Port Elizabeth Harbour by Les Pivnic ©

Please note: All photographs, maps and text in Soul of a Railway are protected by copyright and may not be copied or reproduced in any way for 

further use without prior permission in writing from the compilers of this series, Les Pivnic and Charlie Lewis.

SOUL OF A RAILWAY: CAPE MIDLANDS SYSTEM

PORT ELIZABETH HARBOUR

And immediate surrounding areas

COMPILED BY LES PIVNIC WITH ASSISTANCE FROM TREVOR JONES AND

Fr ANDREW SCOTT DAVIDSON, C.Ss.R.

It bears repeating that the SAR & H Administration controlled a far wider spectrum of Government-owned infrastructure than just the railways.  Under the SAR & H umbrella, the following:

• Railways

• Harbours and harbour craft

• A comprehensive Country-wide Road Motor Service

• Lighthouses and other ancillary equipment

• South African Airways

• Pipelines

• Grain Elevators

• Horticultural Nurseries

• Children’s Homes – for railway servant’s families in need. 

In this chapter we concentrate on the harbour craft with a few diversions covering the rail aspect as well as a statue of Queen Victoria mounted outside the Public Library in town.

Port Elizabeth’s Harbour was very well situated, being right on the doorstep of the City with links to the rail system of both gauges – 3ft6in and 2ft. The harbour comprised of the following:

The Charl Malan Quay; No. 2 & 3 Quays; Bulk Cargo Berth; Tanker Berth. 

A 1200-ton slipway was also provided for harbour craft maintenance and the Port Captain’s Office was incorporated in the modern lookout tower.

Before we continue, I would like to acknowledge the numerous contributions from those listed below:

• • Bruno Martin for his detailed map 

  • The following persons who contributed photos, captions and technical information.

  • Fr Andrew Scott Davidson, C.Ss.R. for technical info on the harbour craft;

  • Trevor Jones for his beautiful photographs and captions to go with them;

  • Alan Buttrum for a wide selection of excellent rail and shipping photographs;

  • Bruce Brinkman for more recent photos of a distinguished visitor and some fascinating WWII photos;

  • Yolanda Meyer for scanning THL photographs;

  • Eric Conradie for the scans of the two historic paintings (photos 1 & 2)

  • Johannes Haarhoff and the DRISA Website for additional THL Photos;

  • Eurika Deminey who was in charge of the THL at a time when I had access to their SAR negatives of harbour craft and associated equipment which allowed me to print them in my darkroom;

  • Liesl Hagen; Geoff Hall; Charlie Lewis; Brian Ingpen; David Marshall; Peter Micenko; John Phillips; David Rodgers; Peter Rogers; David Shackleton; Rupert Toms for their superb photos.

  • Last but not least, Andrew Deacon for formatting this chapter on the website.

1. An unknown artist recorded this view overlooking the Breakwater and Shield from the left bank of the Baakens River, c 1885.  The shield is the part of the jetty that runs parallel to the shore. The Breakwater and Shield were constructed 1856-1866, but a massive storm in November 1867 caused it to silt up entirely as the Baakens River debouched directly into it - a serious own goal. Work was immediately put in hand to deconstruct the breakwater and shield, and construction was started on the North Jetty, which was later incorporated into the Charl Malan Quay.

Thank you to Blaine McCleland for providing the information.

2. Another view of the same location as in photo 1 by the same artist, c.1885.

3. Port Elizabeth on the eve of the Anglo-Boer war.  There were a host of dignified Victorian-Gothic buildings, not least among them and prominent in the middle, the customs house which became redundant upon cessation of the mailship service to South Africa in 1977.  It was already looking neglected when it was destroyed by fire in 1979.  Few seemed to care.

4. The North Jetty, which abutted onto Jetty street in the City centre, was completed just in time for the Boer War.  This undated photo came from the collection of the late Hans Huisman, for many years Harbour Engineer at Port Elizabeth as well as Chairman of the Historical Society and regular contributor to its magazine. Charlie originally described the engine as being one of the Harbour Board's Kitson saddle tanks but the authority on Harbour Board locomotives (as well as all South African industrials), John Middleton has written with suggested details about the locomotive: "Although distant, the loco does not look like a Kitson 2-6-0ST to me but rather appears similar to the engine in photo 15 of the North Jetty, see the simple weather board/spectacle plates. The appearance is of a Fox Walker/Peckett product and that would suggest it may be PEHB “A” which was Fox Walker 330 of 1876, the first engine purchased by the Harbour Board, arriving in April 1877."

5. Judging by the number of ships in the bay, the war was well under way when this picture was made, possibly in April 1901.

