A different view on current affairs & history
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Better known as Darby, the Whaler, David Doit only appeared on the local whaling scene in the latter half of the 19th Century after having spent time in Grahamstown after his birth circa 1838. Doit obtained employment with the P.E. Boating Company as an oarsman and later promoted as a coxswain, a position that he held for nearly 30 years. It was during his extended stint as a crewmember of James Searle’s boat that his sailing skills were finely-honed.
Competition between rival firms was keen in those days and the crews used to spend hours on the Donkin watching for a whale to ‘blow’ in the Bay. As soon as one was spotted, there was a race to the beach in order to launch their boats and the first crew to harpoon a whale were handsomely paid by the owners.
Main picture: Painting by Thomas Baines of a surfboat being launched through the breakers
Continue readingThe Baldy Man was a TV comedy show in the late ‘90s featuring a balding, overweight buffoon who had a number of remarkable similarities to Trump and his presidency. Apart from the references to his weight, tonsorial insufficiency and his clownlike behaviour, there are other similarities such as:
They both sport ridiculous comb overs.
What they say is largely unintelligible.
The Baldy Man ran for two seasons with a gap of a few years between, similar to Trump’s terms.
They are both desperate about the image they project while routinely making fools of themselves.
They are bumbling figures who have strange facial expressions.
Like the Texan saying, all hat and no cattle, Trump is a poser projecting bigly success while actually failing in business. As such, the image that he projects verbally, as well as physically, is very important. So apart from the application of a fake tan, to give himself a healthy aura, and subtle blonde tinting, he sports an exuberant bouffant which he now swirls, whirls and teases into an extravagant confection as his hair has thinned and said adios amigo.
It’s game over for his comb over and he has had to resort to some exotic techniques only mastered by the few. His hairstyling now displays more complexity than his underlying brain (with the emphasis on lying). His latest offering caught on camera displays a 3-in-1 style featuring multiple partings and a comb over, a comb under and a comb around. The partings actually portray a heart shape. Who would have known he has a sensitive side unless it’s a love emoji to himself?
The buffoon and his bouffant.
Since Trump and his cabinet have struggled to settle on exactly why the USA has gone to war with Iran, perhaps the reason is mundane – simple jealousy. He’s jealous of Ayatollahs’ unlimited power and that they can conveniently hide their baldness under turbans. On second thoughts, perhaps the heart shape is actually his hopeful V for Victory sign.
Whatever the case, history has all but forgotten The Baldy Man and we are counting the days until we can say goodbye to Trump with his awfully scripted and ham-acted reality show featuring a coterie of clowns in the Oh Bother, House.
According to the book Port Elizabeth: A Social Chronicle to the End of 1945, the Union Boating Company was formed in February 1865. The chairman and directors were Joseph Simpson, J.H. Clark, G.C. Smith, C.T. Jones and F.S. Fairbridge and the Superintendent was James Searle. The company purchased the stock of E.B. Wheatland and leased the building used by him, and others adjoining and being built behind, between Commerce and North Union Streets.
Main picture: James Searle
In the history of Port Elizabeth, the Searle Family is prominent in two sectors viz boating in the first generation in the form of James Searle Senior and various diverse industries in the second generation by James Junior and Edward Merry Searle, two of his sons.
Predecessor to the Union Boating Company
With shipping business booming in the early 1860s, Wheatland and Smith commenced operations in March 1861 as The Wheatland & Smith Boating Co. Both men had long beach work experience. Wheatland was appointed as the Eastern Province Boating Company’s first superintendent in the 1840s. This operation was ultimately acquired four years later to launch the Union Boating Company in 1865.
James Searle Senior
James Searle Senior was born in Twickenham Middelsex in 1839. He answered the call of the sea when he was only thirteen years of age by entering the Royal Navy. He was a mere boy on the flagship H.M.S. Cumberland under Admiral Sir George Seymour when he participated in a naval action in the Baltic during the war with Russia during 1854-56. Later in a smaller ship he was at action in the Crimea. For his service he received two medals of which he was ever proud. His innate hatred of blowing his own trumpet would forever preclude him from wearing these decorations. At the close of the Crimean Campaign in 1856, the young Searle obtained his discharge from the Royal Navy and entered the Mercantile Marine. At the age of 20 James was invalided out of the Royal Navy after the Crimean War. In 1859 he emigrated to South Africa and ultimately settled in Port Elizabeth obtaining employment with the Port Elizabeth Boating Company. Without a harbour, Boating Companies were employed to load vessels at sea and to disgorge its load onto the sea shore. Despite being an archaic primitive procedure with duplicate loading and unloading process, this process had to be employed until such time as jetties or quays were constructed.
