Passengers to Natal on RMS Natal Oct 1875

'Arrival of RMS Natal 28 Mail Bags 58 Passengers. Yesterday at a quarter past two o'clock this steamer arrived at the outer anchorage. She has made exceedingly quick passage, having left Cape Town at noon on 6th inst. Capt Airth (Port Captain) at once proceeded out in the tug which did battle with the waves going across the bar, a heavy sea being on at the time. The mails were landed at a quarter to 4. We are indebted to Capt Gilbert for a report of the voyage. Capt Gilbert has had a splendid run this trip. Having been only 45 hours from Cape Town to Algoa Bay and 53 hours thence to Natal including stoppage at East London.' (Natal Mercury 12.10.1875)

This Natal (not to be confused with the General Screw Co vessel of the same name in the 1850's) was a Union Line coaster. Built in 1866, 618 tons, she was intended for the colonial coastal trade. Despite being described as capable of crossing the bar at Durban in all conditions, she evidently anchored out in the roadstead on her arrival in October 1875.

Natal had the dubious distinction of losing her captain, Ridsdale, when he fell overboard during a voyage to Cape Town. On a more auspicious occasion she carried Sir John Molteno and other notables. In 1873 she inaugurated the Zanzibar Line, sailing to Zanzibar from the Cape.

Arrived 11 October 1875 RMS Natal (took 5 days from the Cape).

Passengers:

ANDERSON Farquharson
ANDERSON Alexander
ANDERSON Charlotte
ANDERSON Margaret Jane
ANDERSON Neil McInnes
ANDERSON Wilhelmina
AUGUR James H
BALENTYNE Anne
BATH Samuel
HOBSON Matilda A
HORN Alexander
LEFEVRE Arthur
METCALF Frank Hardy
METCALF John
METCALF Louisa
METCALF Percy James
MITCHELL Alex Hector
PERFECT (infant)
PERFECT Annie
PERFECT Henry
PERFECT Maria
PERFECT Rebecca
PERFECT Rebecca M A
PERFECT Robert William
PERFECT William
SMALWOOD Thomas
WALLETT Eliza
WALLETT George

Not all passengers are listed by name. Sureties (i.e. providing employment) for some of those on board were Black Baxter & Co. The Anderson family had emigrated from Aberdeen and were to settle at Umzinto on the south coast of Natal. After the death of Farquharson Anderson, his widow Charlotte married William Dixon Smith.

The road to Umzinto, Natal South Coast:
crossing a drift by ox-wagon. There were about 20 rivers
to cross between Durban and Umzinto, a hazardous undertaking.
The lengthy sea voyage was merely the start of the settlers' journey.

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Passengers to Natal 12 July 1880: Nyanza, Venice, Umzinto

RMS Nyanza: Passengers on Deck 1877 (note, earlier date than the settlers of Willowfountain)

For further information on the Willowfountain/Wilgefontein settlers who came to Natal on the Nyanza in 1880, see https://molegenealogy.blogspot.co.za/2012/10/passengers-to-natal-on-nyanza.html

Souvenir Saturday: Dacomb

The Dacomb family interests me because one of them, Charles, farmed next door to my husband's Smith ancestor at the Dacomb farm named Dunragit near Umzinto on the South Coast of Natal.

Charles was notable for having ridden a zebra to his canefields, an unusual idiosyncrasy in the 1880s/90s. It conjures up an agreeable colonial image and it was in all likelihood the original settler, Charles Dacomb, who indulged in zebra-riding.

This portrait by photographer Benjamin Kisch may be of Charles William Dacomb, his son. Three original Dacomb brothers - William, Joseph and another Charles - emigrated to Natal in the 1850s.

The farmer in the portrait, Charles William, was son of Charles, and married Elizabeth Hall in 1894. The costume, what little of it appears in the photograph, points to the 1890s so may have been taken on the occasion of the sitter's marriage, when Charles William was in his thirties.

Unidentified gentleman riding zebra