7. Empty wagons lined up ready for loading with more war supplies.  The second row of loaded wagons has a variety of different cargoes, the most intriguing being boxes of ordnance (?) first on the right and what looks like folding deck chairs (for officers?) second from right.

8. Two PE Harbour tanks look ready to draw a heavy-looking load of munitions to the Harbour/CGR exchange yard at North End.  Although they have intriguing detail differences (the nearer engine has a larger dome and possibly a larger saddle tank) they both appear to be 2-6-0Ts from the 1875 batch of Kitsons, originally built for the Midland section of the CGR.

Here is South Africa's acknowledged authority on its Industrial and Harbour locomotives, John Middleton's comment:

"This is absolutely wonderful and provides much food for thought. The Kitson’s acquired by the PEHB have caused a huge amount of speculation over the years and Holland doesn’t help by getting details mixed up. The SAR Rolling Stock Register shows three of these with PEHB – Harbour letters “I”, “J” and “O”, scrapped between 1912-1932. The only one we know for certain is O which was supplied new by Kitsons as their No. 4245 of 1903 to almost the CGR design. The new loco Kitson 4245 is known to have had larger cylinders than its CGR predecessors and is therefore maybe the loco with the larger more modern dome in Photo 8. The other two were from the 1875 CGR batch bought from CGR between 1895 and 1901. The 1875 batch comprised 10 locos and what has confused matters is that five of those that remained with CGR and later passed into SAR stock numbered 0415/16/20/21/23 worked for SAR in Port Elizabeth (and East London) but they were variously scrapped between 1916-1946 and have separate entries in the SAR Rolling Stock Register to the PEHB locos. The other five (CGR M17-19/22/24) were withdrawn prior to 1899 and two of these went to the OVGS and became Bloemfontein Works shunters by 1892 and at least two (possibly three) were sold to PEHB. PEHB loco “H” has never been identified, it did not pass into SAR stock and therefore is not in the Rolling Stock Register, it arrived in PE between 1895-1901 and just possibly was the fifth of M17-19/22/24."

If John is correct then the front engine was built in 1903 which makes it impossible for this to be a munitions train, which in turn awakens an intriguing speculation as to what its cargo might be.

9. Panorama of the anchorage, jetties and foreshore, 15 April 1901.  Machinery shed under construction. The track leading towards us in the foreground is the Driftsands branch, long uplifted, to the Humewood Fishery, the building-sand borrow pit and the municipal refuse dump.

10. Sketch map of the Driftsands branch line.  It was approximately six miles long.

11. A Harbour tug about to be drawn up onto the Humewood slipway, date unknown.

12. We are indebted to Trevor Jones for identifying the subject of this picture: 

"She is the Lady Elizabeth, built in 1928 by Jonker & Stans at Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht in the Netherlands. She only served in PE from 1928 to 1938, so that must be the time window of the photo. She was then sold to a British dredging company and returned to the the UK. She was named after Elizabeth Markham, who later become Lady Elizabeth Donkin, wife of Sir Rufane Donkin, so a famous name in PE history, She wasn't a pilot tug, by the way, but a rather larger tug intended to work lighters to vessel performing lighterage operations in Algoa Bay. When these fell away after better alongside facilities were provided, the need for these lighterage tugs also fell away, hence her sale after only ten years."

13. An alert SoAR reader, Tony Elliot has pointed out that this picture cannot date before 1923 because that is when type FZ bogie grain wagons were introduced (see RH edge of picture) and the Ford Motor Company opened its plant in Struandale. The crates more than likely contained knocked down Ford Model A's.

14. Tracks leading off to the bottom left served the North Jetty, see next picture.  Also at bottom left is part of the Customs House.  In the middle distance is South Pier and the one south of that is the original pier that served PE: the Dom Pedro Jetty.  We don't have a date for this picture but it looks as though construction of the breakwater from the end of the Dom Pedro Jetty is about to begin or has just begun which makes it c 1919.

15. Jetty St and the North Jetty c 1905. The fine-looking building behind the harbour tank engine is the Customs House, then only ten years old, destroyed by fire in 1979. The locomotive is described by John Middleton as "a Fox Walker/Peckett product [which] would suggest it may be PEHB “A” which was Fox Walker 330 of 1876, the first engine purchased by the Harbour Board, arriving in April 1877."

16. The South Jetty, c 1915. Note PEH saddle tank loco in middle background.

17. The South Jetty c 1915 again, loading some kind of Marine boiler.

18. Panoramic view of the harbour c 1947 with rows of imported vehicles awaiting customs and distribution.  On the left is the new Charl Malan quay (1934) and visible on the right is the dual-gauge ramp to the underground pre-cooling shed completed in 1933.