Creation of the Union Boating Company
The Union Boating Company was launched in 1865. 1900 shares at a price of £10 per share were made available to the public. It acquired E B Wheatland’s working stock as an initial basis for its operation. One of the major motivations behind its creation was the average yield of 22,5% by the three existing boating companies. One of the PE Boating Company boat captains, James Searle, was appointed the Union Boating Company’s first superintendent. The company attempted to advertise its presence by offering to hold the municipal wool sales in its store which was still being erected. Given the fact that the Town Council had already purchased a site on its own, it declined the offer and decided to build its own shed. James
James’s life after the Union Boating Company
Even though the rationale of the various Boating Companies competing for work in theory implied that customers obtained the lowest price, in reality it had the effect of increasing costs and turnaround times. As multiple customers’ goods would be in the same cargo hold in ship, the packers would have to search through the cargo for their customer’s goods. Instead of unloading one vessel completely in reality multiple trips had to be undertaken to clear the cargo.
It was now that James conceived the idea of amalgamating the several companies engaged in this type of work , James was appointed as Managing Director of the Associated Boating Company, a position that he held until for the first time he was elected to the Cape Parliament for the first time in 1899. During this time he was appointed as Chairman of the Port Elizabeth Harbour Commission and finally in 1899 as a Member of the Cape Parliament.
Legacy
For the period of fifty five years, Searle was the farsighted and inspiring leader in Port affairs. He also gained unrivalled knowledge of Algoa Bay, its peculiarities, its possibilities, and requirements and ceaselessly advocated its claims. For years he strove for the creation of Outer Works to make the harbour safe. He also trained thousands of black workers to perform harbour work. Due to his efforts the port obtained a reputation as the “harbour” for the quickest and safest discharge along the coast. Having an unprotected anchorage, all storms placed human lives at risk. Despite personal danger, Searle would gallantly assist in the rescue of stricken crew or passengers. Often he would use spare or unused lifeboats and attempt a rescue himself. The shipping magnet, Sir Donald Curry, was one of many other shipping owners whose first choice when a vessel was in distress, was to call upon the services of Searle.
Off to Parliament
In 1899, Henry B. Christian urged Mr. Searle to contest one of the two local seats in the Cape Parliament. He headed the poll and was returned with Sir Edgar Walton as his colleague and maintained his parliamentary connection until his death in 1914.
Naming tugs
Searle was probably the only man to have had three tugs named after him. The first tug, the James Searle ended its life as a river gun boat in Portuguese East Africa. The second James Searle was wrecked in a fog off Cape Recife whereas the third and last James Searle led a more prosaic life. For 53 years it sailed in the calm waters of the Port Elizabeth harbour. Unlike her earlier life, her final terminal frailty was being classified as unserviceable compelling her to endure the iniquity of being scuttled.
Parliamentary seat
James’s two sons, James junior and Edward Merry, who were both conceived with entrepreneurial zeal, founded the firm Edward Searle & Co. of which their father, James Searle senior, would play no part in its operation.
The saga of the landing of the obelisk
As a tribute to the life of his deceased friend, Kemp, the mercurial John Paterson purchased an obelisk in England to serve as an ornament on Kemp’s grave. Without forethought about the logistics of unloading an oversize obelisk into an unstable rocking surfboat at sea, Paterson purchased it while on business overseas. This foolish decision would lead to a series of spats with Kemp’s family as Paterson’s proposal regarding its placement was summarily rejected as being too flamboyant for a mere merchant.
