonial maritime circle was Cumbrian-born William Bell, master of the schooner Conch, who would marry Mary Anne Caithness at Port Elizabeth in June 1838. It is possible that William and Mary Anne, the latter out on a visit from England, met at Scorey’s Hotel and that romance blossomed as the two walked together in the pleasant gardens reaching down to the Baakens River. The name Ann Scorey (i.e. wife of James Scorey) is given as one of the witnesses at the Bell/Caithness wedding. The groom was 31, the bride 18 and they were married by special licence granted by Major General Napier.*

JOHN OWEN SMITH AND GEORGE CATO

William Bell and James Ramsey Caithness had the same ship’s agent, John Owen Smith. And here emerges another familiar name, George Cato, who from 1834 worked as manager for J O Smith. Descended from a Huguenot family who fled to England to escape religious persecution in France in the 17th c, Cato’s father and family had arrived at the Cape in 1826. The sudden death of Cato snr in 1831 (he is said to have been killed by an elephant) meant that George had to become a breadwinner. No doubt this enforced early maturity helped Cato to develop his entrepreneurial skills and other natural abilities which he put to good effect from that time onwards.

Cato became Bell’s lifelong friend, later rising to prominence in Natal as Mayor of Durban in 1850s. During the 1830s Cato was operating for Smith in the salt beef trade and in 1838 sailed the vessel Trek Boer up the east coast carrying goods for trade with the trekkers – Dutch frontier farmers who had left the Cape Colony and established themselves at Port Natal. Although neither Bell nor Cato could foresee future events, they were both to become embroiled in the conflict which would arise at Natal between the trekkers and the British in 1842.

SIGNIFICANCE OF MIDDLE NAMES

Marriage announcement: H G Caithness to Pamela Holt Okes
South African Commercial Advertiser June 15 1839

Local newspaper announcements emphasise the network of family connections so much a feature of colonial life. On 29 July 1839 Mary Ann and William Bell’s first child, a daughter, was christened Mary Ann Elizabeth Pamela Bell at Wynberg, Cape. The officiating minister was the Rev. Holt Okes, whose daughter Pamela had married Henry George Caithness a few weeks earlier.

This useful nugget answers the question of why the middle name Pamela was chosen for the Bell baby. Her other middle name, Elizabeth, was in honour of William Bell’s mother, Elizabeth Millican.

William and Mary Ann would produce a dozen children between 1839 and 1862, the last, Alice Millican Bell, born in Durban when Mary Ann was aged 42. Despite child-bearing and rearing taking up much of her time, Mary Ann is believed to have accompanied her husband on at least one voyage to Rio de Janeiro in the 100 ton schooner Conch.


*George Thomas Napier (1784-1855) Major General in 1837, later knighted, was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the army in the Cape Colony from 1839-1843. The two major events during his period as Governor were the abolition of slavery and the removal of the trekkers from Natal following the conflict of 1842.

** Current research into the Caithness mariners and their precise relationship to each other continues. James Ramsey Caithness had a brother, George, also a mariner, but he couldn't have been sailing in Cape waters until after 1850. Henry George Caithness, however, disappears from Cape records a decade earlier.

Thanks to Anita Caithness for her input on Markham House/Scorey's Hotel. Also to Margaret Harradine for her article 'Port Elizabeth's First Hotel'.

Coastal Ships, Mariners and Visitors: Cape Colony 19th c

A DANGEROUS COAST

On 18 June 1830, the brig Thorne, bound for Table Bay, put in at what was then called ‘Plettenburg’s Bay’ in distress, having suffered ‘considerable damage in her upper works’. The report in the South African Commercial Advertiser mentioned that those on board were in ‘a miserable condition’ but were given assistance by Captain Harker (of Plettenburg’s Bay) whose ‘humanity and kindness’ were highly commended.

Severe weather prevailed along the coast that month, for another vessel, the Usk, arrived in Algoa Bay on 20 June, without her stern-boat and divots; part of her bulwarks had also been carried away.

About a year later the Thorne, a frequent visitor to Table Bay, was wrecked at Robben Island. (We’ll return to her story in due course.)

