Souvenir Saturday: Suez Crisis Durban 1956

Acknowledgements: fad.co.za

Be My Valentine! A Sailor's Valentine

A sailor's valentine made of shells with scrimshaw sailing ship in the centre.

Wreck of Ovington Court off Durban 26 November 1940

The Ovington Court was a 6000-ton cargo freighter with a crew of 38 which arrived off Durban with a cargo of sugar [worth £22000] from Mauritius sometime before 25 November 1940 and anchored in the outer anchorage together with a large number of other ships which were waiting to gain entry to the port.The ship's anchor dragged that evening at around 6pm in the very heavy surf and the ship began to drift towards the beach which it struck about four hours later.

The Natal Mercury on the 26th November gives a brilliant description of the scene as the ship drifted towards the beach with a searchlight on the Bluff casting a "blue glare, silhouetting the foam-topped waves and bringing the vessel out in relief against the blackness of the sea". So many people arrived at the beach that soldiers and sailors had trouble keeping them from hindering the rescue operation.

It was then decided by Captain George Linsell [Linsdell??] of the Ovington Court to abandon ship and pack as many of the crew as possible into the two available lifeboats which were to use the two ropes to get themselves safely to shore. The Mercury records that a wave of cheering went up from the beach as the first boat was sighted making its way to the beach where a magnesium flare had been lit by rescue workers.

The first boat landed safely but tragedy struck soon afterwards when the second, and smaller, boat capsized soon after being launched from the ship throwing its 12 occupants into the water. Municipal and voluntary lifesavers and members of the public immediately took to the sea with lifelines and eventually managed to recover all twelve of the victims but four of them later died in Addington Hospital. The Mercury lists the dead as having been cabin boy Gordon Hunter, aged 15, Michael Kennedy, Mahomed Abdoo Shaali and Said Ben Said.

The remaining eight men on the Ovington Court waited out the night on board and were then all brought to shore one by one in a breeches buoy. Following the tradition of the sea, Captain Lindsell was the last person to leave his ship and arrived ashore complete with the ship's monkey in his arms. 

There does seem to be a mystery about why there wasn't enough steam pressure to allow Ovington Court to steam away from the beach. Another issue was raised in the Mercury's leading article on the 27th November which asked the hard question why a tug was not made available in the four or so hours while the Ovington Court was adrift. The writer concluded that an inquiry was needed to determine the responsibility for this and for the unreasonable delays experienced by shipping waiting for bunkers [coal].

Acknowledgement: www.fad.co.za/Resources/ovi/ovington.htm

Biophysicist Aaron Klug: Durban High School student and graduate of Cape Town University won the Nobel Prize 1982

[From The Guardian]

Denounced as a 'communist' by the South African Government, Klug was refused entry into the US, continuing his studies in the UK. Later he steered the scientific community's response to major upheavals including the Human Genome Project. He died in November 2018 aged 92. Born in Lithuania, his father was a cattle drover who, with his family, emigrated to South Africa when Aaron was two years old.

Acknowledgement: Roger Grant

Zoom with Google.

Christmas 1911

Christmas Family Group 1911 

Greetings from Mole

Gardiner Street, Durban Railway Station and first Town Hall

Gardiner Street, Durban, with double-decker trams, rickshas, horse-drawn carriage and pedestrians. Background left, the Railway Station, right the old Town Hall (built 1885), later the Post Office. Dead Man's Tree, where funeral notices - white edged with black - were posted is seen at right on pavement in front of old Town Hall.

Click on the pic to zoom.

Christmas Cards

The custom of sending Christmas cards was started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He was a senior civil servant (Government worker) who had helped set-up the new 'Public Record Office' (now called the Post Office), where he was an Assistant Keeper, and wondered how it could be used more by ordinary people.

Sir Henry had the idea of Christmas Cards with his friend John Horsley, who was an artist. They designed the first card and sold them for 1 shilling each. The card had three panels. The outer two panels showed people caring for the poor and in the centre panel was a family having a large Christmas dinner. Some people didn't like the card because it showed a child being given a glass of wine! About 1000 were printed and sold. They are now very rare and cost thousands of Pounds or Dollars to buy now. The original cards were advertised with the slogan: "Just published, a Christmas Congratulations Card; or picture emblematical of old English festivity to perpetuate kind recollections between dear friends".

