Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Amsterdam-A close-run thing

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Both Amsterdam Hoek and the Amsterdam Flats near Zwartkops are named after the Dutch warship turned troopship Amsterdam. After being badly damaged in a storm in order to save the crew and passengers, the captain elected to run her aground halfway between the Coega and Zwartkops Rivers on the 16th December 1817.

This would be the proverbial race against time. Notwithstanding all of the pumps working flat-out and the crew manually bailing out the water, the rate of water removal was lower than the rate of ingress. Slowing their rate of movement was the loss of masts and sails. Furthermore with the internal water rising, the vessel became unresponsive while the onboard water sloshed left and then right, making the ship unstable. Adding to the water internally were huge waves which broke over the floundering vessel.       

This is the story of that desperate race against the sea largely extracted from the book The Bay of Lost Cargoes being a record of the Shipwrecks of Algoa Bay by Warren F. Morris

Main picture: Captain Hermanus Hofmeijer of the Amsterdam

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Frederick Korsten-Sealing their Fate

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Within several years of the first permit for the slaughter of seals in Algoa Bay being issued, the seal population on St Croix island was exterminated. Steadily the seals on adjacent islands followed their fate until it was only the seals resident on Black Rocks near Bird Island which remained. This colony would be the only one to survive and even today it is the only island or outcrop populated with a colony of seals.

This is the story of the slaughter of the Algoa Bay seal population until it collapsed, except on Black Rock, never to regenerate. The only plausible explanation for this is that the waters around the Black Rock outcrop were too treacherous for the seal hunters to ply their trade there. In fact, the seas are so treacherous that many seals die in their endeavours to reach their patch of rock.

Main picture:  Islands and outcrops on which seals used to reside

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Delalande – the Naturalist versus Hudson, the Diarist

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Pierre-Antoine Delalande (1787-1823), a naturalist of French extraction, formed the rearguard of a cohort of explorers such a Sparrman, Thunberg and Burchell to the southern tip of Africa in the latter half of the 18th century and early 19th century.

When passing through Algoa Bay – Port Elizabeth would only be established in 1820 – Delalande would encounter Frederick Korsten, an entrepreneur with fingers in a multitude of pies: exporting salted beef to Mauritius, milling flour, whaling and sealing amongst a host of activities based at Cradock Place.

Another visitor was contemporaneously staying at Cradock Place with Frederick Korsten: Samuel Eusebius Hudson, the diarist. Would they coexist peacefully, or would they be analogous to oil and water?

Main picture: Pierre Antoine Delalande

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Cradock Place – A golden past obliterated

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

In establishing Cradock Place, Frederick Korsten broke the template for the development of a new town. Instead of rough-hewn dwellings gently suffusing an area until steady increments in wealth enabled the increasingly wealthy elite to build houses of distinction, Cradock Place dispensed with these steps. Instead Korsten built a huge integrated enterprise which encompassed all the processes in producing salted beef. Attached to it was a majestic home on a par with the best homes in the Mother City.  Korsten even owned a ship, the 500-ton Helena, to transport the finished product to its final destination being the British garrison on Mauritius.

The house was destroyed in a malicious arson attack on the 13th March 1909 whereas the impressive mill was lost due to lack of maintenance and repairs by a parsimonious town council detached from saving Por Elizabeth’s heritage.

Instead of Korsten and Cradock Place being revered in South Africa as the epitome of development, and acknowledgement of Korsten’s role in its establishment, both largely remain unknown by the majority of residents over 200 years later.

Main picture:  Cradock Place before the fire of 13 March 1909. Originally the farm Papenkuilsfontein, it was the home of Frederick Korsten from 1812.

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Samuel Hudson – Diarist exposes Cape Society

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

In writing a historical piece, at worst one is confronted by a set of facts that reveal little of the real person, their motivations and their personality. At best, only glimpses of the inner person will be exposed usually insufficient to no more than titillate.

