The Technical Editor of this series of blogs can be categorised as possessing a heightened sense of curiosity which is conflated with the instincts of a pitbull. Whilst also having an inveterate inquisitive nature it leads to his relishing the challenge to explain the unusual and the incongruous.

So it was in the case of an hydraulic crane with extended legs hiding in plain view on the North Jetty. That explains why I never noticed it whereas Blaine has for years cogitated its existence and purpose. Whereas I classified it as another boring hydraulic crane at the harbour, Blaine was mystified.  What purpose did it serve? Why was it relocated? What was its significance?

This blog unmasks the object and provides a possible explanation for the crane’s existence and ultimate usage when it vanished from North Jetty.

Main picture: Unusual crane on North Jetty

William Alcock was a prominent resident of Port Elizabeth and Walmer in the later 19th century and early 20th century. With eclectic interests such as photography, civic affairs and motor vehicles he was widely known in these circles.

From a professional point of view, what is known about William Alcock, is that he was tinsmith who operated initially at No. 44 Queen Street but later relocated to better premises in Main Street close to Russell Road. This was just the job for the sleuthing skills of the Technical Editor, my brother Blaine, to track down the exact location of these buildings.

Main picture: William & Edwin Building built in 1890 in Main Street. Demolished for VSN Centre

The professional photographers such as Bruton and Ring have already been covered in two blogs viz one on James Bruton and another generically on the Early Photographers. This does not imply that the quality of the premier amateur photographers was in any way not on a par with the professional photographers. The epithet amateur merely implies that the profession of the amateurs was not photography.

This fact is borne out by William Alcock, a tinsmith, who excelled at stretching the boundaries of the art of the possible.

Main picture: William & Edwin Building built in 1860 at 100 Main Street by William Alcock, a prodigious amateur photographer. This building was demolished to make way for the VSN Centre

During the 19^th century and early 20th century, Mosenthals was the largest company in Port Elizabeth. The erection of its elegant head office and stores on the corner of Jetty Street and North Union Street was emblematic of their exalted status.

Much of this information for this blog has been provided by the Technical Editor, Blaine McCleland as well as the books of Margaret Harradine.  

Main picture: Initial building of Mosenthals probably close to the landing beaches

Forms of land tenure and availability of vacant land

Any map of the area surrounding Port Elizabeth extending outwards to the Gamtoos in the west and Sundays River in the northeast in the 1820s depicts less than two dozen farms, all with Dutch names. This reflects the fact that from the 1770s onwards the Trekboere had settled here on their quitrent farms.

This fact did not affect the 1820 Settlers per se as they were scheduled to be settled on the frontier, but it did mean that in reality none of the land around Port Elizabeth was “in British hands” and as such unavailable to the British settlers. One such person was Charles Lovemore whom we shall be introduced to shortly and who had decided to settle at Port Elizabeth. Unlike the settlers at the frontier, Lovemore would have to acquire his own land.

Main picture: Map of Klaas Kraal, renamed Bushy Park by Henry Lovemore