19. This mid-60s aerial view of PE Harbour is held in the Transnet Heritage Library and was made available via the DRISA (Digital Rail Images South Africa) website -  www.drisa.co.za.  This website is well worth a visit by anyone interested in the history of the previous South African Railways & Harbours Administration. 

20. View of the harbour in 1968 just before the freeway cut off the harbour from the town.

21. Taken in 1981 by J.Hoek – departmental photographer, this aerial view shows the new container berths in PE Harbour in the upper part of this photograph.  

22. SAR&H photographer T. Robberts took this shot of the new Port Control Tower in August 1983. The large trawler passing the PE Harbour control tower is the Ocean Pearl.

23. Another departmental photographer took this shot in 1984 of the harbour as seen from Donkin Reserve, Castle Hill overlooking the City.  The Donkin Lighthouse is prominent in the foreground as is the stone pyramid monument erected by Sir Rufane Donkin in memory of his late wife Elizabeth, after whom the City was named.   

24. Aerial view of PE Harbour taken by T. Robberts in March 1986. Note the freeway straddling the scene and running right past the old Cape Midlands System Office adjoining the station. The freeway effectively cut off the city from its docks and rail passenger terminus. The suburban service was virtually discontinued in 1984 (more about this in the next chapter) and already the grand old station building is looking shabby and neglected.  

25. The tugs of Port Elizabeth Harbour will feature quite prominently in this chapter.  Built in 1934, here is the JOHN DOCK probably photographed on her delivery voyage from her builders - Harland & Wolff. See photo 31 for builder’s details. Photo THL Yolanda Meyer via www.drisa.co.za. Johannes Haarhoff. 

26. Flower Class Corvette HMS Genista in for a refit at PE Harbour during WWII. 

27. Bruce thinks this is a River Class Frigate (since confirmed as such by Ken Fletcher) entering PE Harbour some time during WWII.  Ken has sent us the following interesting notes:

"She was probably on her way to/or returning from the British Far East Fleet. Strange that she has no pennant number.  It would be interesting to magnify her ID flags to try to identify her.  Also strange is that while most photos of the Class show the Ship’s boat hung from goose-neck davits attached to the hull, this one is on a gravity-type davit fastened to the deck.    I don’t know whether this is a later version of the class or a Canadian one. In some photos of Canadians that I have seen, the davit is not attached to the hull but is mounted on the deck. She is not one of the two Rivers that were crewed by the SAN in 1945."

28. Patrolling Algoa Bay during WWII is an SAAF Avro Anson, serial No 3294, and that's PE Harbour in the background. 

29. Flower Class Corvette HMS Marguerite leaving PE Harbour during WWII. 

30. Flower Class Corvette HMS Honesty getting some camouflage paint at PE during WWII 

31. Ex CGR class 5 by Dübs (SAR 05 No 0502) shunting PE Harbour, 1951. This was one of the last survivors of its class. On the right is a narrow-gauge passenger coach.  Advertising of the service to the Langkloof had been discontinued some two years previously but in true SAR fashion the trains continued to run for another 30+ years, albeit as unadvertised mixeds. 

32. Built in 1925 in King's Lynn, Norfolk, the steam pilot tug H C Hull spent most of her working life in the port of Lüderitz, before serving out her twilight years, from 1954 to 1961, in Port Elizabeth. She was stripped and scuttled off St Croix island in Algoa Bay in 1961. 

33. Although Port Elizabeth harbour had little need for a large suction dredger, it was the long-term home of the 1920-vintage, Clyde-built bucket dredger Palus. From the fifties, when she was used continuously to deepen the port's turning basin in preparation for the larger Union-Castle mailships, and then for the deep-drafted ore carriers loading manganese ore exports, the mournful dirge of her buckets cutting through the rock bottom led to her being referred to affectionately as "Moaning Minnie".

34. Although the bucket dredger Palus was built as a self-propelled vessel, in Port Elizabeth she worked with the steam hopper Duyker as her inseparable companion, with the hopper transferring dredged spoil to the dumping grounds in Algoa Bay. Their "marriage" was to endure to the end of their lives, as both craft were scrapped in East London in 1965.

35.  This is H.C. HULL laid-up with the bucket dredger Palus, at the old Dom Pedro Jetty, just weeks before she was scuttled in early-1961. 

36. Pendennis Castle, May 1959 

37. Pilot tug H C Hull fetching the pilot, May 1959. City ramparts in the background. 

38. Athlone Castle, May 1959 

39.  JOHN DOCK as seen from the deck of a mailship arriving at Port Elizabeth. For our technically-minded readers, here are her details provided by Fr Andrew Scott Davidson, C.Ss.R., an acknowledged expert on SAR harbour craft. 

