DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL SHIPPING
2.2 COLONIAL COASTAL SHIPPING
2.2.1 Establishment of colonies and subsequent port development
12 Ibid.
13 His first-built vessel was the famous Robbejacht. See F. Mason History and Progress of Unicorn Lines (1995) (unpublished work, Seaford Knysna).
14 Ibid.
15 History of Slavery and Early Colonisation in South Africa (nd), available at
http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-slavery-and-early-colonisation-south-africa. (Accessed 18 April 2017).
16 VOC Bankruptcy and the British Occupation US Library of Congress, available at http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/9.htm. (Accessed 25 April 2017).
The English took over the Cape at the beginning of the 19th century. Soon after that the English built a garrison town in Grahamstown.17 Consequently, sparsely populated communities started to develop along the east coast, prompting the development of ports to service these communities. The occupation also influenced the resurgence of other small settlements in places such as Mossel Bay18 and Saldanha Bay.19 In 1820 the British established a settlement in Algoa Bay,20 situated along the banks of the Baakens River.21 As these were times of war, imported cargo (arms, uniforms, garrison stores and other cargo and personnel) from Britain landed in the Cape. It was easier to ship cargo up the coast to Algoa Bay than to utilise overland routes that were not always easily accessible. Therefore the route between Table Bay and Algoa Bay represents the first recognisable modern coastal shipping route in South Africa.
The influx of English dwellers and the consequent establishment of English settlements on the east coast invigorated coastal shipping activity. This led to the establishment of the Kowie River port (later to become Port Alfred) in 1841.22 Castle Line and Union Line vessels called at the ports.23 Knysna lagoon developed over the same period. It was used as a timber port. However, very few vessels called at Knysna because entry to the port was difficult.24 Therefore, Mossel Bay gained prominence as the port from where general cargo was carried to Table Bay.25.
The arrival at Table Bay on 16 August 1825 of the Enterprise, the first steam vessel on the South African coast, brought new ideas to the coast.26 In 1838 the Cape of Good Hope Steam Navigation Company ordered the Hope,27 the first paddle steamer built
17 Built in 1811. See History of Cape Town, available at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cape_Town. (Accessed 22 April 2017).
18 Mossel Bay was once the Portuguese watering post. On 3 February 1488 Bartolomeo Dias landed at Mossel Bay. Here they found a spring from which to replenish their water supplies. See Mossel Bay, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossel_Bay#History. (Accessed 25 April 2017).
19 Also named after another Portuguese explorer, Antonio de Saldanha, who visited the country in 1503. See Saldanha Bay Wikipedia, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saldanha_Bay#History.
(Accessed 25 April 2017).
20 Algoa Bay is located in the vicinity of modern-day Port Elizabeth.
21 A major factor for this establishment was the Kaffir Wars between 1779 and 1878.
22 E. Turpin ‘Basket Work Harbour – The Story of Kowie’ (1983).
23 This occurred before the companies were amalgamated. Amalgamation into Union-Castle Line took place only in March 1900. See Union-Castle Steamship Company (2012) Cayzer Family Online Archive, available at http://www.cayzer.com/Union-castle. (Accessed 24 April 2017).
24 Ibid.
25 B. Ingpen South Africa Merchant Ships – An Illustrated Recent History (1979).
26 The standard types of ships before this time were wind-propelled barques, brigs and schooners.
27 Ingpen (note 24) 48.
specifically for the coast. The Hope plied her trade between Table Bay and Port Elizabeth until she was wrecked in 1840.
An increase in east coast trading (from which came wool, animal hides and dried aloe sap28) led to the development of another pair of river ports, namely Beaufort29 and Malgas30 ports, by 1845. However, Beaufort and Malgas ports proved cumbersome for vessel operations. Beaufort soon fell into disuse and both ports were eventually closed by 1856. Kowie River port was also difficult to navigate, and as a result, it ceased to trade towards the end of the 19th century.
There were new developments further up the east coast. The Trekboers who had left the Cape for the hinterland had reached Natal and established Natalia Republic in 1839.
The British annexed Port Natal in 1844.31 Annexation meant the British now had three settled colonies, one on the west coast and two on the east coast. All three needed to communicate with each other and each with Britain. Coastwise trade was buoyed up by the mail service between the Cape and Natal.32 Other than mail, typical cargo for the outward leg to Natal was “building implements such as spades, hoes and also tents, building materials, wagons, liquor, etc.”.33 The cargo types were indicative of the fact that Natal was still being developed. The inward voyage to the more developed Cape was usually more varied and even exotic. Cargo parcels included ornamental products such as elephant tusks, sea-cow teeth, and horns of various types of game, as well as materials required for clothing apparel, such as buffalo and ox hides; and, of course, agricultural products such as Natal wattle and sugarcane.34 This cargo formed the backbone of the return leg to the Cape for what was a British or Cape-owned and Cape - registered tonnage.35
28 Overberg and Malgas, available at http://www.southafrica-travel.net/westcape/overberg_malgas.htm.
(Accessed 25 April 2017).
29 Beaufort was declared a port in 1841 and abolished as a port in 1864. See South Africa – History and Families of Witsand (White Sands) and Fort Beaufort (nd), available at
https://www.geni.com/projects/South-Africa-History-and-Families-of-Witsand-White-Sands-and-Port- Beaufort/12050. (Accessed 24 April 2017).
30 The development of the railways and roads (in particular the Competitive Sea Transport Rates of 1911) rendered this port completely irrelevant by the early 20th century. However, Malgas port remained navigable until 1930 (see note 29).
31 Flag of the Natalia Republic (nd) Wikipedia, available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Natalia_Republic.
