A different view on current affairs & history
Blogs on Port Elizabeth
Lawrence Green’s book Harbours of Memory sketches what the port cities of South Africa during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s were like. It provides a vivid depiction of life in those days. This blog covers excerpts of his musings and prognostications on early Port Elizabeth’s harbour and shipping activities, its different communities, its highways and byways and the characters that inhabit it.
Main pictures: Baakens Valley in the 1860s
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
Continue reading
These are excerpts from the notes of Mr. C.G.H. Skead on the early days in Port Elizabeth written in 1939. They provide a personal view of the various activities and the development of shipping at that time. As he was born in 1871, these reminiscences probably relate to the period 1890 to the 1920s.
Main picture: Park Drive when it was considered to be “outside the Bay”
These are excerpts from the notes of Mr. C.G.H. Skead on the early days in Port Elizabeth written in 1939. They provide a personal view of the various activities at the harbour and the development of shipping at that time. These recollections take one back to a bygone era when life was simpler. Imagine still being able to swim on a splendid beach at the foot of Fleming Street.
Main picture: North Jetty with the Station in the background
Continue reading
Until the 1870s, Port Elizabeth harbour possessed no jetties. By implication, the passengers and cargo had to be transhipped onto tiny surf boats for onward transport to the landing beaches. People were carried ashore on the shoulders of the Mfengus much to the distress of the females. In spite of this clumsy and archaic method of operation, Port Elizabeth rapidly processed more exports than its sister port, Cape Town.
This blog is a verbatim extract from the unpublished notes of Mr. C.G.H. Skead written in 1939.
Main picture: Surf boats in Algoa Bay in the 1860s
We have all heard about the strong possibility that San Francisco could experience further devastating earth quakes but how many residents of Port Elizabeth are aware that the city has three ancient fault lines under its surface.
Main picture: Fault lines in Target Kloof
Continue reading
Port Elizabeth seems to be blessed with famous McWilliams names. Apart from the McWilliams of Rink Street, there was the father and son duo who were both famous architects: William and Herbert McWilliams.
Of the two, Herbert, the son, certainly led a full and varied life, worthy of a biography.
Main picture: Sprogs on the banks of the Swartkops River in 1955 – Herbert McWilliams’ sprog is #15
Continue reading
Probably more criticism, chiefly adverse, has been levelled at this monument than any other in South Africa especially in the initial years. Much of the adverse comments have fortunately, long since abated as it is now considered to be an integral part of the city’s heritage and is totally synonymous with Port Elizabeth.
Main picture: The Campanile rises from behind the Customs House
Continue reading
The houses in Donkin Street add to the charm of the area bracketed by the Hill Presbyterian church at the top and Nedbank building in Main Street and bounded by the Donkin Reserve in the east. Possibly more important was the fact that the Donkin Stream from a perennial spring supplied the town with water
Main picture: Painting of Donkin Row, as it is called
Continue reading
Today taking a cure at a mineral spa is definitely out of vogue. However in the past, the belief in the curative properties of the various minerals was widely extolled. Even Erwin Rommel, at the height of WW2, spent time at a spa. Perhaps it was the relaxation that was the cure and not the minerals. Nevertheless, the supposed healing properties were invoked by all and sundry.
Even Port Elizabethans adopted this cure, now a distant memory
Main picture: Swartkops Mineral Baths after the developments in 1936
Continue reading