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From: "Rosemary Dixon-Smith" <>
Subject: Re: [ZA] Shipping & Passengers]
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 12:13:59 +0200
References: <00dd01c2fa91$57b5cf50$0100a8c0@heatherpc>


Hello all:

Marischal Murray's "Ships & South Africa" mentions "the Waratah
was built on the Clyde in 1908 for Lund's Blue Anchor Line, which
for a number of years had maintained a regular service between
England and Australia by way of the Cape." [Much more on the
fate of this particular vessel.]

William Lund had already sent numerous sailing vessels to
Australia when in 1880 his first steamer the 'Delcomyn' made her
maiden voyage to Australia; the Cape route was taken and during
the 80s and 90s Lund's steamers called at Table Bay from time to
time though no regular service ... these were known as 'Blue
Anchor' liners - had characteristic Australian names such as
'Yarrawonga', 'Murrimbidgee' etc. A regular monthly service
between England and Australia via the Cape came into being after
1896 and between England and SA a first class passage was 26
pounds 15 shillings. Tickets were interchangeable with those of
Thompson's Aberdeen Line and sailing schedules were so adjusted
that in conjunction with the Aberdeen steamers a joint
fortnightly service to Australia was made possible. In 1908 the
Aberdeen Line brought out the 'Pericles' - far in advance of any
of the 'via Cape' Australian liners then in service, and ... Lund
also ordered a large new vessel ... named Waratah ... whose loss
9 months later proved the death-blow of the Blue Anchor Line. Jan
1910 the fleet was acquired by the Peninsular and Oriental
Company, and what was known as the P and O Branch Service took
the place of the former concern. The vessels were now adapted
for conveyance of 3rd class passengers only - emigration to
Australia was at this time reaching its peak.

Other snippets re SA/Australian shipping connections from the
same volume:

"1852 the 'Phoenix' a veteran coaster was offered for sale in
Cape Town - eventually it was announced that she was to sail for
'the Australian Gold Regions'. A number of South Africans anxious
to try their luck in Australia joined the ship in Table Bay and
on October 18 1852 for the last time the Phoenix put out past
Green Point. She duly reached Melbourne and then began another
lease fo life .. as a trader on the Australian coast..."

"The early (18)50s saw ... an extraordinary increase in steamship
traffic by way of the Cape owing to the discovery of gold in
Australia. The gold rush reached its height in 1852 ... vessels
of every description were making their way to the antipodes
crowded with emigrants of whom it was reckoned 5 000 were then
leaving England each week. Many liners were diverted from their
normal routes to cope with the demand for passages, and of those
which touched at CT none more notable than the 'Great Britain'
... famous steamship [more on her earlier history] ... in 1852
the 'Great Britain' was advertised to sail for Australia via the
Cape, the Saloon fare to Table Bay being 50 guineas ... it had
been hoped she would make a record run of 26 days to the Cape but
... coal gave out and the vessel had to put back to St Helena for
supplies." etc - she anchored in Table Bay Oct 10th; 636
passengers were on board - finally left a week later taking in
addition to original passengers a number of South Africans "who
were out to try their fortune in the new El Dorado. ...she came
back from Australia Feb 1853 putting in at PE Simonstown and CT."
Later this ship was requisitioned as a transport for the Crimean
campaign and then as a troopship during Indian Mutiny - "during
the last phase of her active career the 'Great Britain' was again
successfully running on the Australian route but never came back
to Table Bay... Another famous Gold Rush visitor to the Cape was
the 'Golden Age' an American paddle-steamer ... an American
concern planned a trans-Pacific service between Australia and San
Francisco ...leaving New York the 'Golden Age' crossed to
Liverpool and after embarking passengers sailed for Australia via
the Cape ...record passage 31 & quarter days arriving CT Jan 6
1854.
The year 1852 which brought so many 'gold' steamships to Table
Bay also saw inauguration of first regular steamship service to
Australia via SA...the Australian Royal Mail Navigation Company
...obtained contract for carrying mails to Australia by way of
the Cape, and in July their first vessel the 'Australian' put in
at Table Bay on her way to Sydney ... 180 passengers ... 48 days
from Plymouth ...The second vessel, the 'Sydney' not much more
rapid, the third the "Melbourne' took 77 days from England to the
Cape. ...though it lost the mail contract the Australian Line
persevered ... and was more successful with subsequent vessels
the 'Adelaide' and 'Victoria' .."

