Haven Meesters and Port Captains: Port Natal/Durban

From 1839:

REPUBLIC OF NATALIA

Carel Velentyn Buchner
1839-1840 Havemeester and Havecommandant
Appointed by Volksraad between 11 November 1839 and 2/3 January 1840. Held both offices officially until 5 January 1840. Appointed Havecommandant only provisionally from 6 January 1840.

Cornelius Botha
1840 Haven Meester
Appointed between 6 January 1840 and 4 March 1840. Resignation accepted 29 September 1840.

Edmund Morewood 
1841-1842 Havemeester
Appointed provisionally at Volksraad meeting 12 August 1840. Appointed effective 1 year 17 November 1840. Completed 1 year appointment 17 November 1841, confirmed at Volksraad meeting 12 October 1841. Landdrost of Port Natal was appointed as Havemeester with no additional salary from 18 November 1841. This continued until Landdrost resigned: Volksraad meeting 25 February 1842.

Matthys J Stadtler
1842 Havemeester. Appointed provisionally 25 February 1842. Held office to 27 April 1842.

Johannes Bodenstein
1842 Havemeester and Landdrost, Member of Volksraad 1842
Appointed 28 April 1842, held office until 25 June 1842.

Port Natal was re-occupied by British forces on 26 June 1842

COLONY OF NATAL

William Douglas Bell
b. 1807 Glasson, Bowness, Cumberland
Baptised 2 Oct 1807 Bowness-on-Solway
d. 10 April 1869 Durban
1845-1847 Harbourmaster
Master of schooner Conch trading on South African coast in the 1830's. On 24 June 1842 arrived off Port Natal with troops taken aboard in Algoa Bay. On 26 June 1842 Conch crossed bar towing boats carrying troops from HMS 'Southampton'. British troops re-occupied Port Natal. Bell accepted and appointed Harbour Master, Port Natal, December 1844. Arrived in Durban to take up post March 1845. Served in this capacity until 31 March 1847 when he resigned over conditions of service; he was reinstated 2 years later. 

John Douglas
b. c1816
d. 24 April 1849 Natal
Assumed duty as Port Captain 1 May 1847, Resigned and left office 22 November 1847.

George Freeman
b. c1825
1847-1849/50 Port Captain
Appointed 23 November 1847. Resigned post October 1849 but probably remained in office until Captain Bell arrived January 1850.

William Douglas Bell
1849/50-1869 Port Captain
Accepted appointment 24 December 1849. Arrived in Durban 19 January 1850 with wife and family. Died in office 10 April 1869

George Christopher Cato
b. 25 Feb 1814 London
d. 9 July 1893 Durban
1869-1872 Port Captain
Appointed temporarily and provisionally as Port Captain vice W D Bell. Resigned 6 September 1872 on appointment of Alexander Airth from 7 September 1872.

Alexander Airth
b. c1833 Aberdeenshire, Scotland
d. 16 Dec 1903 Bellair, Natal
1872-1883 Port Captain and subsequently Shipping Master; retired at own request; in office until 14 March 1883.

James Joseph Lawson Sisson Commander, Royal Navy
b. c1846
d. 23 Dec 1883 Durban
1883 Port Captain and subsquently Shipping Master
Died in office, aged 37 years; only 9 months in office.

Henry Ballard CMG
1884-1903 Port Captain. Appointed and travelled from UK to take up post; took office 5 April 1884. Captain Strachan, 1st Pilot, acting Port Captain, formally handed over keys of office. Retired after 18 years in office. Handed over 4 November 1903.

Colony of Natal became part of Union of South Africa 31 May 1910

John Rainnie RNR
b. 1 April 1863 Glasgo, Kinellar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Parents: John Rainnie and Helen Croll
d. 16 Jan 1944 Durban
1903-1919 Port Captain and Nautical Adviser to the Government
Retired at own request 30 April 1919. 

