Port Elizabeth of Yore: Saving lives using the Manby Apparatus

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Before the age of helicopters, shipping disasters usually resulted in severe loss of life. Without a method of rescuing passengers and crew from a stricken ship, they either drowned in the attempt to reach shore in an era when swimming ability was the exception rather than the rule, or they clung to the rapidly disintegrating ship only to die once it no longer offered protection.

The development of the Manby Apparatus was the first attempt at offering stranded passengers and crew a method of being resued. In Port Elizabeth, this equipment was operated by the detachment of the Prince Alfred’s Guards known as the Rocket Brigade.

Main picture: Prince Alfred’s Guards Rocket Brigade with the Manby Apparatus

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: One Not-So-Fine-Day in September 1869 in Algoa Bay

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 2 Comments

In the age of sail, the South-Easter in Algoa Bay could be treacherous, driving vessels onto North End beach. Saturday 18th September 1869 was to be no different. At 2:15 p.m. on this fateful day, the officials at the Algoa Bay Port Office put out the signal “wear cables” for the benefit of shipping lying in the roadstead. 

The only unanswered question was whether some or all of these vessels would survive the impending storm. Later during the age of the steamship, riding out a storm was often gut-churning but never fatal. During the age of sail, it was quite another matter. 

After suffering a tragic flood in 1867, this gale was to once again test the mettle of the town

Main picture: Ships in Algoa Bay

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Wrecking of the Troopship Charlotte

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Over the 19th and 20th September 1854, the residents of Port Elizabeth had front-row seats as the three masted wooden transport ship, the Charlotte struck rocks at the bottom of Jetty Street during a gale.

Three separate reports have been included: The Times, the official report by the Deputy-Collector of Customs and by Lawrence Green 

Main picture: The Charlotte being battered by the wind and the waves

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