By all accounts, it was George Kemp’s father who put a spoke into the wheels of erecting this monolith on his son’s tomb. It is reported that he was furious, even incandescent maybe, if rumours are to be believed. In stern tones, he declared that George had been but a plain merchant and as such, that instead of an ostentatious monument, a plain white cross would be more fitting. It is told that the Grandpa Kemp advised Paterson to “throw that damned thing in the sea.” Grandma Kemp was equally vociferous in her opposition to the idea and claimed that such a heavy stone would sink in the grave. Instead of fulsome praise, Paterson had been comprehensively vilified when the Kemp family had looked the gift horse in the mouth.
Apart from the family being upset as they rightly believed that the gift was too ostentatious, Paterson was unfazed by its size and hence the difficulty of unloading it. This would be left in Searle’s capable hands.
Even Mary Paterson was to add her belated voice to the controversy by adding that “As far as I am concerned, it might well have been thrown in the sea. It was a white elephant from the first and the money might well have been better spent on the family.”
Hardly had the obelisk arrived in Port Elizabeth on the 25th April 1863 than controversy arose as various residents rejected Paterson’s revised proposal for its placement. This stemmed from Paterson’s raison d’etre for having the obelisk displayed in Market Square.
James Searle’s account
Hardly had Paterson been rebuffed by George’s father than the Rose of Montrose with the unwanted chunk of stone, would belatedly arrive in Algoa Bay. It was one matter to ship the huge lump of stone out on the Rose, but quite another matter to disembark it onto an unstable skiff in the Bay and then land it on the beach.
An account of how this laborious task was effected, is still extant. Posterity has been enriched by James Searle’s version of this event. James recalled that “George Kemp died in October 1862. Paterson, who happened to go to England, bought the stone at some exhibition, I understand, with the intention of placing it on Kemp’s grave. Old Joshua Kemp was a fine type of gentlemen, a good old sort, now almost extinct; one of the white beaver top hat and alpaca jacket breed. He was opposed to it from the start on the grounds that his son was not a public man, simply a merchant. And so a white marble tomb was substituted, and there it is besides Paterson’s wife on the west side of the Scotch burial ground.”
“Now comes the joke. In the meanwhile, the stone had been shipped on the barque Rose of Montrose in London with the clause ‘to be taken by ship by the consignee at his risk and expense and to find all gear.’ At that time, I worked one of the boats, but was generally sent on any special job. So after a lot of quibbling, I was sent off to rig the gear and to make ready to put the stone out. I went afloat in the afternoon, and it was late when I got the gear rigged. Seeing [that] it was such a fine night, on my own responsibility, I guaranteed the men a double day’s pay, if they got the thing out.
“So they got a lighter alongside and put it over. In those days, there were no appliances for heavy lifts. So we used to beach the boat at high tide and wait till the tide receded to discharge the boat. We got the boat on the beach, and when she was fast, went home. The Superintendent and I lived up Walmer Road opposite each other. On the way I tapped on his bedroom window and told him what I had done. Instead of getting any kudos, he told me [that] I had missed the opportunity of making a good tip as no one wanted the damn thing, and being night, I could have quietly slipped it overboard.
Anyhow I always reckoned [that] it was the best day’s work I ever did in Algoa Bay. I was young then and had some go in me, and landing that stone, made me a Superintendent in 1865. Well, the stone remained on the beach as a white elephant until the Prince of Wales got married later that year. A happy thought struck some loyal Johnny and it was given to the town. It is all bosh about not being able to get it up White’s Road. White’s Road was finished long before Prince Albert landed here in 1861, when we in the Naval Volunteer Brigade marched up like the loyal Britons we were, headed by old Harraden’s band.
An elegant solution
There it lay, unwanted on the beach. No one, including Paterson, wished to incur the expense of transporting it to a site in the town. It was the marriage of the Prince of Wales – Prince Albert – to Alexandra of Denmark on 10th March 1863 which came to the rescue. When the Council met to discuss the plans to celebrate this marriage, Paterson found a solution to the obelisk problem. Paterson magnanimously offered it to the town as a monument to commemorate this festive occasion. A special Marriage Festivity Committee was formed and told to erect it in the town. The Committee in turn contracted its erection in the town square to a Mr James Wyatt who was paid £105 to do so.