Samuel George Stephens RNR
b. 2 Jan 1871 Devoran, Cornwall
d. 8 March 1933 Durban
1919-1930 Port Captain
From inception - 1920 Marine Superintendent of Government steamers
1928 Nautical Adviser

Percy Hyett Flack Shepherd
b. 23 Nov 1873 Adelaide, Australia
Previously Port Captain, East London
1930/1-1932 Port Captain

Willem Weller
b. ?UK
Previously Port Captain, Port Elizabeth
1932 Port Captain
1933 Nautical Adviser and Port Captain at Durban
1935 Nautical Adviser and Port Captain at Cape Town
1941-1944 Nautical Adviser at Headquarters, Johannesburg

James E Eaglesham DSC UK
Previously Port Captain, East London
1935 Port Captain
1944-46 Nautical Adviser and Port Captain

Henry George Jarvis
b. 3 Dec 1891 UK
1946-1951 Port Captain

John Cox
b. 7 July 1899 UK
1851 Port Captain
1856-1962 Nautical Adviser and Port Captain at Durban
Previously Assistant to the Port Captain, Durban.

James Ellis
b. 31 July 1900 UK
Previously Senior Assistant Port Captain, Durban
1962-1963 Port Captain
Died in office

Eric B Sharratt
b. 30 April 1901 UK
Previously Port Captain, Port Elizabeth
1963-1964 Port Captain

Cornelis AE Deacon
b. 28 Nov 1903 UK
Previously Port Captain, East London
1964 Port Captain
1965 Nautical Adviser and Port Captain at Durban
1965-1966 Nautical Adviser at Durban

Leslie A Dickenson
b. 1 Sept 1909
Previously Senior Assistant Port Captain (Staff) Durban
1966 Port Captain
1966-1970 Nautical Adviser at Durban

Terence Donald McKinnon
b. 6 Jan 1910 Durban
Previously Port Captain Port Elizabeth
1966 Port Captain
1970-1973 Nautical Adviser at Durban

T Oliver Clark
b. 6 April 1912
Previously Port Captain, East London
1970-1975 Port Captain

Eric Ebelthite
b. 28 Dec 1913
Previously Deputy Port Captain, Durban
1975-1976 Port Captain

Malcolm Rose
b. 24 Dec 1919
Previously Port Captain, Walvis Bay
1976-1982 Port Captain

Ian William Edwards
b. 31 March 1925 Kroonstad, OFS
Previously Port Captain, East London
1983-1986 Port Captain

Kenneth L Carter
b. 18 Nov 1926
Previously Deputy Port Captain, Durban
1986-1986 Port Captain

Edward S Page
b. 12 April 1928
Previously Port Captain, Port Elizabeth
1987-1989 Port Captain

Michael Anthony Cooper
b. 12 Oct 1934
1989 Port Captain

Sugar and Natal: the Pioneers - Rathbone

EPHRAIM FREDERICK RATHBONE

In 1848, Ephraim Rathbone became overseer of the north coast cotton estate then managed by Edmund Morewood. Born in Tiverton, Devon in 1812, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Rathbone, Ephraim Rathbone had spent about 16 years in Mauritius and had considerable experience as a sugar planter there, before emigrating to Natal on the Rosebud, 1855 in August 1848. According to Rathbone, he urged Morewood to suggest to the Cotton Company the advantage of cultivating sugar rather than cotton. Morewood agreed that Rathbone should experiment initially with 5 acres, providing Rathbone supplied the plant cane. Rathbone states: 'I found a small patch (of cane growing) on Mr Peel's farm, Umgeni ... which I purchased for the Cotton Company and engaged four Mauritian coolies to hoe five acres on an establishment I formed on the Umhloti ... In July 1849 I was appointed manager and gave Mr Morewood the cane on the Umhloti for removal to Compensation, with advice on its culture. I offered gratuitously to supervise his planting 40 acres on his estate'.

