Cape Columbine Lighthouse, Paternoster

Cape Columbine Lighthouse: Light on.

Oct 2019

See more on this lighthouse at

molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/09/cape-columbine-lighthouse-paternoster.html

Remembrance Day 2019

The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the market-place;

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay,

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut

Cannot see the record cut,

And silence sounds no worse than cheers

After earth has stopped the ears.

Now you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours out,

Runners whom renown outran

And the name died before the man.

And round that early-laurelled head

Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,

And find unwithered on its curls

The garland briefer than a girl’s.

A E Housman

Lighthouse hauntings 3

Danger Point Lighthouse, Gansbaai

Danger Point Lighthouse was previously one of the less-enjoyed postings for South African light-keepers. Though legend has it that this was due to the presence of the infamous Flying Dutchman ghost-ship that haunted the waters, it was more likely due to the isolation of the structure, positioned along a notoriously treacherous stretch of coastline. 

Authorities built the lighthouse after several notable disasters, including the tragic case of the HMS Birkenhead, which struck an unmapped rock in 1852, killing more than 440 people. Danger Point is a fully operational lighthouse.

According to legend, the Flying Dutchman is a phantom ship doomed to sail the open seas and oceans for infinity, never being able to return home. The myth can be traced back to 17th-century nautical folklore that was heavily nurtured by superstitious beliefs of all sorts among sailors.

Early written accounts of the Flying Dutchman are dated to the 18th century and alleged sighting of this otherworldly vessel was well reported through most of the 19th and 20th centuries, too.

Lighthouse hauntings 2

Lighthouse Keeper Japie Greeff (currently at Cape Columbine light) shares an unusual encounter with us;

‘I was stationed at Cape Point Light from 1990 to mid-1993 and I very soon became aware of a little girl, about nine years old, who would often appear in the sitting room with me when I was watching television in my cottage. She was a dear, sweet little girl and would come and sit in the chair next to me and quietly watch television with me.  

Many times I attempted to find out who this little girl had been.

Was she the daughter of a Lighthouse Keeper?  If so, which Lighthouse Keeper?

Perhaps the daughter of a Captain from one of the ships of old, lying wrecked on the shore?  Which Captain?  Which ship?

Might it have been the Lusitania?  Eight people died when a lifeboat capsized from Lusitania, could this little girl have been one of those lost souls aboard the lifeboat?

What year did she pass away and under what circumstances?   

All these questions lay unanswered as no-one knew anything about the history which surrounded her.  I tried in vain to discover something about my dear little sweetheart and all I know, and can tell you, is that she was an endearing and gentle little soul.

To this day she still remains at the Cape Point Lighthouse and forever in my heart.’

Lighthouse hauntings 1

Pensacola - ghostly lady

The Green Point Lighthouse is one of the most famous haunted sites in the Mother City.It was first built in the early 1800s and is one of the most recognised beacons along the promenade. But while it looks pretty in daylight, it gets weirder after dark.

For many years, rumours have long swirled that the tower often visited by the spirit of a one-legged man by the name of W.S – or Daddy West, who is believed to have once worked at the lighthouse. Go to the link below for more.

www.thesouthafrican.com/lifestyle/creepy-video-green-point-lighthouse-haunted/

Castaway

The Castaway

Obscurest night involv'd the sky,

Th' Atlantic billows roar'd,

When such a destin'd wretch as I,

Wash'd headlong from on board,

Of friends, of hope, of all bereft,

His floating home for ever left.

He shouted: nor his friends had fail'd

To check the vessel's course,

But so the furious blast prevail'd,

That, pitiless perforce,

They left their outcast mate behind,

And scudded still before the wind.

No voice divine the storm allay'd,

No light propitious shone;

When, snatch'd from all effectual aid,

We perish'd, each alone:

But I beneath a rougher sea,

And whelm'd in deeper gulfs than he.

by William Cowper (abridged) 

molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shipwrecked-mariner-and-spanish.html

Hamilton, William and Elizabeth, Stevenston, Ayrshire

William and Elizabeth Hamilton, my great grandparents, photographed
at Stevenston, Ayrshire ca 1900. William was born in 1854 in Dalry, Ayrshire and died June 29, 1920 in Stevenston. Elizabeth Smith Hamilton was born at Cooroading Street, Stevenston July 05, 1857 and died September 03, 1943, Caledonian Road, Stevenston. The couple's children were: Elizabeth, Jane, Sarah, Mary, Joseph, Alexander, Margaret, William, Thomas Craig, Ellen and James.

William Hamilton was a Coal Miner, stated so in 1871, 1881 Censuses for Stevenston Ayrshire.  By 1891 he was a 'Check Weigher at the Colliery'.  This was a 'lighter' job: having a 'weak heart' William couldn't work underground any more and had to get work at the pithead. A Check Weigher at a Colliery was on the surface, not underground - it consisted of weighing the hutches of coal brought to the surface after it had been dug and filled by the miners underground.  Every coal miner had his 'tally' which was put on the hutch to identify whose production of coal it contained and the Check Weigher had to list the weight of the contents against the identifying 'tally'.  It would not have been a well-paid job.  Neither would that of Schree Man, which is how he stated his occupation in the 1901 Census - this was someone who picked out the bits of 'rubbish' in the coal hutches when brought to the surface. So, until 1901 William Hamilton was firmly stuck in occupations related to coal mining and there is no confusion whatsoever about that.

The place names shown in the above map occur frequently in the story of the Hamilton family of Stevenston. There's Dalry, where William was born, Stevenston where so many Hamilton events occurred, and Ayr where the Burns Museum can be visited.

Hamilton Family of Stevenston, Ayrshire

Hamilton Family Group pictured in front of their home 'Genoa', Stevenston, Ayrshire.

Joseph (Joe) is at extreme left, back row. William Hamilton, his father, is 2nd left middle row. Elizabeth Hamilton, wife of William, is 2nd right middle row. In front are the younger children, James (Jim) and Ellen (Nell). Alex Hamilton was not present but can be seen peeping out from 2nd right in the back row. Next to him is Thomas (Tom) later killed at the Dannhauser Mine in the Transvaal.

Genoa, Stevenston, July 2000

Vetch's Pier, Durban, 1860s and onwards

Having attempted various measures to improve access to Durban harbour, such as Milne's scheme in the 1850s, the Colonial Office threw its hands in the air and turned the entire matter over to Captain James Vetch, a Royal Engineer in the harbour department at the Admiralty. Vetch saw possibilities in designing something special for Natal. What is incomprehensible is that he did so without ever leaving his desk in London and had never visited Natal at any stage. The upshot was that after further expenditure the development of the port was no farther advanced when Vetch's contract was terminated.

Acknowledgement: African Keyport, Capt. Tony Pearson

Old Durban Video

Bluff Lighthouse and Signal Station ca 1880s

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