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

Captain William Bell of the Conch: death of his daughter in 1844

From the South African Commercial Advertiser 27 April 1844: the death, on 23 April, of Ellen Selwyn Sophia Still, aged 1 year and 8 months, daughter of Captain William Douglas Bell 'of the schooner Conch'. It must have been a low point for Bell and his family. At this juncture, after his heroic part in the action at Port Natal in 1842, Bell had returned to the relatively quiet life of a coastal mariner, commanding the Conch, and based at Algoa Bay, making regular sailings to and from Table Bay and other ports. 

That people had not forgotten his courageous act in taking British troops into land at Natal under enemy fire had been evidenced by one particular letter which appeared in the local press in November 1843. This and other efforts by the public on Bell's behalf eventually led to an offer by the colonial government of a post as 'Harbour Master' at Natal. But the course would not be plain-sailing. 

This child, born shortly after Bell's return to Algoa Bay in July 1842, had been given the middle name of Selwyn - after Major Selwyn who had played an important part in events at Natal in June of that year. Sadly Ellen was to die very young. A Bell daughter born subsequently in May 1846 would be named Ellen Harriet. By that date the Bells had their eldest daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth Pamela, b 1839, and their first son, Douglas William, b 1841.

St George's Cathedral Cape Town Cape Colony 1800s:
watercolour by Thomas Bowler

Cape Shipping 19 November 1828 including Cobern commanding Conch

Conch is noted as then under command of 'J' (should be 'T') Cobern, agent J Smith (later to be William Bell's agent). The schooner had been on a regular run to Mossel Bay and was arriving back in Table Bay on 19 November with a cargo of colonial produce. 

Cape Shipping May 1830 Conch under Cobern, Flamingo under Scorey

This report from the South African Commercial Advertiser shows the Conch arriving at Table Bay under command of Cobern - with the Captain's wife on board as passenger, from Algoa Bay on 15 May. The date of departure from Algoa Bay is given as 29 May which must be an error unless the Conch was into time travel.
The Flamingo date of departure is also dubious, unless like Cobern he was travelling backwards. Interestingly the latter vessel is commanded by Scorey (note error - his initial should be J not F) - who would later become a relative, by marriage, of Captain Bell. There was an intriguing group of Cape mariners operating in coastal waters at this period, all linked either by agent or by personal ties and of course acquainted with one another. A small world which Bell would soon join.

                             Table Bay and shipping: Thomas Bowler (South African Sketches)

Cape shipping: mention of Conch to Knysna, Drumore steerage passengers etc

Apparently a routine visit of the Conch to the small port of Knysna was deemed worthy of mention in the shipping columns - no captain is given, but it would have been too early for Bell so perhaps Humble or Bosworth was in command. Interesting to note that the ship Drumore, which had departed Falmouth on 4 August, brought 32 men and women and 18 children, none of them named (as was usually the case for steerage) - you can lose a lot of ancestors like that ...  These steerage passengers were likely on their way to New South Wales, not remaining in South Africa. A chance to track their progress via the Cape is lost to descendants because of the lack of identification. 

                                                               Table Bay by Thomas Bowler

Cape shipping: Conch and W Bell Nov 1837

A snippet from the Grahamstown Journal November 1837 shows W Bell in command of the Conch, and sailing between Table Bay and Algoa Bay, carrying passengers as well as cargo. From this year Bell and Conch were firmly riveted together. It would be five years before the big events of 1842 at Port Natal completely changed Bell's life.

                             Circle of Thomas Bowler, Table Bay Shipping 1835-39

Cape Shipping, Conch and death of Captain Masson 1827

South African Commercial Advertiser 10 March 1827 announces the death of Captain Telemachus Musson 'late of the Schooner Conch' aged 37 years. This was ten years prior to the start of regular sailings of the Conch under Captain William Bell. What happened to young Captain Musson we don't know, but the Conch was busily employed in Cape coastal waters under a variety of masters before Bell took command.