JOHN DOCK

Builders:       Harland & Wolff, Ltd., Govan, Yard No. 936G

Completed:   October 1934 (launched 26th July 1934)

Dimensions:  153'9" (46.83m) l.o.a., 145'0" (44.19m) l.b.p., 32'0" (9,75m) b.mld, 16'0" (4.88m) d.mld, 14'101/4" (4.53m) mean draft

Engines:    4 Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers, (she and her sister were the last two tugs built with water tube boilers as opposed to Scotch fire tube  boilers)

        2 TE engines by Harland & Wolff, Ltd., Govan,

        17", 29" & 48" by 30" stroke

        2500 iHp [designed, in service given as 3000 iHp], 12 knots

Coal:        209 tons

Tonnage:    551 grt

(Her sister, the W. H. Fuller, is the one that was sunk in Bird Island Passage on the 22nd September 1944)

The Dock worked in PE until being transferred to Durban in 1967, being replaced by the C. F. Kayser’s sister, the T. Eriksen.  She was seen as being underpowered (she and her sister were fitted with smaller propellers and were felt to be more manoeuvrable than their later sisters, but not as powerful) for the larger bulk carriers coming in to the new bulk terminal. Sold as scrap 9th August 1977. 

40. Here is John Dock again – this time, up on the slipway for her regular maintenance service.  Father Scott again:

"This would be the normal annual lay-up. As such the hull would be scraped (later years they shot blasted the hulls) to remove all the marine growth and barnacles. Everything would then be red-leaded and a new coat of red anti-fouling paint would be applied to the lower hull.

Above the wind-and-water line, they wouldn't remove all the paint, just chip the rust from the hull, red-lead and then paint the whole tug. The teak would be scraped down and several layers of marine varnish would be applied.

Meanwhile, all the overboard valves would be removed, overhauled and replaced. (Always a source of anxiety for us engineers when they begin to flood a dock after a dry docking ... would the new seals hold?). The propellers would be cleaned up as well and once the underhull painting was complete, all the sacrificial anodes would be replaced with new ones.

On board all other maintenance would take place. The boilers would be scraped fire- and water-sides, pumps would be stripped and overhauled, the engines would be checked, bearings re-white-metalled and scraped, etc., etc.

Once ready, the tug would hit the water rejuvenated."  

41. In the absence of a graving dock, repairs to tugs and other local craft in Port Elizabeth were carried out on a 1,200-ton capacity slipway as already seen in the previous photo. The twin-screw steam harbour tug C F KAYSER is shown here high and dry on the slipway. The plain "old gold" stack hearkens back to the pre-war SAR&H livery, but in this case the burgundy green bands were simply awaiting re-painting! 

42. Here is the C.F.Kayser again, seen here in company with the John Dock, assisting the unberthing of a cargo ship in the harbour.  

Father Scott provides her details:

C.F.KAYSER 

Builders:    Lobnitz & Co., Renfrew Yard No. 990

Completed:    CFK: September 1936, TE: October 1936

Dimensions:    154'3" (47.01m) l.o.a., 145'0" (44.19m) l.b.p., 33'0" (10.06m) b.mld, 17'0" (5.18m) d.mld, 15'9" (4.80m) mean draft, 14'6" (4,42m) draft fwd, 17'6" (5,33m) draft aftEngines:    4 Scotch fire tube boilers

        2 TE engines Lobnitz & Co., Renfrew,

        17", 29" & 48" by 30" stroke

        CFK: 3193 iHp, 13.5 knots

Coal:        235 tons

Tonnage:    601 grt

Signal Letters:    CFK: ZSPV

Fate:   Broken up in East London May 1978.   

43. In this interesting scene, the Kayser and the Dock are shown assisting the Krugerland.  In the foreground, the ubiquitous VW Beetle and a cyclist who probably had an interest in shipping. The liner behind the John Dock is the Cape Town Castle, very near the end of her career.

44. The Cape Town Castle seen across the bows of one of the PE tugs.  Any detail comment on this photo would be welcome. 

45. In this fine THL photo, we see C.F.KAYSER alongside one of her sisters and across the harbour, either the Athlone or Stirling Castle berthed in PE Harbour.  The old SA Navy hydrographic survey vessel SAS Protea is lying behind the mail liner.  Photo THL Yolanda Meyer via www.drisa.co.za. Johannes Haarhoff. 