These incidents and numerous total wrecks are a reminder that the southern coastal waters off Africa could be extremely perilous and though the voyages between ports might be of relatively short duration, mariners needed skill and experience to avoid disaster. Passengers required courage to venture on board sailing vessels of 100 tons or less. Sometimes a successful arrival at a destination was accomplished more by guess than by God, as shown in the circumstances described below.

WILLIAM CORNWALLIS HARRIS

The hunter and traveller William Cornwallis Harris in 1836-37 undertook a ten month expedition from the Cape into the interior and later recorded that he and his companion William Richardson:

'... embarked on 2 July in a small schooner bound for Algoa Bay, one of our fellow-passengers from India accompanying us to the pier, unable to persuade himself, until the boat had fairly pushed off, that we really intended to venture upon a second voyage in such a craft so immediately after the troubles we had undergone. In addition to a mate, a cook, and a Mozambique negro … our crew consisted of three men and a boy; our fellow passengers being two adventurers who occupied the berth opposite to our own in the only cabin, and a tailor with his wife and nine daughters, some marriageable, others at the breast. This unfortunate family, every member of which was sea-sick during the whole voyage, located themselves in the steerage, an apartment about eight feet square, ventilated only by the hatch way.  

The passage up the coast at that season seldom occupies more than three days, but the fates decreeing that our progress should still be opposed, adverse winds had taken the place of the north-wester, which had been blowing without intermission during the preceding six weeks, and which, had it but continued a day longer, would have wafted us to our destination. 

HAZARDS OF COASTAL SAILING

The little vessel was usually gunwale under. Stormy seas breaking over her obliged the tailor to seal up his family hermetically; heavy lurches during the night ejected us from our narrow precincts, and more than once brought my companion and myself into awkward and violent collision, whilst the rolling during the day repeatedly swept the table and deposited the viands in our laps.

Being the whole time within sight of land, no observations were taken, and on the afternoon of the eighth day we entered St Francis’ Bay, in mistake for that of Algoa, not discovering our error until we were about to let go the anchor. The tailor, who had made the voyage before, courageously ascended the mast-head … to make an attempt at recognition and regaining the deck gravely assured us that we were in Plettenburg’s Bay, nearly 2 degrees to the westward.  The chart was produced, and being satisfied that we were close to Cape Recif [sic], a dangerous reef of rocks, we advised the ship to be hove to …. but we contrived to weather the point and having narrowly escaped foundering on the Bird Islands floundered into the harbour of Port Elizabeth’. (i.e. Algoa Bay)

Map shows Algoa Bay

Sable Antelope by Cornwallis Harris

[Extract from Cornwallis Harris’s volume, initially entitled Narrative of an expedition into Southern Africa during the years 1836, and 1837, from the Cape of Good Hope through the territories of the chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn etc.,  later known, more simply, as Wild Sports of Southern Africa. The first edition was illustrated with 26 plates of the author’s beautiful paintings of the local fauna.]

Shipboard diaries for family history

Shipboard diaries, contrary to expectation, can be a disappointing resource for family historians, as passengers were extremely busy either recording their sufferings at sea (their own as well as their fellow travellers’) or completely wrapped up in the novelty of the experience – wind and weather, how much headway the vessel was making (apparently never enough), dolphins, sharks and seabirds spotted en route and crew members or even passengers lost overboard.

Of course, these accounts do give us insight into life on board, its perils and pleasures. If that’s what you’re looking for – a view of the ancestor’s voyage through his eyes, or at least through the eyes of one of his contemporaries – well and good.

All this maritime activity, though, left little leisure for writing about the relatives left behind at home, which would be more use to the inquisitive descendant than reports of  shooting contests held on deck or of larking about throwing message-bottles into the sea. These antics confirm our suspicions that most of the time the passengers were bored to distraction.

