Old Durban Video

Bluff Lighthouse and Signal Station ca 1880s

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNalMJjpPEo&feature=share

Bluff Lighthouse, Durban

                          

This photo, showing the signal station and staff quarters, was taken prior to the addition of the ugly concrete casing supposedly meant to 'strengthen' the lighthouse, added in 1935.

The citizens of Durban had long pleaded for a lighthouse on the promontory known as The Bluff but due to various delays they had to wait until the structure was finally opened, with suitable fanfare, in January 1867. 

My great grandfather, Thomas Gadsden, was keeper of the Bluff Light from the late 1860s to early 1880s. He married one of the Port Captain's daughters, Eliza Ann Bell. At one stage Thomas's brother-in-law, Douglas Bell, was Assistant Lightkeeper. It wasn't unusual for a lighthouse to be a family affair.  

Senior Lightkeepers

1867 - 1880              T A Gadsden (Assisted by D Bell in the 1870s)
1885                          Moffat
1898                          J Stephenson
1.7.1898                    B Shortt
1918                          G Johnson
1922                          L R P Daly
1927 - 1933              T F Addison
1938                          G A Orchard
20.1.1941 - 1.4.1942 A Gray

Lightkeepers

27.7.1889 - 30.6.1898 F B Shortt
1.7.1898                     John Murphy
18.8.1931 - 16.7.1934 A Spring
16.7.1934 - 1.3.1941   E L Andreason                   

See Also https://molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/08/bluff-lighthouse-1867.html

Bluff Lightkeepers 1875: Gadsden and Bell

According to the listing of the Port Office in the Natal Almanac, when my lightkeeper great grandfather, Thomas Gadsden, was Head Keeper of the Bluff Light, Durban, he was paid a hundred pounds a year, 'with quarters'. This wasn't an enormous salary but he was doing better than the 'Native Assistant' at twelve pounds. And in comparison with the Port Captain, then Alexander Airth, who received 350 pounds, perhaps Gadsden's salary was fair.

At this date, the Assistant Light-keeper was D W Bell, Gadsden's brother-in-law, the son of the late Captain William Bell who had died in 1869. Gadsden had married Bell's daughter, Eliza Ann, in 1873.

So the lighthouse was very much a family affair. Douglas Bell took over as Head keeper in about 1880. 

This unique photograph, restored from its original damaged condition, shows various members of the Bell family including possibly the only surviving picture of Douglas Bell, left. He could be holding the Dollond telescope which previously belonged to his father, Capt Bell. Unfortunately, it was this portion of the original photo which was water-damaged and the figure may not be an accurate likeness of Douglas Bell - though the telescope was definitely visible in the original.

Capt Bell and his Dollond telescope

The ladies are 'Aunt Ellen' (Ellen Harriet Bell, daughter of Captain Bell, who later married Edward Baxter) and her niece 'Cousin Violet Bell' (Violet Amy, daughter of Sarah Scott Bell and Charles George Pay).  The other little girl may be Natalia Beatrice Pay, sister of Violet. The identity of the bearded man, perhaps Assistant Lightkeeper at the time, is not known.

The photograph was taken by W E James who at that date, ca 1880, had a studio at the Point, Durban.

Most interesting of all is the structure in front of which the group is foregathered. This is likely to be the current keeper's quarters near the Bluff Lighthouse. It has a corrugated iron roof over timber walls which are raised above the ground (against white ants). The windows with their top 'awning' detail are typical of the period. Note the plaited fence.

For more about the Gadsden/Bell connection with the Bluff Light see:
molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/08/keeper-of-bluff-light-thomas-alfred.html 

Photograph restoration: Hartmut Jager
Photograph from Gordon Brown.

Souvenir Saturday: Union Castle Liner and the Bluff, Durban

Union Castle Liner and the Bluff with Signal Station and Lighthouse.
Tug guiding ship through Entrance Channel.

Bluff Lighthouse: Keeper's Quarters 2

For a start, the structure to the right of the lighthouse (see previous post) had been there right from the day the lighthouse was opened i.e. 23 January 1867 - and it may well have been in existence prior to that. After all the lighthousekeeper (my great grandfather), once appointed, would have needed quarters before the lighthouse was officially opened. The lighthouse had been in the process of being built since the foundation stone was laid in November 1864, with the tower finally completed by October 1866. It is reasonable to suppose that the keeper's quarters would have been built by or during 1866 at least.