On 9th May 1863, a letter appeared in the Telegraph from the Town Clerk:
Gentlemen,
I have the honour to inform you that at a special Meeting of the Town Council held this day, the following resolution was agreed to: “that a deputation from the Festivity Fund Committee be informed that the Council will have much pleasure in taking over from the Festivity Fund Committee, the obelisk, now lying on the beach, and will remove and erect it in the Market Square at the cost of the Municipality in commemoration of the auspicious marriage of H.R.H., the Prince of Wales.”
Archibald,
Town Clerk
Dramatic boating incident
Despite the Union Boating Company’s vessels being involved in various rescue attempts, I have only included this incident. For a comprehensive list, refer to Colin Urquhart’s book entitled Algoa Bay in the Age of Sail.
In October 1892, the lifeboat and Brigade crews went on standby after stormy weather caused a Union Boating Co whaleboat, manned by 15 men, to capsize out at sea while returning from an anchored ship. Eleven of the men had been rescued by the combined efforts of three tugs and another whaleboat.
The end of an era
Progress always comprises and a negative and a positive side. The negative side encompasses the retrenchment of staff, the disposal of assets and the relinquishment of outmoded deeply-entrenched processes. Even though the existing loading and unloading meant duplicating processes, over decades it had been refined and streamlined. In July 1899, talks began between the Harbour Board and the all-powerful Associated Boating Co (formed seven years earlier by the amalgamation of the Union and Port Elizabeth Boating Companies).
After complaints about the company’s excessive charges and high profit margins, some local merchants called upon the Harbour Board to take over its services. There was a heated debate in the newspapers, and the company quickly reduced its landing fees. Negotiations continued with the company owners wanting the Board to buy them out ‘lock, stock and barrel’. This they eventually did in 1901, paying £ 160 970 for all plant, rolling railway stock, equipment and boats.
Margaret Harradine’s characterization of James Searle
By occupation, Searle was a seaman becoming the Superintendent at Union Boating Company and finally the Managing Director of the Associated Boating Co. Furthermore he was appointed a Harbour Board Commissioner and could be give a tribute as the Father of the Port and finally was appointed MLA in 1899.
James Searle by James Steward Crichon in Facebook
FWIW, James Searle was my great-great-grandfather. I am descended through the female line who, according to the customs of that era, were well provided for but did not inherit any part of his business interests but did, in my great-grandmother’s case, receive one of several houses that he commissioned to be built as a wedding present.
My great-grandmother was reputedly his favourite daughter. When, in 1914, he knew that his time had come he asked to be taken from his house nearby, The Anchorage, to what later became our family home on Twickenham Road near The Fort. James Searle spent his last hours there.
James Searle by all accounts was a modest and unassuming man who never spoke of his personal life nor boasted of his numerous achievements after he left his family home in Twickenham, Middlesex to join the Royal Navy. After serving in the Crimean War, he joined the merchant navy, discovered the potential of the as yet largely undeveloped port at the mouth of the Baakens River on Algoa Bay and made his life there.
Redgrave’s assessment
Mr James Searle, in his practical strong sense, would probably have brushed aside , as too flattering, the estimate of his character and work that many have arrived at, but he took a leading part in the development of the port and the general advancement of town’s interests.
Sources
Algoa Bay – In the Age of Sail (1488 to 1917) – A Maritime Story by Colin Urquhart. Published in Port Elizabeth by Bluecliff Publishing
Port Elizabeth: A Social Chronicle to the End of 1945 by Margaret Harradine
Port Elizabeth-From a Frontier Garrison Town to a Modern Commercial and Industrial City by Ramon Lewis Leigh (Joburg, Felstar Publishers)
Liverpool of the Cape: Port Elizabeth Harbour Development 1820-70 by EJ Inggs
Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days by JJ Redgrave M.A. [1947, Rustica Press, Cape Town]
Trump is more desperate than ever to be known as the Greatest President of All Time. He has credited himself with a host of achievements, suitably exaggerated. But one achievement that eludes him was awarded to the man who routinely causes a fresh outbreak of his piles – Obama. We are talking about the Nobel Peace Prize.
Despite his constant reminders that he deserves it more than any person who has ever lived, the Nobel committee steadfastly refuses to budge. His big claim is that he stopped eight wars in eight months, more than anyone in history. To assuage him, FIFA created and awarded him a FIFA Peace Prize. The Venezuelan opposition leader gave her authentic Peace Prize to him which he greedily accepted and then told her to go home with the admonition, “Don’t phone me, I’ll phone you.” So, let’s look at these peace deals that he claims.