46. Wonosari being assisted by John Dock prior to setting sail for some distant port.

47. The Lloyd-Triestino Lines “Europa” with one of PE’s tugs in attendance. Together with her sister – “Africa” – they both provided a regular post-WW2 passenger service between Italy and South African ports.  In 1975 they were both laid up in Italy.  The Europa was sold in 1976 to transport pilgrims to Mecca but before she could enter her new role as the “Blue Sea”, she caught fire and was totally destroyed.  This info from the book “In South African Waters” by D.Hughes and P.Humphries.

48. A product of the Lobnitz yard at Renfrew on the River Clyde, C F Kayser served Port Elizabeth harbour for some forty years after her completion in 1936. She is shown here steaming out to meet the incoming mail steamer Edinburgh Castle in January 1970. 

49. January 1961 while on a coastwise trip on Pretoria Castle I photographed the PE Pilot Boat “William Weller” approaching the mailship to allow the pilot to come aboard before entering port.  Father Scott provides the technical details of the Weller:

WILLIAM WELLER

Builders:    Cantieri Navali e Officiene Meccaniche di Venezia, Venice

Completed:    1959

Dimensions:    90'0" (27.43m) l.o.a., 82'0" (24.99m) l.b.p., 21'11" (6.68m) b.ext, 20'0" (6.09m) b.mld, 10'6" (3.20m) d.mld, 9'113/4" (3.04m) mean draft

Engines:    1 Scotch fire tube boiler (twin furnace),

        TE engine, by Cant. Nav. Off. Mecc. Di Venezia, Venice,

        11" (280mm), 181/2" (470mm) & 30 3/4" (780mm) by 20 1/2" stroke (520mm)

        318 iHp 10 knots

Coal:        20 tons

Tonnage:    113 grt 

50. William Weller is now right alongside so that the pilot can board Pretoria Castle in safety.

51. With the pilot on board, one of the PE tugs escorts us into the harbour basin.  The second tug can be seen in the distance ready to assist in berthing Pretoria Castle.

52. After Pretoria Castle was safely berthed I had a quick breakfast in the cabin class dining saloon and then left the ship to find trains to photograph. I first walked into town and saw the statue of Queen Victoria outside the Public Library.  A feeling of pride rushed over me because my maternal grandfather was directly involved in its placement.  My maternal grandmother – Ouma Kruger told me the story: 

"The statue arrived by ship from the UK and had to be brought up from the harbour to the chosen site. A steam traction engine was to haul the statue into town, but the municipal driver had booked off sick.  The municipality contacted the office of the Cape Government Railways and asked if they could provide an engine driver to stand-in and drive the traction engine.  The old Loco Depot at North End was instructed to provide a driver on loan and my Oupa Kruger happened to be available.  He was sent to the harbour where he took over the steam traction engine and hauled Queen Victoria to her final resting place."

At the time of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 a movement to raise funds for the statue was started. E. Roscoe Mullins, a renowned sculptor from London at the time, was commissioned to sculpt the statue which is made from Sicilian marble.  It was erected and unveiled by the Mayor of Port Elizabeth, J.C. Kemsley on the 30th of September 1903.  My thanks to Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism for the additional information.  

53. After a good session of photographing trains between PE station and North End, I returned to the harbour to board ship for East London but just before doing so, I spotted two diverse but interesting vehicles – one right on the quayside.  This was a special heavy-lift wagon No 50 that had just been loaded with the heavy transformer seen in the photo.   

54. The second vehicle was of particular interest in that it was originally a electric motor coach used on the Cape Town suburban lines wired for 1500V operation in 1928.  With all the electrical gear removed it was now being used as a third-class compo-van in the PE area.  For younger readers not familiar with old-style docklands, the lattice-work structures along the roof line are old-style harbour cranes not seen today. 

55. Back on board Pretoria Castle, I had a perfect position from the promenade deck to photograph Stirling Castle setting sail for Cape Town with John Dock and C.F. Kayser in attendance.  Note the old South African flag at the top of Stirling Castle’s fore-mast.  

56. The small  coaster Adelaar was owned and operated by the Port Elizabeth-based Cape Recife Coasting Company that had bought her from her owner-master, Captain Otto Schneider, in 1957. With his wife, two daughters and some “hitch-hikers” as crew, Schneider had brought Adelaar from South America circa 1956 with a cargo of timber. Within a few months of Cape Recife Coasting Company taking her over, she broke down off Port Elizabeth, was towed into port and her cargo trans-shipped to the Thesen coaster Griqua Coast for onward shipment to Cape Town. Soon after that incident, the company went bankrupt, and, by 1958, she was owned by Senator S. M. Pettersen whose so-called “ghost fleet” of derelict ships lay abandoned for years in Table Bay Harbour. Adelaar spent a long period laid up at No 5 Quay before being scuttled in Table Bay [Brian acquired this photo from the George Young Collection].