Looking carefully at the photograph below taken on the day of the opening, 23 January 1867, the building to the right of the lighthouse is immediately identifiable: the shape of the roof, with the chimney at the back, and the flagstaff at the front. 

A pencil drawing made much later shows the same structure to the right of the lighthouse. The other residence is that of the signalman.

This photo, after restoration,, shows what appears to be the identical structure. The picture was taken according to his tradeplate on the back by 'W E James, Photographer, the Point, Natal'. A handwritten note adds 'Uncle Dog [sic], Aunt Ellen, Cousin Violet Bell'.

More on this intriguing survival as well as the group of people in a future post. 

Souvenir Saturday - Port Office and Lighthouse staff 1878: including Gadsden and Bell

Is Your Ancestor listed here in 1878?

The Natal Almanac and Yearly Directory is a mine of information on the Port and Town of Durban in the late 19th c. This entry tell us that T (Thomas) Gadsden was Lighthouse Keeper with a salary of 125 pounds per annum. His brother-in-law Douglas William Bell was Assistant Keeper at 100 pounds. At the time, the Port Captain was Alexander Airth. (Captain William Bell had died in 1869.) Gadsden was married to Captain Bell's daughter Eliza Ann.

Customs and Excise staff are also listed, as well as those in the Engineer's Office. 

Is your ancestor listed?

Durban Point and Bay in the 1870s, with the Berea dimly 

outlined in the distance. 

Souvenir Saturday: Lighthouse keeper's view, Bluff, Durban ca 1860

The Bay of Natal from the Bluff  ca 1860:
  watercolour by unknown artist, from an Album amicorum. (author's collection)

This is the view my lighthouse keeper great grandfather Thomas Gadsden would have looked out upon from the Bluff lighthouse during his tenure there (1867 - 1880s). 

It is taken from the seaward end of the Bluff looking across the Point and Bay towards the heavily wooded Berea, with the buildings of D'Urban clustered onshore, right. A sailing ship negotiates the entrance channel in the foreground, dhows and other small craft are seen in the Bay, and the tug Pioneer, her single stack smoking, is in the centre of the picture, near the Point. At left is the signal station and signalman's house on the Bluff. It is possible that the tall building on the extreme right represents St. Paul's Church.

The painting can be dated to post December 1859 because the steam vessel shown is undoubtedly the Pioneer, Natal's first steam tug. She was 124 tons and was despatched (fitted with masts and sails) from the Thames at the end of July 1859, arriving in Durban 111 days later, having made the journey under sail only, her paddles being fitted in the Bay after her arrival here. On Boxing Day 1859 she was shown, flag-bedecked, to the assembled populace, and crossed the Bar with various dignitaries on board, sailing out into a choppy sea beyond the Bluff - to the discomfort of some of her passengers.

A rare find, this little watercolour in ornate embossed surround, was one of several original drawings in a mid-nineteenth century 'Album amicorum' (what we used to call an autograph album), bound in gilt maroon calf. The artist has signed himself (more probably herself) 'L.C.' and entitled the picture 'Bay of Natal  and; Town of D'Urban'.

A peaceful and attractive colonial scene, though with hidden dangers lurking - many vessels came to grief on the beach or the Bluff rocks.

The notorious Bar, a sandbank across the entrance to the Bay, was the greatest hazard to shipping at Port Natal, and 'should on no account be attempted by a stranger, as the channel frequently shifts in direction and depth'. It was this problem, the changing depth of water over the Bar, which frequently necessitated vessels anchoring in the roadstead outside, and, if a gale sprang up, there was a chance of them being driven on-shore or wrecked on the rocks below the Bluff. A case in point was the Byrne settler ship Minerva, 987 tons, which was wrecked on the night of 4 July 1850 when she parted her main anchor in a sudden north-easterly while waiting in the 'roads'. Though the 2nd mate drowned, all the passengers were saved, but the ship became a total wreck and the immigrants' personal belongings went to the bottom. 

Only three months after Thomas Gadsden's arrival, the Sebastian and the Earl of Hardwicke were beached in a similar gale on 26 September 1863.