   

                Table Bay with Shipping (school of Bowler)

Cape shipping: Conch and Bell 1837

1st mention in South African Commercial Advertiser 1 April 1837 of Bell as captain of Conch. There is an earlier reference in the Cape Government Gazette in January of that year. 

The Schooner Conch 1842 by Thomas Baines. Bell was commanding
the vessel at the time of the insurrection of the Dutch at Port Natal, when the British
garrison was besieged at what is now the Old Fort, Durban. Because the frigate Southampton was of too deep a draught* to enter the channel, the Conch towed boatloads
of troops across the Bar, landing them safely at the Point. The siege was lifted
and the Dutch withdrew on Pietermaritzburg.

* The draught of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull (keel), with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draught outline would be obtained. Draught determines the minimum depth of water a ship can safely navigate. The entrance to Port Natal was blocked by a shifting sandbank, the Bar, over which the depth of water changed according to tides etc. 

Conch - a fatal accident with a gun, July 1831

A small quite early snippet re the Conch: [CO53/2  TNA Kew ] 

South African Commercial Advertiser 2 July 1831 

ACCIDENT.  Before the Schooner Conch got under weigh on the 20th ult. in Algoa Bay, a brass gun was fired for the purpose of warning the Passengers to embark, when unfortunately the gun burst, and severely wounded the seaman who fired the gun.  He was immediately taken on shore, and it was found necessary to amputate one of his legs, but he expired on the following day. 

Note: Captain Bell was not in command of Conch on that ghastly occasion.  Thorne, on which Bell was reported to be serving as '2nd officer' in 1831, went aground on 18 May of that year.

Arrivals and Departures Table Bay 1835 including Conch; suicide of Mr White.

Conch,  A Humble Master,  Knysna to Table Bay. In the mention of the brig Fortitude's arrival at Port Elizabeth under J C Wilson, note 'in the steerage Mr White and 2 slaves' - the unfortunate Mr White committed suicide during the passage. 
This report appeared in the Cape press in October 1835. Captain Humble shared a ship agent with Bell i.e. J Smith. George Cato was also one of this stable.

Conch schooner and other Cape shipping October 1834

South African Commercial Advertiser 30 October 1834

Here the Conch is described as a fast-sailer but after another ten years steam was gradually beginning to overtake sail as the favoured method of transport by sea: 

19 Oct 1844 SACA

By this time Captain Bell had been offered a position as Harbour Master at Port Natal, though with the inevitable colonial bureaucracy there would be some delay before he was able to take up the appointment officially, followed by a dispute over his job description and remuneration. Bell, never one to bow the knee, stuck to his guns, returning to the coastal mariner's life until matters at Natal were arranged more appropriately.  Bell and his family (at that stage his wife and 4 children) finally sailed for Natal on the Douglas on 19 January 1850 to start the new phase of their lives. 

Schooner Conch for sale 1843

South African Commercial Advertiser 31 May 1843
The same advert remained in the paper until 17 June, the date of the auction.
The next we hear of the Conch is that, under command of Capt Moses,
she came to grief on the bar at Port St Johns when the wind failed on 7 November 1847.
No lives were lost in the wreck.
Capt William Bell had in the interim taken up an appointment at Port Natal.

Shipping Cape 16 Dec 1837: miscellaneous ships and masters

South African Commercial Advertiser 16 Dec 1837

Souvenir Saturday: Bell of the Conch at the Cape 1837

A number of references to Captain William Bell and his schooner Conch occur in the 1830s Cape newspapers, helping to add valuable information to his chronology and to give a picture of his coastal sailing routine. 

 South African Commercial Advertiser 1837

Acknowledgement 

to veteran researcher Sue McKay for all her photography and transcription work, of

which I was one grateful recipient.

Captain William Bell, Port Captain of Durban

Steerage passengers

Steerage passengers, surely a rich hunting ground for ancestors, were unfortunately often not named, this privilege being reserved for the 'cabin' and 'second class' passengers.

In this Cape newspaper shipping column of April 1837 4 people are travelling steerage on the Conch (Capt Bell's ship) but we are left guessing as far as their names are concerned.