57. When export fruit blocks arrived at Humewood Road the locomotives would immediately uncouple and head for the shed.  The load - minus its guards van - would then be worked down to the docks, in early years probably by an NG8 or 9, then by the first SAR Garratt, No 51 (after its arrival from Natal in 1946), or in later years, Nos 54 or 55, the later model NGG11s that were allocated to hauler duties after they were transferred from the Estcourt - Weenen line in 1965.  In this magnificent panorama by David Mitchell of the Talyllyn Railway, an NGG11 is bringing one of these block loads to the underground pre-cooling sheds used for stacking fruit before loading into reefer vessels for shipping overseas.  The engine itself was shy of going underground.  It would park the wagons in the fan of tracks just ahead of the train, run around and then shove them into the shed in cuts of six or seven. Broad-gauge fruit used the same precoolers - the interlacing of the gauges was just ahead and to the left of the parachute tank in the middle background. 

The clerestoried roof in the foreground belonged to the old Customs Shed, which in this 1973 photo was still very much in use. 

58.  The third built NG15, number 19, moving stock into the sidings adjacent to the pre-cooling sheds in the docks. Number 19 has just about to pull over one of several narrow/Cape-gauge crossovers, this one being near to the Strand Street docks entrance.

Behind is the 1891 built Customs House, a truly magnificent structure when first built (see Jeff's old postcard, image 7). At high tide the sea would wash very close to the surrounding walls. It should have become a national monument, but soon after cessation of the mailship service it was badly damaged by fire in 1979 and was demolished in 1982, barely a year after this April 1981 shot was taken. 

59. Another angle on the Charl Malan quay, taken from the Campanile, April 1973

60. S2 3733 shunting Charl Malan quay, 28 August 1974

61. NG15 No 124 shunting the pre-cooling shed sidings, April 1983. The dual-gauge ramps leading to the underground pre-cooling sheds can be seen on the left (see also photo 83).

62. 15AR 1968, by 1975 relegated to hauler duty between New Brighton marshalling yard and the docks, dropping off some broad-gauge export fruit wagons before picking up the string of imported cargo on the left and heading back to New Brighton.   

63. Class S2 assembling a oil train for up country in April 1973.  Note the regulation wagonloads separating the loaded tankers from the locomotive.

64. Referring to the date of his photograph – January 1983, Peter Rogers writes: 

"How have the mighty fallen - six months ago 15AR 2024 would have been employed on the P.E. - Uitenhage locals. Now, with passenger duties gone, "Uitenhage" has been relegated to the harbour shunt. Of interest is the large rake of coaches (both clerestories and ellipticals) store in the harbour yard in the far background. One assumes most of these were doomed for scrapping. Another interesting item is the 4 wheeler still in use, although long lines of these were already being lined for disposal up in yards throughout the country. Don't know what the Health & Safety officers of today would make of the shunter riding on the end of the wagon..."

65. 310-up leaving PE for Klipplaat in July 1975 with, on the left, a 12R on a harbour hauler to New Brighton marshalling yard.  In the background the forest of harbour cranes needed for break-bulk cargo would soon be replaced by the gigantic container lifters in use today. 

66. One of the most graceful ships of the Union Castle line, Pendennis Castle docked at the Charl Malan quay on 2 August 1975.

67. Another angle on the superb Pendennis Castle with her mailship career rapidly drawing to a close. 2 August 1975.

68. The careers of the S2s were also drawing to a close in August 1975.  This was 3735.

69. S2 No 3735 with Pendennis Castle in the background.

70. John Dock again – this time assisting the “Annitsa A” - one of the ubiquitous US-built "Liberty" steamers. She was completed in 1944 by Southeastern Shipyard in Savannah, originally as the A Mitchell Palmer. From 1954 to 1964 she carried the name Annitsa A under the Honduran flag, so the photo must be within that window. She was scrapped in 1968 as Justice.

71. Last vestiges of an era when looks were as important as the company's bottom line: Pendennis Castle is so graceful alongside at PE. Today’s passenger liners look like floating blocks of apartments – all the grace has gone!  No prizes for guessing which SAR tugs were in attendance.

72. The perky little T. Eriksen in Algoa Bay, about to pick up the incoming Pendennis Castle in March 1975.  Note the device on top of the mast. When she worked in Durban, she was referred to as “Cock of the Fleet”.  