In order not bore you to the point of shooting yourself (because you can’t shoot Trump or your dog like Kristi Gnome), I’ll summarise his claims – we’re talking about Pakistan/India, Rwanda/Uganda, Armenia/Azerbaijan, Egypt/Ethiopia, Serbia/Kosovo, Thailand/Cambodia, Israel/Iran and finally Israel/Hamas. Barring the last case, these represent minor cultural/religious/political disputes. They flare up every few years and, left to their own devices, soon simmer down. They are similar to spats between siblings, but on the geopolitical stage. Trump’s ‘interventions’ were limited to disputed telephone calls threatening economic hardship from big brother, but without outside intervention they would have died away anyhow as they have always done.
There is one war he has not managed to stop and that is the Russia invasion. He claimed he would stop it even before he was officially inaugurated. A year later and there is still no end in sight although he has set multiple deadlines. Of course, it has not been helped that his idea of a settlement is a biased deal that only reflects Putin’s position so that Trump Inc’s real estate interests will be favourably considered after the war. His main negotiator is the dummkopf Witkoff, another mega real estate man, who has met with Putin and his entourage alone, without even his own interpreter, seven times before he even deigned to speak to Zelensky who Trump routinely insults.
Furthermore, his disputed claims to be a peacemaker are countered by the eight times he has bombed countries. In the case of the Israel/Iran conflict in June 2025, America was actually a belligerent in ‘obliterating’ Iran’s nuclear facilities with bunker busting bombs. Like the devil, they claimed their work was done and proposed a ceasefire so that peace deal doesn’t really count either. His claim has finally been completely undermined by his latest unprovoked attack on Iran again.
His final desperate move has been to create the Peace Board with a buy-in of $1bn like it’s some ultra-high stakes Las Vegas poker game. As he is the house, banker and chairman they’ll probably conjure up another worthless Peace Prize for him. All these shenanigans have prompted SMAC to join the club and award him a Pizza Prize – just as worthless but at least he can eat it.
For his second term, Trump promised America the Golden Era, and what a golden era his first year has been.
On a tour of Arab states to drum up more grift in mid-May 2025, Hair Force One parked next to the discarded Boeing 747 of the Emir of Qatar. He was smitten by the white and gold paint job and completely bowled over when he saw the interior dripping in gold. He was sold. Actually, he was bought (off) when the Emir grifted the plane to him.
During his tour of the Far East in late October 2025, Korea gifted Trump a replica of the golden crown from their ancient Silla kingdom in an attempt to suck up to him. They also awarded him the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, Korea’s highest decoration, a confection in gold, silver, ruby and amethyst. This is serious gangsta bling. It consists of an insignia worn around the neck on a thick chain, a badge affixed to sash worn over the shoulder and a star, with a ribbon and a lapel badge as necessary. Trump’s response to the award was, “I wish I could wear it now!”
In December, FIFA also tried to pacify Trump when the hairless and toothless baby, Gianni Infantino, awarded Trump the inaugural golden FIFA Peace Prize. After all Trump’s bewailing the injustice of the world, this was like giving a dummy to a baby to pacify it. That night he probably gently cradled it in arms while slowly polishing it with a soft cloth, muttering, “My precious. I’m finally Lord of the Bling!”
On 15 January 2026 he finally got his Nobel Peace Prize via the back door when Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to him in the ultimate suck up move. What did she get from it? Nada! Trump declined to endorse her as Venezuela’s new leader, despite claiming victory in 2024’s elections. In compensation, she left the White House with a Trump branded swag bag which seemed to just contain Trump merch – Bummer! However, the Nobel committee has explicitly stated that the prize itself is not transferable – Bigly bummer!
Given Trump’s attraction to gold and his claim that his presidency is the start of America’s golden era, it’s a wonder that he hasn’t issued an executive order to the Fed Reserve ordering the words on the banknotes to be changed to, In Gold We Trust, and embossed in gold.
But in his mindless, childish and bully boy pursuit of glory and recognition, Trump has left a wake of chaos in America and the world. The report card for his first year reveals that there was a spelling mistake: it’s the Golden ERROR, not ERA – Fail! Will Trump see the error in his ways in his second year? Unlikely.