In later years, when settlers were arriving in numbers, it is sometimes possible to find a separate passenger list for steerage or 'government immigrants' as in the one below in March 1862 from an original register in Natal. Occasionally a separate list of steerage passengers would be published in the local press.

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 13 Bell

At the beginning of the 1840s the winds of change were ruffling Cape waters, a breeze that would soon blow into a gale. Steam was the new watchword and its effects would be far reaching in the mercantile marine. Bell would no doubt have had some pithy comment about odious comparisons made in the press concerning the new coastal steamer, Phoenix, and his schooner Conch.

The great advantage of Steam communication on our coast is strongly exemplified at the present moment. The steamer Phoenix and the Conch, one of our fastest sailing Coasters, put to sea on Thursday the 3^rd …  the latter was compelled in consequence of the strong south-easter to put back on the 7^th and still remains in Table Bay, whilst … the Phoenix arrived in Mossel Bay on Saturday morning and left again on Sunday morning at 7 o’clock for Algoa Bay. Her return [to Table Bay] is advertised as expected tomorrow.

The Enterprise, 1825

Steam navigation made its initial impact on the Cape two decades earlier, when the Enterprise became the first steamship to reach South Africa on 13 October 1825. Captain James Henry Johnston, an ex Royal Navy man with a sense of the dramatic, brought her into Table Bay, reporting that though they had been off Table Mountain at midnight on the 12^th he thought ‘the inhabitants of Cape Town would be disappointed if we anchored in the night, [so] lay to until morning and ran in about 9 o’clock.’

The populace, seeing the unaccustomed smoke, thought a ship was on fire and a crowd gathered. When the significance of the historic event dawned upon them, commotion ensued, people pouring forth to every viewpoint. During the Enterprise’s short stay before she continued her voyage to Calcutta, it’s said that 4 000 of the town’s residents had boarded the ship to sightsee.

Enterprise was a paddle steamer, with two engines of 60 h.p. each, and sails (barque-rigged) for back-up. ‘The mechanism was so elaborate and took up so much room that no cargo could be carried as all the remaining space, apart from the accommodation for passengers and crew, was required for coal.’ There, in a nutshell, was the difficulty: quarters were cramped, stowage of fuel led to some accidental fires, which, though speedily quenched, alarmed passengers. Shovelling coal out of the ballast tanks proved exhausting for the crew – Johnston had to make an unscheduled stop en route to allow them to recover - and as the ship steamed full ahead everyone became covered in coal-dust.* 

Surely there could be no future for such an intolerable mode of travel? How could it ever compare with the graceful lines and clean progression of the sailing ship?

It would be some time before regular steamship services became feasible at the Cape, because the small coastal sailing vessels filled most needs. The Enterprise, a ship which (almost) passed in the night, is remembered while the early coasters and their mariners are largely forgotten - except perhaps by the latter's descendants. Let's keep their light burning bright.

The Nemesis, first iron steamship to round the Cape of Good Hope, 1840.
The East India Company frigate, Nemesis, 700 tons, was on her way to Chinese waters and her appearance in those parts caused considerable consternation among the local pirates who found a steamship a novel and uncomfortable proposition to tackle.* 

*Ships and South Africa: Marischal Murray (OUP 1933)

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 8 Bell

There had been a groundswell of opinion, in both Cape and Natal circles, that Captain William Bell was deserving of reward for his actions in June 1842. A letter to the Cape Frontier Times, written from Port Elizabeth on 13 November 1843 and signed Justitia, left nobody in any doubt that the Government so far had been remiss in failing to acknowledge Bell’s gallantry under fire ‘by something more substantial than praise’.

Captain Smith's camp, Port Natal, 1842

We remember the sympathy felt here for the almost helpless situation of parts of the 27^th Reg. confined there within their entrenchment … Captain Bell going with the relief was considered as going to almost certain death. Yet, in defiance of all the promptings of prudence he proceeds … he enters the narrow channel, where more than ordinary caution is requisite, in the coolest frame of mind; a double range of guns from sheltered enemies stare him in the face … Captain Bell … without personal interest, save in the company of kindred brave hearts, without arms, but his hands placed on the helm, takes his measures as coolly, shapes his course as steadily, exposed to the hottest fire of the secreted enemy … [and] endangered his little all.