The first postal service that ordinary people could use was started in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began (Sir Henry Cole helped to introduce the Penny Post). Before that, only very rich people could afford to send anything in the post. The new Post Office was able to offer a Penny stamp because new railways were being built. These could carry much more post than the horse and carriage that had been used before. Also, trains could go a lot faster. Cards became even more popular in the UK when they could be posted in an unsealed envelope for one halfpenny - half the price of an ordinary letter.

As printing methods improved, Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large numbers from about 1860. In 1870 the cost of sending a post card, and also Christmas cards, dropped to half a penny. This meant even more people were able to send cards. The first cards usually had pictures of the Nativity scene on them. In late Victorian times, robins (a British bird) and snow-scenes became popular. In those times the postmen were nicknamed 'Robin Postmen' because of the red uniforms they wore. Snow-scenes were popular because they reminded people of the very bad winter that happened in the UK in 1836.

Christmas Cards appeared in the United States of America in the late 1840s, but were very expensive and most people couldn't afford them. It 1875, Louis Prang, a printer who was originally from Germany but who had also worked on early cards in the UK, started mass producing cards so more people could afford to buy them. Mr Prang's first cards featured flowers, plants, and children. In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today.

We have gone full circle as postal Christmas cards are not so popular nor is the mail service as efficient - or as inexpensive - as it once was. Since the advent of the computer and internet, commercially-produced online cards are an option - but many people simply send their own cards or messages by email. This has affected the sale of charity Christmas cards to a significant extent. 


Acknowledgement:
https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/cards.shtml

Cape Columbine Lighthouse

Date commissioned:  1 October 1936

Architect/builder:  HC Cooper

Primary structure material of construction:  Square masonry tower painted white, with red lantern house.

Height of tower:  15 metres

Character of light:  One flash every 15 seconds

Heritage status:  Being older than 60 years, the lighthouse is protected under the National Heritage Resources Act 25 of 1999.

Inhabited/manned:  Yes (Keeper: Japie Greeff)

Open to public:  Yes

 

Cape Columbine Lighthouse is situated on a prominent headland 5km from the picturesque fishing village of Paternoster (“Our Father”), deriving its name from the heartfelt prayers of shipwrecked Portuguese sailors.  The lighthouse, which is built on rising ground at Castle Rock and is usually the first lighthouse sighted by shipping coming from South America and Europe, is about 30 km from Vredenburg on the West Coast.

 

The lighthouse was named after the barque Columbine which was wrecked there on 31 Mar 1829.  Several ships were wrecked in the area, which is known for its multitude of submerged rocks and reefs.

 

Passengers to Natal: Sir Robert Peel 1854

The Sir Robert Peel was the first steamer to enter Port Natal, 1852

ARRIVAL OF THE SIR ROBERT PEEL Natal Mercury March 22 1854

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE

ARRIVED

March 16 - Sir Robert Peel, stm - Boxer, from Table Bay,

March 3; Mossel Bay, 5; Algoa Bay, 8; Buffalo, 12.

PASSENGERS

Dr Best (45th Regiment)

Rev Mr Campbell

Rev Mr and Mrs Cox

Rev Dr and Mrs Faure, child and servant

Messsrs

Steele

Hunter

Churchill

Lentick

Brockhouse

Rouse

Thompson

Miss Sargeuant

Mrs Woodrow

8 in Steerage

Manifest list

E Snell agent.

SAILED

March 21st - Candace, brig - Fisher - for Muscat.

March 22nd - Margaret Gibson, bgtne, 149 tons - G Hannaford - for Mauritius.

IN PORT

Sir Robert Peel, str. 240 tons - Boxer - for Cape

E Snell, agent.

VESSELS EXPECTED

Natal, stm. 680 tons - from London

E Snell, agent.

Jane Morice, bq, - from Liverpool

EP Lamport, agent.

Leontine Mary, schr. 29 tons - Baragwanath - from Algoa Bay

E Snell, agent.

Heath, - , from London.

The clipper-barque 'Clydeside', advertised in the English papers, and laid on for this port, is withdrawn, and the 'Heath' has taken her place.

BIRTHS

At Howards Vale, Umhlali, near Compensation, on Saturday, 11th March, the lady of Capt. JMK Chadwick, of a son.

On the 17th instant, the wife of Robert Acutt, Esq. of this place, of a daughter.