By the mid-eighteenth century, South Africa still only possessed one port – Cape Town. This did not imply that sailing vessels did not occasionally anchor offshore and send a small boat ashore either to collect water and other victuals or more ominously to mount surveillance operations. So it was in the case of a French sloop, Le Necessaire, in 1752 off Humewood.
In doing so, a calamity would befall a tiny French boat leading to the exposure of ulterior French intentions.
Main picture:
Design of a French Sloop
A French sloop from the early 1700s was a small, fast, single-masted sailing vessel. Unlike the later, more specific brig or ship-sloops, an early 1700s sloop was a more general classification for a single-masted, fore-and-aft rigged ship, commonly used for scouting, messenger duties, or coastal patrol.
In the annals of naval history, this French sloop does not even achieve a footnote in maritime history books. What is known about their reason for the voyage into Algoa Bay during February 1752 accompanied by two other vessels from the French island of Mauritius was, according to Margaret Harradine, to “examine the southeast coast”. Being in competition with the Dutch worldwide, one could conclude that the French bore ulterior motives for reconnoitering this uninhabited land. On the other hand, the reason might have been more mundane such as the collection of fresh water. This non-hostile motive was the apparent reason for the Le Necessaire to anchor in the Bay. and then dispatch a boat to come ashore in the vicinity of Shark River in Happy Valley. In the process, the boat overturned in the surf. In the meanwhile, a storm had steadily arisen forcing the Le Necessaire to withdraw to deeper water in order to prevent it from being driven onto the rocks on the shore.
Fully expecting their mother ship to return once the storm had abated, these French seamen were probably initially unperturbed by the withdrawal of their home, the Le Necessaire. The first hints of probable abandonment were possibly raised sotto voce the following day. With the full retreat of the stormy weather, which was replaced by a vivid blue sky, expectations of their imminent rescue ran high. Those less sanguine silently explored their surroundings for food. In all likelihood, fish trapped in the blind Shark River were all that could be found.
After several more days of clear weather, the men became morose and demoralised as the full impact of their abandonment by the Le Necessaire became abundantly clear.
Comprehending the seriousness of their situation, they set off to the closest town, Cape town, 800 kilometres away. The only objects that they bore were water caskets, a musket and two pistols. Apart from their practical use to carry water, these casks could be used in a barter transaction with the indigenous Khoikhoi or Hottentots as they were locally known.
No record survives of these nine men’s travails, but it is safe to assume that they would have begged, borrowed and stolen supplies off the local khoikhoi en route to survive. In reality they would only have to survive the 368kms to Mossel Bay as in 1792 this was the eastern border of the Cape Colony. Nonetheless it was still a formidable target.
Beutler’s expedition
In early 1752, Ensign Beutler’s life was upended when he was tasked by the Dutch Cape Governor, Rijk Tulbagh to explore the Eastern interior of South Africa beyond Mossel Bay. In spite of being in the Cape for a century, the Dutch had never explored the interior of the country. This lack of interest was a function of their objective for being in the Cape. Unlike the English in north America or the Spanish in South America, the Dutch’s objective for landing at Cape Town was to establish a refreshment station. The need for replenishment and not settlement was their overriding motivation. It was only when they suspected that their enemies might have intentions of settlements here that they arranged expeditions into the interior and the east in order to obtain a measure of the land. If the truth be told, the Dutch discouraged settlement in the Cape as they feared the financial responsibilities of supporting an incipient colony. Farmers were welcomed but not their workers. Their labour would be provided by slaves from Batavia.
Ten days after Beutler’s departure for the eastern Cape, on the 9th March 1752, Cape Town was astonished by the arrival of the Le Necessaire as well as two other French vessels. The significance of their appearance would soon be known,
Beutler’s encounter with the sailors of Le Necessaire
The nine abandonees of the Le Necessaire unanimously took the most logical route to the Cape. By keeping the coast on their left, they were assured of reaching Cape Town alive. By the time that they collided with Beutler’s Party at the Gouritz River, resentment at their abandonment had been displaced by determination to cover the distance while gregariousness had been displaced by taciturnity.
It was at the Gouritz River that Beutler encountered a solitary French seaman, who chronicled the misfortunes of the nine of them who were abandoned by the Le Necessaire. They informed the Dutch party that they had been despatched from Mauritius and that they had been instructed to spy out the southern Cape coast for the purposes of establishing a settlement there. In Beutler’s diary it is averred that the only reason why the French sailors disclosed what the real reason for their mission was a sense of schadenfreude albeit muted.
Amongst the Dutch in the Cape, there had always been an innate suspicion that the French were intent on establishing a settlement at Algoa Bay. After the French sailors’ revelations regarding the true quest of the Le Necessaire, those suppositions were now conclusively verified and solidified.
The sailor who disclosed their real mission was bosun Francois Rubion. While Governor Tulbagh did what he could to assist the stranded sailors, he was necessarily obliged to consider the implications for Dutch sovereignty more especially because one of the ships accompanying Le Necessaire was Les Treize Contons, captained by Captain d’ Ápres Mannevillette, a noted cartographer, who had visited the Cape the previous year in company with a renowned astronomer, Abbe de la Caille. As a direct consequence, Tulbagh appears to have instructed Beutler “to place the Company’s mark in all the bays that he should encounter so as to prevent possible French claims.
It was for this reason that a beacon was placed at the mouth of the Baakens River and hence acquiring the name Baakens for Beacon.
Source
Into the Hitherto Unknown: Ensign Beutler’s Expedition to the Eastern Cape1752, Van Riebeeck Society, Cape Town, 2013.Pages xxIII, 31, 33, 37