Bluff Lighthouse, Durban, Bell group and keepers' cottage

Bluff Lighthouse, Durban.

Bell Group outside lighthousekeepers' cottage, Bluff.
More about this early photograph, the people in it and the date
coming soon.

Souvenir Saturday: A Light on the Bluff

Bluff Lighthouse early 1900s

Prior to January 1867 Durban was without a lighthouse and this led to frequent mishaps with shipping. The Natal Mercury reported in the late 1850s (an era of much emigration to Natal) as follows;

A Light on the Bluff: We have on former occasions urged the great importance of this provision. Another illustration of its necessity has just been furnished. The Rydal would have anchored off this Port two day sooner than she did, if a light on this promontory had identified the spot. The currents on this coast cannot always be allowed for with certainty, specially after such weather as has recently been experienced; and the Rydal after sighting the land, came to anchor during the night, at a part which, in the darkness, was mistaken for the outer anchorage of this Port; but in the morning, instead of the Bluff, it was found the vessel was opposite a headland of the coast which when an observation could be taken, was ascertained to be some point about 60 miles north of Port Natal. A light on the Bluff, duly notified, would be favourable, not only to the shipping frequenting this Port, but to passing vessels, which would then commonly make the land at this point; and the advantages of the Port would then also be brought more generally into notice.

Note: for a passenger list of the Rydal in 1854 see

molegenealogy.blogspot.co.za/2013/12/passengers-to-natal-rydal-1854.html

Souvenir Saturday: Mole's dream lighthouse

Mole's dream lighthouse, with beautiful keeper's quarters,
 on the Great Ocean Road, Australia.
Photo by Alan Patterson.

For the story of my own lighthousekeeper ancestor,
Thomas Alfred Gadsden, and lightkeeper ancestors in South Africa generally,
go to the following links:

molegenealogy.blogspot.co.za/2014/08/keeper-of-bluff-light-thomas-alfred.html

molegenealogy.blogspot.co.za/2015/06/my-lighthousekeeper-ancestor.html

molegenealogy.blogspot.co.za/2015/07/bluff-light-keepers-1875-gadsden-and.html

molegenealogy.blogspot.co.za/2013/03/lighthousekeeper-ancestors-in-south.html

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcIXFra4_x8   Lighthousekeeper's Song

Water for Lightkeepers, Bluff 1878

My great grandfather Thomas Alfred Gadsden, Lightkeeper, writes to the Port Captain:

Bluff Lighthouse, 14th August 1878

To Port Captain Airth

Sir, I most respectfully beg to inform you that the Lightkeepers are running short of water in fact have only a week's supply. Mr Wellington of the Signal Station told me this morning that he is the same predicament. 

Therefore Sir it will be absolutely [necessary] to supply us with water from the other side, and that as soon as possible.

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your Obedient Servant,
Thos. Gadsden, Lightkeeper

This photograph indicates the isolation of the Bluff lighthouse and its keepers.

Bluff Lighthouse Unusual View

Another in my collection of old Bluff Lighthouse postcards,

taken from an unusual angle and showing the Signal Station, left, and keepers' cottages.

This is pre-1935, probably circa 1920s.

Souvenir Saturday: Bluff Lighthouse Postcard

Union Castle liner approaching the entrance channel, Durban, tug in attendance. The old Lighthouse and Signal Station can be seen on the Bluff at right.

Lighthouse Keeper at the Bluff Light Natal 1878: T Gadsden and D W Bell

Bluff Lighthouse and Signal Station circa 1870s

Extract from the Natal Almanac 1878 giving names of employees in the Engineer's Office Port Office, Customs Excise and Lighthouse. My great grandfather Thomas Gadsden was earning 125 pounds per annum. His brother in law Douglas Bell as Assistant Keeper was earning 100 pounds.

A tidewaiter, incidentally, was a customs officer who checked goods when a vessel landed, to make sure duties were paid.

You may find an ancestor's name among those listed.

This edition of the Almanac appeared the year before the
Anglo-Zulu War took place, and the year before Thomas Gadsden's son Phillip
 was born on 14 May 1879, only to die in infancy.

Bluff Lighthouse after 1935

Bluff Lighthouse, Durban, after 1935: it had been encased in concrete,
supposedly as the structure was 'unsafe'.
So, from unsafe to unsightly. The next step would be total
demolition. What a tragedy!