In May 1842 The Natal Times reported that a party of gentlemen were to inspect Mr Morewood's enterprise - among them was Rathbone. That Rathbone remained a strong supporter of Morewood can be seen from Rathbone's letter to The Natal Mercury in 1859:

'Mr Morewood was the first man in Natal with sufficient spirit to speculate with his own funds in sugar cultivation: only for the enterprising spirit which animated him, the production of the Colony would have remained at potatoes and beans, and the great landowners have been content with one shilling per acre for their land. When Morewood made the first sugar it was: "Hurrah, Morewood, for my land is now worth 10s" and when he was ruined for want of sufficient funds they ought to have supplied him by a sub ... and not ungratefully try to deprive him of the unprofitable merit of being the first sugar manufacturer'.

Ephraim Rathbone married twice (both marriages took place in Mauritius) and founded a large Rathbone clan in Natal. Eleven children are listed on his Death Notice but other sources mention fourteen in total. There were two sons from his first marriage with Josephine Emilie Modet: Thomas Britannia and Frederick. With his second wife, Ann/e Williamson he had at least eight children: John Mexican, Annie Alice Chieftain (married Seymour), Flora Natalia Blade (married Matthew), Harriet Pumgwine/Ponguin (married Shuttleworth), Caractacus Reliance, Boedicia Industria (married Silverlock), Alfred Leyricer, Constance Rosemont (married Fearnsides) and (perhaps at this stage the parents were running out of exotic names) Elizabeth Edith.

Ephraim operated as a trader for many years in Natal and Zululand. He died on 24 June 1882, aged 70, at Lower Umzimkulu, Alexandra County. Among the documents in his deceased estate file is an interesting invoice dated July 29 1882 listing the type of articles sold by 'Rathbone & Horning' including: green beads, striped beads, hoes, clasp knives, blankets, red serge coats, rugs (square pattern), white baize, covered sheets, handkerchiefs, Tonga Salampore, Striped Salampore @ 10/6 (Salampore was a blue cotton cloth originally in 17th c made at Nellore in India and exported, later a cheap print with stripes and bright colours much used for trade goods), serge trousers and military trousers.

In 1859 Rathbone was given a grant of land 'in the Zulu Country' under an agreement with King Mpande and remained 'in undisturbed occupation of the land, residing on and cultivating portions of the same until 1862 when owing to false reports made to the King as to his intentions, Cetywayo (sic) ordered him to leave, though at the same time admitting E F Rathbone's right to the land and of his family to reside on it.' For his own safety Rathbone deemed it advisable to comply with Cetewayo's order to quit. Subsequently in 1864 Cetewayo discovered that Rathbone had been falsely accused and invited him to return but Rathbone, distrusting the King's promises of future friendship, declined to do so.

Frederick Rathbone, Ephraim's second son by his first wife, married Sarah Warren, and farmed cane at Tongaat, Inanda, Natal. He died aged 83 in 1927.

Ephraim's daughter Harriet Pumgwine Rathbone (1852-1945) married, at Utrecht, James William Shuttleworth (1847-1918), who was a transport rider and later farmed at 'Duck Pond', Newcastle. They had 9 children, of whom only one was a boy.

Caractacus Reliance Rathbone

Caractacus, Ephraim's fourth son, known as 'Crack' to the family, had a remarkable career in his own right. Born in 1854 in Zululand, he married in 1881 Caroline Magdaline Williams and farmed at 'Tiverton' in the District of Utrecht. In 1870 he went to the Diamond Fields with his brother-in-law John Seymour, and took up claims at Heilbron. After working these for six months he went to Dutoit's Pan in 1871 and then went to New Rush (later called Kimberley), selling out of his claims there in 1872. He then proceeded to Button's Gold Reef near Marabastad, before returning to his farm. He saw service throughout the Anglo-Zulu War 1879 as Lieutenant in Wood's Irregulars, under Sir Evelyn Wood, receiving the campaign medal and bar. In 1880 he served in Basutoland as a Lieutenant in Hanson's Troop, Transvaal Horse, and earned another medal and bar. He was Guide and Interpreter to Colonel Deane OC Natal Field Force in 1881 (First Anglo-Boer War), then transferred to Field Hospital as Officer-in-Charge and Interpreter to Native Stretcher Bearers, attached to Natal Field Force, under Surgeon-Major Babington. He was present at the actions at Ingogo Heights (9 February 1881) and Majuba (27 February 1881).