Speaking of around turn of century Murray says: "On the
Australian route there had been considerable developments.
Regular services had for some time been provided by Thompson's
Aberdeen Line and Lund's Blue Anchor Line but in 1899 ... the
White Star Line inaugurated its 'Colonial' service with the
sailing of the 'Medic' - this vessel and her four consorts were
12 000 t ... specially designed for Australian frozen meat and
produce trades and carried also several hundreds of 'one class'
passengers at low rates of passage money. ... Another great
emigration rush to Australia had commenced and during the next
few years especially during 1911 and 1912 the visits of the
Australian emigrant liners became a regular feature at CT where
the streets of the city would be thronged almost each week with
men, women and children in their thousands who were passing
through en route from Great Britain to Australia ..."
The Aberdeen Line also did the Australian run & "so great was the
demand for passages that in 1912 and 1913 the Company had to
charter the White Star liner 'Gothic' and the dominion liner
'Norseman' to cope with the rush ...
the 'Themistocles' ... was the first liner to be seen in Cape &
Australian waters fitted with 4.7 inch guns in accordance with Mr
Winston Churchill's scheme for the defensive arming of merchant
vessels."
Then the War ... " 'Euripides' the newest and largest unit in the
Aberdeen fleet had just reached Australia on her first voyage in
1914 when hostilities commenced and was ... commandeered as
flagship of the convoy of Australian troopships which sailed for
Europe soon afterwards. The four other vessels of the fleet
'Demosthenes' ,'Themistocles', 'Marathon' & 'Miltiades' also
taken over and ... often seen in CT and Durban with their
thousands of Australian troops.
After the war: "the Aberdeen Line was able to resume regular
four-weekly sailings to Australia as in pre-war days ... but end
1925 depression set in in Australia and in common with other 'via
Cape' lines the company was compelled to curtail its services".

According to Murray, from the 1880s until 1914 many emigrant
steamers made their way out to Australia via the Cape but the
homeward route was generally via Suez. After the Boer War four
emigrant lines in particular took setllers to Australia in
ever-increasing numbers; Wm Milburn's 'Port' steamers, Cory's
'Star' liners, T.B. Royden's 'Indras' and the vessels belonging
to Tyser and Co. Tyser's steamers and Milburn's were perhaps the
best known in Table Bay and thousands of emigrants passed through
CT in them, especially from 1910-1913.

"The Commonwealth and Dominion Line vessels took both the Suez
and Cape routes on their way to Australia and large numbers of
emigrants travelled out in them during the years immediately
following WWI - until depression hit Australia in 1925 when
emigrant traffic came to a standstill."



Regards
Rosemary


----- Original Message -----
From: "Heather MacAlister" <>

> Not sure what shipping liner was used but the Waratah was one
of the ships
> that sailed from London to Cape Town and then on to Adelaide,
Melbourne or
> Sidney and that was in 1909 .... surely there must have been
more ?
> hope this is of some use
> regards
> Heather
>
> Keith's speculations:
>
> Before 1900, there were no (few) commercial shipping companies,
ones that
> transported passengers. Union-Castle was the company that
dominated the
> Britain - ZA market.
>
> The Suez Canal was opened in 1869. I imagine that most
shipping traffic
> from
> Britain - Australia went via Suez after that date.
>
> In short, I do not recall any passenger line that served ZA -
OZ.
> Union-Castle had combination cargo / passenger ships that
ventured up the
> east
> coast of Africa, as I recall.
>
> Keith
> ==========================
>
> Doug & Pat Frykberg <> wrote:
> I don't know this but I wonder if there ever was a specific
Oz-Sa shipping
> line. Ships usually went from England/Europe through the Cape
to the East
> and Oz/NZ and back the same way. Try to find lines that did
that complete
> route with passengers being picked up and dropped at the
various ports along
> the way.


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