An aside: The words, In God We Trust, appear on the back of American banknotes. Since more than 319 billion US banknotes have been printed over the last 40 years alone, the word, God, probably appears on them more than in any other published form. So much for the separation of church and state in America.
Like his three brothers, Fred, Milton and Harry, Redvers volunteered for military service during WW2. As the last of these volunteers has passed on, nobody can listen to first hand accounts of their experiences during the war. All that remains are the shards of their experiences as related to disinterested children. Even piecing together these pieces, it provides no more than a smidgen of those experiences.
Main picture: Redvers Percival Dix-Peek in military uniform
Continue readingProbably the most iconic image of Japan is the beautiful ice-capped Mount Fuji, an extinct volcano. It was further immortalized by a series of landscape prints by the Japanese artist Hokusai produced c. 1830 and titled Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. These are a series of woodcut prints depicting Mount Fuji from different locations and in various seasons and weather conditions. The most famous is probably The Great Wave off Kanagawa. They were so popular that another ten were produced. Given that he produced these prints in his 70s, there’s hope for us pensioners yet.
Knock me down with a giant tsunami wave, but this iconic tourist touchstone has been supplanted by a modern consumer blight. As Lilit Marcus writes in a recent CNN article, “A group of tourists follows their guide into the building, where he explains the history and context of what they’re seeing, translating signs from Japanese into English. Wide-eyed in awe, the travellers politely ask if it’s OK to touch things and take pictures. Finally, they’re given free rein to wander around on their own, and they purchase gifts for loved ones back home. This isn’t a Shinto temple. It’s a Japanese konbini, or convenience store, called FamilyMart.”
Jesus, or more accurately, Hokusai wept.
The world is a dangerous place and Trump has singlehandedly taken on the Augean task of making it safer by bombing other countries, abducting their presidents, stealing tankers and their oil and threatening Greenland. But he might get brain freeze (not that many people will notice) if he takes a bite on that icy country as it not only has 2 dogsleds to defend itself with but also a vast reserve of snowballs.
While Trump continues to party it up to the strains of Y M C A as a backing track at his rallies, he would desperately like to play hide-the-sausage with Melania, but she has been playing hide-the-crumpet for the last 20 years ever since he destroyed her trust with a Stormy tryst whilst she was birthing what turned out to be a 6’7” gormless Donald lookalike complete with a slicked back hairstyle from the 50s.
Currently her hide-the-crumpet tactic is like the street shell game in which you’ve got to guess under which of the three cups the prize is hidden. In her case, she could be at Mar-a-Lago, or Trump Towers in New York, or the White House. That’s probably the reason why Trump trashed the East Wing which was the preserve of the First Lady and so cut down on her hidey holes.
She might have been happy to stay out of the limelight, but she was probably jealous of all the money the grifting Trump grime family was squeezing out of the presidency. Light bulb moment – make a movie about herself and get Donald to lean on his billionaire supporters to fund. And fund it, Jeff Bezos of Amazon did. The movie cost $40m ($28m to Melania) to make and a further $35m to hype.
You would be very wrong if you thought that this movie would lift the veil of secrecy on her enigmatic past (and present); how a poor little girl from backward Slovenia managed to catch Donald’s roving eye and hold on to it; or that she was an illegal immigrant using the H-1B ‘Einstein’ visa for exceptionally gifted people; and that she falsely claimed to have an Architectural degree. It only looks at 0.1% of her life, the 20 days leading up to Trump the Stump’s Inauguration – Melania, Twenty Days to His Story (oops, I mean History). What a pretentious movie. It seems that my preconceptions were not misplaced as one critic remarked that it had more costume changes than The Devil Wears Prada. How out-of-touch since Trump’s main focus when rallying the MAGA faithful, apart from insulting all and sundry, is affordability.
To hype her movie premiere (and it seems to need all the help it can get), Melania was interviewed by the Fox Newshounds, or should I say News lapdogs. Since Trump’s favourite song that he does an old man’s dance to is Y M C A, they asked her what her favourite song was? Somewhat confusingly she answered in her guttural Slavic accent, “It ees also, Y ‘iM Say I.”
No more nookie for the crookie!