In 1882 he went to Lower Umzimkulu and planted cane on Ambleside (property owned by Archie Sinclair who had an ox power mill). In 1885 he moved to the Harding District, and then farmed near the Ingela in 1886. He became a transport rider to Barberton in 1888, discovered the only coal mine worth working on the Newcastle Town Lands and worked this for two years before returning to farming. He served as OC transport attached to Lord Dundonald's Mounted Brigade, under General Sir Redvers Buller, in the Transvaal, 1900 (Second Anglo-Boer War). He joined the Field Intelligence Department, under the Hon Captain Guest, serving to the end of the war in 1902, and receiving the Queen's medal, 2 bars, and the King's medal, 2 bars. Caractacus Reliance Rathbone had six sons and a daughter.

Sugar in Natal: the Pioneers - Edmund Morewood cont

Early in 1851 Morewood purchased a large acreage of land, including a farm at Umhlali which he sold off in 20 acre lots. This provided funding for his sugar enterprise at Compensation, then still at the experimental stage. In January 1852, The Natal Times reported that 'E Morewood Esqre has succeeded in perfecting the production of sugar on his estate at Compensation' and that the sample shown 'is of a quality to prove incontestably the adaption of the coast lands of the colony for the successful production of this valuable article'. The news caused a sensation. However, Morewood was to undergo many trials and tribulations: equipment was primitive, the production process was slow, and transport was an additional problem. Morewood lacked the necessary capital to acquire better machinery and his fellow colonists were cautious regarding investment. He had his detractors, too.

In 1853 Morewood went to England in the hope of acquiring improved machinery and raising further funds, but due to 'a series of unfortunate circumstances' his efforts ended in failure and he lost his property in Natal.

Nevertheless, Morewood had started the ball rolling for sugar as a commercial undertaking, and other Natal settlers were cultivating sugar. By 1854 cane was being grown at Umhlali, Tongaat, Umgeni, Umbilo, Isipingo and Umkomaas, and there were 6 sugar mills at work. In 1855 the first public auction of Natal-made sugar took place in Durban's Market Square.

Apart from the brother J J Morewood of London, mentioned above, little is known of Edmund Morewood's family. The 1881 Census for Llangennech, Carmarthen, Wales reveals an Edmund Morewood aged 60 and unmarried, born at Stoke Newington, London, whose occupation was steel, iron and tin plate manufacturer. He is believed to have been the inventor of the tin plate machine, and had several workshops in Wales - 13 at Llangelly and 7 at Swansea. In 1892, E Morewood and Co. established tin plate and steel making works and a foundry plant at Gas City, Indiana. The 1900 Census for Gas City shows hundreds of families who came from Wales to work for E Morewood and Co as puddlers etc. Further research may discover whether Edmund Morewood the tin plate manufacturer was related to Morewood the sugar planter: apart from identical names, they seem to have shared an inventive streak, and both men were bachelors.

JJ Morewood, Edmund's brother, was living in London in the 1850s, so a search of the 1851 Census could reveal more about him*. Morewood himself left Natal early in 1853 and never returned. He spent a year in Hamburg, Germany, and then went to Brazil where he kept a school, but this failed due, Morewood stated, to religious prejudices. Another venture, a cotton spinning and weaving factory at Faubati in Brazil, for which Morewood attempted to borrow money from old Natal friends such as Beningfield and Kahts, also seems to have come to naught. There is no doubt, though, that Natal is indebted to Edmund Morewood.

Sugar mill, Natal

* There is a John J Morewood, born 1807, occupation merchant, living at 1 Barford Terrace, Islington, London, with wife, Sarah, and 8 children.