 We have heard that Captain Bell has been nominated as Port Captain of Natal. He well deserves such a situation to look after the well-being of a place which he so mainly contributed to preserve. 

This letter was republished in the Carlisle Patriot of 26 July 1844, under the headline ‘Captain Bell of the Conch’, as ‘of some local interest, Captain Bell being a native of Glasson, in the parish of Bowness, in this county.’*

It’s interesting to note that despite this clarity Bell’s birthplace continued to be stated (even by members of his family) as Dumfries, Scotland, an error perpetuated in the comparatively recent reprint edition of his Narrative of the Conch.

Sir George Napier KCB

Perhaps in response to such public promptings, on 16 December 1844, Sir George Napier offered Bell the position of Harbour Master at Port Natal at a salary of 200 pounds per annum. There was a proviso that Bell would also act as Pilot for ships entering the port and that he would have to furnish a Boat and a Crew out of his own salary. The offer was gratifying and Bell accepted the conditions, undoubtedly recognizing the benefits of a regular income and a settled home as well as an end to the hazards of coastal voyaging.

In March 1845 the family duly arrived at Natal on the schooner Pilot but the new post wasn’t to be all plain sailing. There were difficulties in obtaining a crew for the Port Boat and Bell’s remuneration wasn’t enough to meet the expenses involved, the Boat Crew alone costing 136 pounds a year.

It was then proposed that the Government should provide the Crew as well as the Boat but that Bell’s salary would be reduced to 125 pounds. His appointment as Harbour Master would be terminated and he would be employed as Port Captain and Pilot. The tortuous workings of colonial bureaucracy thus undermined the spirit of the original offer and Bell declined the post. He was asked to reconsider, but stuck to his guns. In April 1847 the Government appointed a temporary Port Captain at Natal in his place while Bell returned to the Cape at his own expense.

He would continue sailing in coastal waters though not with Conch, which had been taken over in June 1845 by Captain W Moses. On 18 December 1847 the back page of the Grahamstown Journal carried the following report:

We regret to hear that the Conch was wrecked on the 7^th ult. on the Bar of the St Johns or Umzimvoobu River. But we are glad to be able to add that no lives have been lost. The greater part of the cargo has been landed, chiefly in a damaged state. 

Port St John's: the mouth of the Umzimvubu River

*Glasson, Bowness-on-Solway, Cumberland

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 6 Bell

After the action at Port Natal, Bell’s ‘peaceable old Conch’ was on her way back to Algoa Bay by mid-July 1842, bearing a letter from Colonel Cloete (commanding the 25^th Regiment) giving details of what had occurred in the previous weeks. The beleaguered garrison at Natal had been relieved and the trekker forces had withdrawn on Pietermaritzburg.

The British flag run up so hastily (and initially, in error, upside down) at Port Natal on 26 June 1842 was there to stay and within three years Natal would be annexed formally as a British Crown Colony. 

It’s doubtful whether Captain Bell realized the full import of what had happened or even of his part in the conflict. He had simply been in the right place at the right time and, taking a characteristically spontaneous decision, volunteered to do what he perceived to be his duty. 

News of events at Port Natal spread like wildfire through the Cape Colony and Britain, the Governor, Sir George Napier, writing to the Secretary of State, Lord Stanley, to call His Lordship’s attention ‘to the spirited conduct of Mr. Bell the master of the schooner Conch of which Colonel Cloete speaks in much praise’. Virtually overnight, Bell had sprung from obscure mariner to local hero: he was, in today’s parlance, a celebrity. 

H.M.S. Southampton off the Entrance, Port Natal
 covering landing of troops by Conch at the Point,
 June 1842; engraving Thomas Bowler

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 4 Bell/Rodham/Toby

Comet, a 120 ton coasting brig registered at Port Elizabeth and first mentioned in Cape records in October 1836 had a succession of captains: T Patterson, W T Haddon and J Rodham. Her usual ports of call were Cape Town and Algoa Bay, with lengthier voyages to Batavia and Rio.