A diary written by passengers on a schooner travelling from Glasgow to Port Natal in 1862 reveals that the ship was becalmed for long periods, and was also undermanned. There was much seasickness and when the diarists recovered sufficiently to partake of meals they had to watch fellow passengers throwing up in the dining room – if the nauseous victims didn’t manage to get to the deck rail in time. This can hardly have been conducive to the onlookers’ return of appetite. In the restricted space of such a small vessel, another family (parents with six children) proved irritating company. When not entering comments in their journal, the diarists spent time reading improving literature such as, ironically enough, Milton’s Paradise Lost. There were a couple of catastrophes during the voyage – a damaged topmast which was repaired at sea and a Man Overboard – a seaman, who couldn’t be saved. Despite all, general admiration of the Captain was expressed.

In the remarkable 88 closely-written pages of this diary, almost no mention is made of family members left in Scotland and where names are given references are tantalizingly brief: who can the ‘Janet’ be whose health was drunk in a glass of negus by her relatives on board ship? Naturally, diarists know who they are writing about and usually find it unnecessary to describe the relationship or give a surname, leaving descendants or other readers guessing.

After the foregoing critical appraisal of the value of shipboard diaries in family history research, I must admit that they make enjoyable reading, also that pleasing nuggets of information occasionally emerge. The hunter-traveller-artist Cornwallis Harris, in his Wild Sports of Southern Africa, describes a short coastal trip to Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth) during the 1830s in detail and not without humour:

‘In addition to a mate, a cook [and a] steward, our crew consisted of three men and a boy; our fellow passengers being two adventurers … and a tailor and his wife with nine daughters, some marriageable, some at the breast. This unfortunate family, every member of which was seasick during the entire voyage, located themselves in the steerage, an apartment about eight feet square, ventilated only by the hatchway. The passage up the coast, at that season [July], seldom occupies more than three days, but the fates decreeing that our progress should still be opposed, adverse winds had taken the place of the north-wester, which had been blowing without intermission during the preceding six weeks, and which, had it but continued a day longer, would have wafted us to our destination. The little vessel was usually gunwale under.’

Harris disposes of Port Elizabeth in a short uncomplimentary sentence, remarking that the town was ‘built on the sea-shore on the least eligible site that could have been selected’ but goes on to redeem himself (as far as I’m concerned) by mentioning that he ‘tarried a week at Mrs Scorey’s fashionable hotel’. Mrs Scorey features in my own family history, linked to Mary Ann Caithness who married Captain William Bell; this snippet has led to further discoveries re connections in early Port Elizabeth.

[The Wild Sports of Southern Africa, being the Narrative of an Expedition from the Cape of Good Hope etc by Cornwallis Harris: Full View free on Google books.]

Not many travellers would aspire to writing of their shipboard experiences in verse, but that’s what John Coventry did. An English surgeon, Coventry sailed to Natal from England on the barque Amazon in 1850, later publishing his work Viator, A Poem of a Voyager’s Leisure Hours (London, 1854). The Amazon carried 46 adult passengers and 14 children; they were not government-aided emigrants and this may account for no passenger list having been located so far. Coventry presents an interesting list of items the emigrants considered necessary for their new lives in the Colony, as well as references to their arrival at Natal where the ship was chased out to sea by a storm but later safely landed, after taking on board ‘Port Captain Bell and Archer, the pilot’. (This was George Archer.) Almost the first thing the settlers saw was the wreck of the British Tar lying on the beach, so they must have been relieved that the Amazon, drawing only 11 feet, was able to cross the bar at the harbour entrance without difficulty. Coventry did not settle in Natal but left us an unusual narrative account of his experiences as a traveller in that era.

http://natalia.org.za/Files/6/Natalia%20v6%20article%20p28-%2033%20C.pdf

Other shipboard diaries:

http://jeffangus.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/william-nicolson-diary/   Diary written on the sailing vessel Lord Clarendon in 1862 by William Nicolson, on a voyage to Natal.
http://www.dpawson.co.uk/william/index.html  A journey to South Africa in 1870 by William Pawson.
http://molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/under-sail-to-natal.html Extracts from various diaries.
http://molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/voyage-to-natal-south-africa-1850.html William Lister’s voyage in 1850, taken from his Recollections of a Natal Colonist, written ca 1905.