Sugar and Natal: the Pioneers - Morewood

For decades prior to white settlement in Natal, there was an indigenous variety of sugar cane which grew wild and was known to the Zulus as imphe. It was chewable and sweet, but its sugar content wasn't found by settlers to be high enough to make its cultivation commercially viable. There was also umoba, an imported strain of true sugarcane: in 1837 the traveller Nathaniel Isaacs mentions both these plants. In 1858, Michael Jeffels, a planter and miller at Isipingo, stated that to his certain knowledge sugarcane was growing in the area of the Isipingo River at the time of Shaka's war with Faku in 1828.

EDMUND MOREWOOD

Morewood, regarded as the founding father of the sugar industry in Natal, made a very early visit to this area in 1833, before spending time in Australia, New Zealand and Mauritius. He returned to Natal in 1838, after the Battle of Blood River, when British military forces had been temporarily withdrawn and the flag of the Voortrekker Republic of Natalia had been hoisted at the port. Morewood was on good terms with the Voortrekkers and was one of the men chosen to visit the Zulu King, Mpande, in the hopes of making a peace treaty. In 1840 Morewood was appointed Harbour Master and Commissioner of Customs under the Republican government, and it was in this capacity that he became involved in the events of 1842 when the vessels Conch and Southampton brought reinforcements to assist in raising the siege of a British force at what is now the Old Fort, Durban. William Bell, Captain of the Conch, remarked that Morewood, on being rowed out to the schooner, accompanied by the Voortrekkers' Military Secretary, was astonished to find the Conch's lower deck bristling with grenadiers 'as thick as bees'. According to Bell's Narrative, Morewood 'had sufficient power of speech left to say he was a friend of the English, but at the same time I could see that he was much embarrassed by the position he had placed himself in ...' and it truly was a difficult situation for an Englishman in the employ of the Trekkers.

Morewood's farm, Compensation, in 1852

However, Morewood remained in Natal and though the British authorities retained some understandable suspicions as to his allegiance, he quickly adjusted to the new British regime and began to pursue his interest in sugar cultivation.

In November 1847 the first plant cane was brought to Natal from Mauritius on the Sarah Bell, by the Milner brothers. It's thought that this cane, or a portion of it, was imported for Morewood. He began planting towards the end of 1847 or early in 1848. At that time he was employed as manager of the Natal Cotton Company on the Umhloti River, but he resigned his position in July 1849 to focus on growing sugar on his property, Compensation.

According to John Robinson's Notes on Natal written in 1870:

... before 1850 agriculture in this colony was confined to the growth of a little wheat by the Boers, and of a fair quantity of maize by the natives. Cotton culture ... had been attempted at New Germany (by the Bergtheil Settlers) ... a few coffee bushes were bearing berries in the garden of a private householder of Durban, and a small patch of sugarcane was being planted by Mr Morewood at Compensation.' Arrowroot (to a value of £31) was the first agricultural product to be exported from Natal, in 1853, but the following year the export record showed a new export - Sugar, £2. 

It was a small beginning, but of great significance. After that date, sugar was exported every year in increasing quantities, and, as Morewood had predicted, it became the 'staple article of Natal'. 

A young man named George Lamond who arrived in Durban in June 1850 on the Byrne ship Unicorn, joined Morewood at Compensation and later wrote that he found the estate under the management of 'a surveyor named George Jackson, with some half-a-dozen ploughmen (plus native labour). We had six acres under cane ... When I left in 1854 we had more than 100 acres of cane ready for crushing. In 1851 I helped to make and eat the first sugar manufactured in Natal ... The ploughmen were Randal, South, Coward, Dykes and an apprentice named Moore, son of a Gloucester parson, and a grand old Dutch gardener named van Versfeld'. Late in 1850, Morewood constructed a simple mill, which would be used to crush his first cane crop.

Morewood, a man of apparently boundless energy, was also involved in immigration as agent in Natal for the Justina, which arrived in November 1850 under a private scheme arranged by George Murdoch and Capt Richard Pelly. Among the passengers were Thomas and Lewis Reynolds who would become leading figures in the sugar industry. The ship also brought £5 000 worth of merchandise for sale in South Africa: this venture had been arranged by Morewood's brother, J.J. Morewood, then residing in London.