Her moment in the spotlight of history came at Port Natal, when, after conflict with hostile Zulus, remaining British residents there took refuge at sea on the Comet (Capt Rodham). These events would lead to the struggle for possession of Port Natal between the trekkers’ Republic of Natalia and the British government in 1842.*

Captain William Bell and his schooner Conch, unknowingly destined to play their part in that struggle, meanwhile continued coastal trading activities between Table Bay and Algoa Bay. These voyages were regularly reported in various publications - Grahamstown Journal, Cape Frontier Times, South African Commercial Advertiser, Government Gazette. 

Other vessels and their masters can be tracked in similar fashion. Too numerous to list all here, some of the latter include: D Cadenhead, J Houghton, J Toby, W G Searles, J Pybus, J McDonald, H McDonald, J Reid. Selecting a random example, Captain Toby’s career can be further fleshed out by archival records held in the Cape; he was master of the schooner Frederick Huth in which his wife sailed with him on at least one occasion from Calcutta to Table Bay. These mariners' wives must have had good sea legs.

* For more on this era in Natal's history see
 http://salbu.co.za/aWood/AnnalsOfNatal_Wood1.html

Ships and Mariners: 19th c Cape and Natal 1 Bell

‘…those proud ones swaying home
With mainyards backed and bows a cream of foam,
Those bows so lovely-curving, cut so fine,
Those coulters of the many-bubbled brine …’

Masefield’s vision is rose-coloured: seafaring could be a grim business. 

On 2 July 1831, the South African Commercial Advertiser reported a fatal maritime accident which had occurred on the 20 June at Algoa Bay:  

Before the Schooner Conch got under weigh … a brass gun was fired for the purpose of warning the Passengers to embark, when unfortunately the gun burst, and severely wounded the seaman who fired the gun. He was immediately taken on shore, and it was found necessary to amputate one of his legs, but he expired on the following day.

We aren’t told the name of the dead man. 

At this date, Conch was not under the command of Captain William Bell, who only a month earlier had been serving as 2^nd officer on Thorne, which ship went aground near Robben Island on 18 May 1831. From information gathered in Cape press shipping columns it seems likely that Captain Cobern was master of the Conch at the time of the gruesome event described above. Cobern may have held that command since the death, significantly aged only 37, of the wonderfully-named Captain Telemachus Musson ‘late of the Schooner Conch’ on 1 March 1827.* The life of a merchant mariner was erratic, dangerous and frequently short. 

In October 1834, there is reference to Captain A Humble sailing Conch from Knysna to Table Bay. Another name that crops up is T Bosworth. These captains were all operating under the auspices of ship’s agent James Smith and by at least January 1837 William Bell was added to the stable.** 

Conch 1834

Schooners were a favourite type of coasting vessel. Rigged with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts, they required a comparatively small crew and were thus more economical to run than were square-rigged vessels. Speedy and of low draught, enabling them to enter shallow harbours, schooners carried some passengers but their most important function was transporting a variety of colonial produce. 

Conch was about 100 tons; some sources describe her as a brigantine, though this indicates a square-rigged vessel, which she was not. Her Port of Registry was Cape Town. Her regular Ports of Call were Cape Town, Algoa Bay, Mossel Bay, St. Helena, Knysna, Saldanha Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Simon's Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Breede River, Struys Bay, Port Beaufort, Waterloo Bay. However, under Bell's command she visited Natal more than once, leading to his knowledge of that harbour when his assistance was required during the conflict in 1842. 

Ships were owned and registered in part shares – 64 shares being the customary number, supposedly because ships traditionally had 64 ribs. 

*Possibly Telemachus Giles Musson/Masson b 1781, son of a Chief Mate in the East India Company’s service and the widowed Mrs Maria Musson; East India Company Pensions 1793-1833. Also: KAB MOIC Vol 2/323 Ref 1143 Liquidation and Distribution Account.

** John Owen Smith later took over as ship's agent.