The release of the book entitled Pepysian Perceptions of the Cape 1798 to 1828 has led to a numerous long-held assumptions being debunked in spite of previously being cast as immutable and indelible.

The blog will cover the extraordinary life of Samuel Eusebius Hudson as well as pealing back invalid assumptions of life in Port Elizabeth from 1810 to 1825.

Main picture:   Sketch of Samuel Eusebius Hudson by Lady Ann Barnard                                 

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Early irrigation schemes on the Gamtoos River

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

The Gamtoos Valley is a very fertile region. All that it required to convert it into a lush farm was water. Even prior to the 1820 Settlers arriving in Algoa Bay, various people were aware of its significance, but none could not actualise its potential as both the Khoi and the Trekboers were nomadic by nature and lived off the land. Hence fertile arable land was not a priority.

It was a countrywide tour by Frederick Korsten that would plant the seed of combining cattle and the salt from the saltpans near Bethelsdorp to produce salted beef for export. Once ensconced at Papenkuilsfontein, having purchased it from Thomas Ferreira in1812, Korsten spotted the nearby Hankey on which to create a farm. 

This blog covers the disastrous attempt by Korsten to create an irrigated farm on the Gamtoos as well as briefly dealing with two subsequent successful schemes.

Main picture: Philip’s Tunnel

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Pre-1820 Traders and Merchants

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

The advent of British soldiers stationed at Fort Frederick as well as the seizure of the Zuurveld in 1811-1812 opened up commercial opportunities for merchants. The first business to exploit these opportunities was Frederick Korsten.

To do so required an investment in the area. In the case of the contract with the British forces on Mauritius to supply 3000 barrels of salted beef, Korsten was compelled to make a substantial investment in cattle, mills, warehouses, smithies, tanneries, granaries and cooperages.

Notwithstanding that, other entrepreneurs also perceived the same opportunities albeit on a smaller less grand scale

Main picture: Cradock Place painted by Thomas Baines

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Business acumen of Frederick Korsten assessed

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Korsten possessed the temperament to succeed as an entrepreneur in spades, yet as will be shown, he was not necessarily successful in every venture which he tackled. In comparison with his friend Samuel Hudson, he was less dogmatic and more disciplined, but ultimately only marginally more successful.

Samuel Eusebius Hudson was a friend Korsten of long standing who was also an entrepreneur at heart. From his diary one is able compare their management and business styles and divine the flaws in each’s business character.

Main picture: Cradock Place painted by Walford Arbouin Harries in 1870

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Military Record of John Gilfillan Bunton in WW2

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces, Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Just over a century ago, the name Bunton was well known in Port Elizabeth as John’s father and grandfather in their day were both owners of the Grand Hotel in Belmont Terrace. When John’s father, Henry, changed careers in 1927 and went farming in the Selbourne district near Kirkwood, the name Bunton would never again resonate with the residents of Port Elizabeth.

John would attest to serve in the artillery. Later his younger brother, Peter, would join him in the same unit. It was during the opening stages of the battle of El Alamein on the 13th July 1942 that John would be mortally wounded, and Peter, who served in the same unit, would see his brother for the last time as he was stretchered away never to be seen again by him.

Such is the madness and futility of war.

Main picture: John Bunton in North Africa

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Military Record & Life of Henry Bunton

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

Henry Arthur Bunton was the son of Walter Bunton and Marie Louise Pfeiffer. Their son, Henry Arthur Bunton, was born in July 1883 making him only 17 years old when the Anglo Boer War erupted in October 1899 yet at the age of 19 he joined Gorringe’s Flying Column.  This force was raised by Lt Col G F Gorringe in 1901 and served in Cape Colony against numerous Boer Commandos.

In 1916 Henry would again participate in a war but this time it would be during WW1 fighting not in the trenches in France but would serve in the South African Heavy Artillery Regiment.

Main picture: Henry aka Harry Bunton with his wife Grace on honeymoon

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