73. After surviving a sinking and subsequent salvage 12 years earlier in Durban harbour, the Clyde-built steam tug T Eriksen is shown here in Port Elizabeth at the end of her working life in September 1977.

74. The diminutive suction hopper dredger Algoa, shown here lying alongside No. 1 Jetty, was built in Holland in 1923 at Krimpen aan den Ijssel, and served Port Elizabeth for more than 50 years. Port Elizabeth was not subject to the heavy littoral drift of sand that required the on-going heavy maintenance dredging needed in Durban and East London, so a far smaller dredger was sufficient to clean up any sand build up within the port.  The background shows the SAR&H housing in Humerail - some of which accommodated contributors to Soul of A Railway at various times. They had magnificent views of the harbour.

75. The coal-fired steam pilot tug William Weller was one of five sisters built for the Harbours Administration in Venice, Italy, and towed out to South Africa in a remarkable five-tug tandem tow by the Dutch deepsea salvage tug Hudson. William Weller was named after a former SAR&H Nautical Adviser and served in Port Elizabeth more or less continuously from her commissioning in 1959. After she ended her official harbour service, the Weller continued in steam for some years as a training ship for the Port Elizabeth sea cadets.

76. Looking very grand in the harbour is the “Edinburgh Castle”. Visible is the beginning of reclamation work to create a parking area for the vehicle import/export business. 

77. The magnificent Pendennis Castle, March 1976 and F.T. Bates to the left of what looks like a dredger.  Another 1st class tug is alongside behind the stern of Pendennis Castle.

78. Towards the end of an irreplaceable era: the SA Vaal getting away on 15 Jan 1977. Originally the Transvaal Castle, the Vaal sailed her last mail run between South Africa and South Africa in 1977, leaving Port Elizabeth on 23 September. She was sold into the cruise liner market with a new owner. 

79. Alan’s second shot of her leaving Port Elizabeth on 15 January 1977. The tug names were not recorded. 

80. Such a magnificent sight deserved another photo and here is Alan’s third shot of SA Vaal’s departure on 15 January 77 shows all the attention that she was receiving from the SAR&H harbour craft.  The Pilot Tug on the left was the William Weller.

81. These were the days when the looks of a vessel were as important as the company's bottom line. The proportions of Union Castle ships were probably unexcelled: their graceful lines emphasised the extraordinary colour scheme - whoever thought of a mauve hull with white superstructure offset by a red and black funnel? Did it work?? And how! 

Alan's portrait of Windsor Castle prior to sailing on 2 April 1977 well illustrates the point.  Her last visit to Port Elizabeth was on 2 September 1977, the year the mailship service ended.

82. Another shot of her just before she sailed from Port Elizabeth on 2 April 1977. Tugs in attendance: foreground T.ERIKSEN and amidships F.T.BATES.

83. A very sad occasion.  Last visit of a truly majestic liner, the Windsor Castle, to Port Elizabeth on 2 September 1977.  Compare her architecture with that if the latter day Queen Mary 2 (photos 103 & 104 below).

84. William Weller, possibly having the steam tug equivalent of a 15M.  8 Nov 1978.  Not far wrong Alan – she was having her annual overhaul. 

85. Alwyn Vintcent, 18 Aug 1978 – this Pilot Tug is now in preservation in Villiersdorp in the Western Cape.  She almost went to Australia but plans to sail her across to OZ fell through.  

86. Looking like mother duck keeping an eye on one of her ducklings, the William Weller was photographed near the entrance to the harbour.  

87. 30 Oct 1977, Winchester Castle and Good Hope Castle, I suspect in dock for the Valencia orange crop.  The days of break-bulk cargo ships and wharf-side cranes was rapidly drawing to a close: the future lay in containers and ugly container vessels. This from Trevor Jones: 

"a very interesting image, as it shows Good Hope Castle in her brief interlude of U-C service as a conventional reefer, after the cessation of the mailship service in September 1977. This subsequent use of the two fast cargo mailships was not a great success, and both were soon sold to Costa of Italy. That's also why the Good Hope Castle is not in the conventional mailship berth at No 2 Quay."

88. Another shot of the C.F. Kayser underway in the Port

89. Alan has no details for this shot but it looks like the tugs had their hands full with arrivals and departures from Port Elizabeth on this day in August 1975. Trevor to the rescue again: 

"the vessel the tugs are attending to is one of the fine US-flag Moore McCormack Line steamers. Beautiful ships. I can't read the name, but it is one of the Mormactrade/cape/gulf/lake etc type. I think there were 8 of these."

90. The F.T. Bates nearest the stern and another first-class tug assisting the Karen on 14 November 1976 to dock at the manganese ore terminal.  