32 Ingpen (note 24).
33 Ibid. 5.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
In an attempt to curb “capital flight”, Natal operators formed the D’Urban Shipping Company in 1844. That moment marks the beginning of the campaign for “domestic goods on domestic fleet” on the South African shores that has repeatedly reared its head over the intervening years, and is with us as cabotage, as we know it today.
Natal harbour flourished and received the first steamer at Port Natal in 1852.36 In the same year the General Screw Steam Shipping Company of London commenced a steamer coastal service for the mail service between the Cape and Natal.37 Three years later the first Harbour Board was established to embark on deepening the port and to perform some form of dredging services.38 In all, the annexation of Natal had a positive impact on coastwise trade.
The formation of the Natal Sugar Company in 1853 provided the colony with more reliable cargo supplies to other colonies, especially to the Cape. In 1858 exports totalled about 110 tons and had more than doubled by the following year to 290 tons.39Likewise, shipping of farming equipment into Natal showed a commensurate increase by 1859.
40 The demand for labour to increase sugar outputs also led to the arrival of indentured labourers from Madras, who were engaged to work the sugarcane fields in 1860.41 Natal had a very active community of sugar traders concentrated in the southern part of the colony. C.G. Smith was the driving force with the largest trade in this sector. His focus went beyond dealing in sugar. His interests extended to cattle trading and livestock distribution. He shipped sugar from Umkomaas and Umzimkulu river ports as well as from Port Shepstone to Durban.42 The return cargo consisted of general commercial goods.43
36 The Sir Robert Peel on 16 August 1852, available at http://www.historic- shipping.co.uk/gsssco/Sir%20Robert%20Peel.html. (Accessed 25 April 2017).
37 P. Dickinson Shipping Interests of C. G. Smith 1886–1966 (March 1988) 3(1) SAJEH 20–32.
38 Ibid.
39 Ibid.
40 The value of agricultural equipment was 2.777 pounds in 1856, 1.943 pounds in 1857, 3.975 in 1858 and 7.810 the following year. This represented an increase of about 181% in three years. Figures derived from A. McMartin The Early Days of The Natal Sugar Industry, with Special Reference to the Introduction of Varieties (1948) 85, available at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9dec/
d0f3ff6d4ced63d775c28ddb9aedbef268be.pdf (Accessed 10 December 2019).
41 For a detailed discussion see Ship List of Indian Indentured Labourers (nd), available at http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/ship-list-indian-indentured-labourers. (Accessed 25 April 2017).
42 This service gave Smith and other traders on this route substantial savings of about £2 10s 0d per ton. Ibid.
43 Ibid, 68.
An increase in the number of sugarcane planters entering the market prompted the rise in demand for coastal shipping services between the south coast and Durban. Smith’s Coasters carried sugarcane to Durban from Port Shepstone44 and Port St Johns.45 At some point, Smith’s Coasters46 extended its coastal service from the south coast to Port St Johns, East London (founded at the mouth of the Buffalo River in 1844)47, and Kynsna.48 However, the south coast service ran into problems49 and was eventually closed at the turn of the century.
Coastal shipping on the eastern seaboard grew from strength to strength and received some stimulus from a hive of activities associated with the gold rush from 1878 50 well into the 20th century. Other events that caused a spike in coastal traffic were an outbreak of cattle plague (rinderpest) in the course of 1888-1889 and the Anglo-Boer War during the period 1899 -190251 The cattle plague stimulated regional coastal trade with Madagascar and Mauritius. Smith’s Coasters carried import cattle to replenish local supplies (for both meat and oxen for sugarcane plantations). The return voyage typically consisted of sugar from Mauritius.52 During the Anglo Boer War, allied coasters carried war supplies for British soldiers fighting against the Boers.53 In particular, Smith’s Coasters shipped mail from the other colonies to Natal. These events formed the foundations for South African coastal shipping.
44 The Somtseu and later the Frontier ibid.
45 The Umzimvubu.
46 Somtseu and Umzimvubu.
47 The British used this port for landing stores during the Frontier Wars. In 1848 Sir Harry Smith, the then Cape governor, claimed it for the Crown and named it London. When it was linked to the Cape later, it was renamed East London http://showme.co.za/east-london/tourism/a-history-of-east-london/.
(Accessed 3 May 2017).
48 B. Ingpen Unicorn, Navigating New Frontiers (2003).
49 Challenges seem to have been both physical and economical in nature. Brian Ingpen (note 34) and Paul Dickinson (note 38) 20 detail some groundings in the south coast and problems with insufficient bridge heights that plagued coasters as being some of the challenges. The authors also indicate the introduction of railway lines from the south coast to Durban in 1901 as the proverbial nail in the coasters’
coffin. Dickinson states that rail introduced a more economical alternative for the transportation of cargo to Durban, with which ships could not compete.
50 The first declared gold field in South Africa was in Knysna after a gold nugget was found in the Karatara River near Ruigtevlei in 1878. It attracted a number of fortune seekers which, for coasters, translated into transportation of passengers, equipment and foodstuffs. See Knysna (nd), available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knysna. (Accessed 4 May 2017).
51 Ibid. 22.
52 Dickinson (note 38) 30 shows figures for oxen at 2 122 head in 1896 and at a peak of 23 059 head by 1902.
53 V. Solomon South African Shipping Question 1886-1914 (1982).
Cabotage murmurs that saw the formation of D’Urban Shipping Company in 1844 failed to gain momentum. Vessels continued to operate on the South and southern African coast regardless of where they were flagged. The “domestic goods on domestic fleet” campaign came to naught and the antecedent prevention of capital flight followed suit.
Therefore, there was no cabotage on the Southern African coast at the end of the 19th century. Calls to exclude vessels flagged outside a particular coast failed. We turn now to look at the period from the beginning to the middle of the 20th century.
2.3 DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL SHIPPING (1900 TO THE 1950s)