Bluff Lighthouse circa 1910

Postcard probably taken circa 1910, judging by the costume of the people at left. It is clearly well before 1930 when the ugly concrete superstructure was inflicted on the lighthouse for strengthening purposes.

Love at the Lighthouse

A glimpse into the past. Lighthouses cast a romantic aura. 

Note the heavy raised and fielded wooden door at the base of the lighthouse.

Bluff Lighthouse pre-1930s

Durbanites were proud of their lighthouse and it featured on many a postcard similar to the one above. Unfortunately the postmark is illegible. The photo can be dated to pre-1930s when the tower was encased unattractively in concrete, due to fears of the structure's deterioration.

The Bluff Light flashed in unbroken service from its opening in January 1867 to July 1922 when the optic equipment was replaced. A third order triple flashing optic mounted on a mercury bath pedestal with clockwork drive was installed. This optic, equipped with a petroleum vapour burner, exhibited a group of three white flashes every twenty seconds, the candlepower being approximately 150 000 cd. On 15 September 1932 electricity was installed. A 4 kw incandescent lamp replaced the petroleum vapour burner and the candlepower increased to
3 000 000cd.

This increase in the candlepower brought favourable as well as unfavourable reaction. In the local press appeared: 'Coming up the coast last night, with exceptional visibility, the loom of the Bluff light was picked up over 60 miles from Durban by officers of the steamer Contractor. The cycle of the flash and the intervals rendered it impossible to mistake it for any other lighthouse on the coast. This is the furthest the loom has been seen since the light has been increased'.

Further comment followed: 'When the power of the light was increased there was a considerable outcry from the residents of Durban who complained that the bright beam shining on to the white walls and through windows disturbed their slumbers'.

Screens were erected to prevent the light travelling inland between certain areas.

The writer of the above postcard states that 'a most lovely view is displayed before one's eyes from this lofty place - a breeze is delightful'.

Millenium Tower under construction on the Bluff Durban

The new Millenium Tower going up while the old signal station
 (which had pretended to be a lighthouse and thus confused everyone
 for several years) awaits demolition..

Keepers' difficulties at the Bluff Lighthouse 1870s

Drawing by Cathcart Methven showing the Bluff Lighthouse, keepers' quarters and signal station.

From the moment of its commissioning, the Bluff Lighthouse was kept well-supplied with oil, wicks and other necessities for the maintenance of the light. However, the human beings who tended it - a vital part of the operation - had several difficulties to contend with.

For a start, the lighthouse wasn't within easy reach of the town of Durban. Though not far distant as the crow flies, accessibility was limited by the Bluff's wooded and steep terrain. Although a pathway, originally constructed by the Godden brothers,  merely a track, ran up the side of the headland from the shore and had been used to carry building materials during construction of the beacon, it was not an ideal access to civilization. A boat was required to cross the channel to the Point. This was still a long walk from the commercial centre, where lightkeepers needed to purchase personal supplies of food etc.

The keepers' quarters were rudimentary though were later improved on.  Everything took much longer due to colonial bureaucracy.

One of the biggest difficulties was the lack of a fresh water supply on the Bluff. This vital commodity had to be carried in casks from the mainland, by boat across the channel, or across the Bay then transferred to unwieldy ox-carts which would continue on to the seaward end of the Bluff for the casks to be delivered to the signalman and lightkeepers.

Letter from Thomas Gadsden, lightkeeper,
to Alexander Airth, Port Captain.

Thomas Gadsden was forced to write to the port Captain (then Alexander Airth) in August 1878, most respectfully begging that something be done about the water problem. The lightkeepers were running short of water - only a week's supply left. 

Apparently the signalman was in the same predicament. 'Therefore, Sir, it will be absolutely necessary to supply us with water from the other side ...' (i.e. from the town of Durban). Thomas signs 'Your obedient servant' but was clearly a worried man. He had a wife and a young family, and was also responsible for the various boatmen and other assistants employed at the lighthouse.
















The water problem was not resolved for some time and led directly to the death of one of the Gadsden children, Phillip, who died in infancy of typhoid - a water-borne disease which was rife in the Colony until well into the following century.