From 1819 onwards Korsten played an ever-larger role in the shipping trade of the Cape Colony. At one time or another, Korsten owned no less than 13 coasting schooners and cutters of various sizes, 12 of which ultimately came to grief. In the process, Korsten gained the reputation as the largest boat owner in the Cape colony.

As can be imagined, most of these vessels were the smallest size of ocean going vessels as they were merely used for servicing customers along the Cape coast. As such they probably weighed no more than between 80 and 140 tons. Whether the Helena, a 500-ton ship which Korsten owned while living in Cape Town and on which his family went on holiday to England in 1809 is included in the total of 13 vessels which Korsten owned over his life, is unknown.

Main picture: A schooner of the early 1800s

Uitenhage Packet
In his book Algoa Bay in the Age of Sail, Colin Urquhart maintains that during the late 1820s “a small boat building industry was developing and that besides the schooner built by Oldham, another small coasting cutter, appropriately named the Elizabeth, was constructed using timbers sourced from the Alexandria forest.”

The local farmers close to the banks of the Swartkops River were supplied with essential merchandise by the Uitenhage Packet of 130 tons. It was specially built for that purpose in England but was wrecked in Algoa Bay at the mouth of the Baakens River during a south easterly gale on the 30th August 1819. This storm also destroyed the Thomas which was under the command of Captain Thomas Flinn when she was wrecked. Sometimes this vessel which was ideal for this purpose was moored for up to 3 weeks in the river.

Early in the 19th century Korsten is known to have used the Zwartkops River as a safe anchorage for his shallow draft vessels like the Uitenhage Packet, and it was believed at the time that with a little dredging and other civil, the river could easily be turned into an extemporised harbour.

Other known shipping losses
Amongst those vessels lost were the Theodosia, a recently constructed boat which was specially built for the trade between the Cape and England. It was lost on the 31st January 1820 just outside Table Bay with Korsten’s brother and other family members on board when the vessel burnt out. It is not known whether the family survived this disaster.

The Uitenhage Packet, the Winifred, the Marie and the Thomas, which were all constructed in Port Elizabeth, were destroyed in a storm during 1819 just south of the mouth of the Baakens river.

Shipyard
None of the recognised sources on the historical maritime affairs of Port Elizabeth can provide a clue exactly where these vessels were constructed. In all probability there was no formal shipyard in Port Elizabeth and if they were built in Port Elizabeth they were built at random once-off locations such as the Swartkops River and the Baakens Lagoon. A more likely location would have been further afield such as Knysna where huge yellowwood forest ringed the town.

The Story of the Theodosia
Samuel Eusebius Hudson’s Eastern Cape diaries provide an insight into this vessel and its ultimate fate from the perspective of both Hudson and Korsten . This extract from this diary has been provided by Edward Hudson. See sources below.

The story of the Theodosia commences on Sunday 5th December 1819 with Samuel cogitating the proposed appointment of Flynn presumably as Captain. For Hudson, worst of all, was the fact that “He has been in the Navy and thinks a Merchant Ship must be kept like a Man of War, Painting and Scrubbing to the neglect of other more material services”. As Korsten’s intention was to convert her into a Whaler, Hudson mentally conjured up “the Decks lumbered with blubber and annoyed with the stink of whale oil”. To pacify Hudson’s concerns, Korsten proposed inserting a subordinate under Flynn who understood how a Whaler should operate. More concerning for Hudson was the fact that this would add Expense to Expense which Hudson clearly regarded as “frivolous and burdensome“.

In Hudson’s diary entry on the Monday 13th December 1819, he mentally berates Korsten for his ridiculous indulgences for purchasing the Theodosia for R$ 12,400 with R$ 6,000 to convert her. He speculated that the final cost would total R$ 20,000; “a dear purchase” noted Hudson.

By Wednesday, Flynn had received his orders concerning the Theodosia. Flynn had been instructed to obtain a load of freight in the Cape as well as a load of whale oil and transport it to England where it was to be fitted out as a Whaler. If he was unable to obtain freight, he was instructed to remain there during the fishing season. Hudson perspicaciously noted that Flynn would probably incur expenses through ignorance and not malice. Interestingly Hudson referred to an “immense expense” to convert another of Korsten’s vessels, the Uitenhage Packet as the basis for his concerns.

On the 19th February 1820 Korsten and Van Buren went to the Drosdy in Uitenhage only to be confronted by some melancholy news that the Theodosia had sailed on the 31st January 1820 and on the 3rd February 1820 she caught fire and was burnt to the water’s edge. Everything was lost except the passengers, whose lives – and the crew – were all saved. In this incident Korsten incurred a significant loss amounting to R$ 50,000. Apart from Korsten, Hudson lost £100 and those with goods in freight also incurred significant losses.

In his diary dated Monday 21st February 1820, Hudson recorded a string of rebukes against various parties and attributed their losses as a consequence of their flawed behaviour in which the Sinner’s behaviour is inevitably rewarded by misfortune. In Hudson’s view, Korsten, for instance, probably received his comeuppance as Mr. Martin did not receive Korsten’s Letter to Insure the Vessel until two days after the accident!

Sources
East to the Isles, The Story of the Bird Isles of Algoa Bay by Colin Urquhart and Norbert Klages (1996, Bluecliff Publishing, Port Elizabeth)
The Bay of Lost Cargoes: Shipwrecks of Algoa Bay by Warren Morris (2005, Xpress Print and Copy, Port Elizabeth)
Cradock Place: Verlore Erfenis van die Oos-Kaapse entrepreneur, Frederick Korsten by Emile Badenhorst
Samuel Eusebius Hudson’s Eastern Cape Diaries held at the Western Cape Archives and Record Service, A602/2