91. 15 Jan 1977.  A loading operation at the manganese terminal. Alan says: 

"When I lived barely a kilometre from the docks I could testify that ore dust gets onto house-hold curtains – only a mild easterly was necessary. It was a problem in the seventies and is still a problem these days.  That’s the SA Vaal sailing away in the distance." 

92. Langkloof fruit that was exported from the docks boarded ships via the pre-cooling facility located beneath the fruit loading berths. The ng shunter for the day pushed loads into the shed and hauled the empties out again with much vigour. The shunter never entered the shed, always halting just at the entrance. This was NG15 No 135 in April 1983.

93.  30 April 1983: NG15 No 145 is bringing a string of fruit empties away from the pre-cooling sidings and is crossing the 3’6"-gauge line leading to the ore berth. 145 is taking the sweeping left-hand curve past the ng/bg trans-shipment shed before crossing the Baakens River and climbing up the trestle bridge towards Humewood.  

94. Spring of 1983 and beautiful sea side lighting sees the fireman of a 24-class number 3665 stoking his fire for its next round of shunting whilst the driver listens to the shunt radio.  My previous experience was that this would have been an S2 duty but the majority had all been staged 2 years earlier. The location is almost as far out to sea on the South Mole as the railway tracks would permit. To the left was the fishing wharf and behind is the Indian Ocean. To the right are the dunes of Kings Beach. 

95.  The end of big tug steam in the South African ports - Willem Heckroodt was the first of two diesel-electric tugs completed for the SAR&H by Barens Shipbuilders in Durban in 1969. She spent the bulk of her working life in Port Elizabeth, before being transferred to Durban and then later was donated to CFM for work in Maputo port in Mozambique as Maputo. 

96. Another shot of Willem Heckroodt giving us a broadside view.

97. Achille Lauro 14 Dec 1980, with diesel tugs in attendance -the steam tug era having come to an end. 

Launched as the MS Willem Ruys in 1947 she had an eventful life that ended in tragedy.  In 1965 she was converted into a 23,000 ton cruiseliner and renamed by her new owners, the Flotta Lauro line.  In 1985 she was hijacked by four members of the Palestine Liberation Front, who murdered a Jewish-American passenger named Klinghoffer.  After capture of the terrorists (who later escaped from Italian custody) she continued her career, eventually sinking off the coast of Somalia after an engine room fire in December 1994. Two passengers and a crew member lost their lives (thanks to Wikipedia for this information).  

98. Named after a former Railway Commissioner, the P J C du Plessis was one of three Z-peller tugs completed by the Niigata shipyard in Japan. The tugs were acquired specifically to handle bulk manganese-ore loaders in the port. 

99. A further view of P J C du Plessis in pristine condition, a few months after her delivery from her Japanese builders in 1977.

100. In this THL photo the Dirk Coetsee is seen attending to the Greek ship Aghios Gerassimos, built in the Basque country in Spain in 1966 by Cia Euskalduna as Jose Luis Aznar.  She traded as Ag. G from 1973 to 1986, so a big time window here.

Father Scott provides the Dirk Coetsee's technical details: 

Built 1978 by Dorman Long, Durban (she was working with her sister “Coenie de Villiers” in Durban in 1979 for a while)

Length o.a. 35.62 m;

Length b.p. 33.50 m;

Breadth mld 11.0 m;

Depth mld 4.13m,

Draft fwd 5.801m, aft 5.316 (this is below the skeg and propulsion units, etc., not just the hull);

152 grt;

3100BHp; 39.16 ton bollard pull; 12 knots, twin Niigata 8 cylinder diesels, twin Niigata Z-peller propulsion units.   

101. Ending this chapter with a few contemporary scenes, this is the current "nesting" place for tugs and other harbour craft in Port Elizabeth is a jetty near the base of the Charl Malan Quay, adjacent to the berth used by car carriers linked to the city's pivotal automotive trades. Shown here is the small tug/workboat Royal Tern and the pilot boat Ivubu. 

102. This is the Chinese-type IBHAYI ("The Bay") diesel tug, that is a real odd-man-out among the SA harbour tugs. Very noisy in operation - she could be heard throughout the CBD.  

103. Turning the clock back to 2005, the Queen Mary 2 paid her first visit to Port Elizabeth Harbour and Bruce Brinkman went down to the docks to record this auspicious event.

104. In the second we see a Transnet National Ports Authority tug appearing to keep a watchful eye on the QM2.

105. A 2005 scene of the tug berths in PE Harbour.  The SHIRAZ is nearest the camera. Father Scott provides her background:

She was originally the Ben Schoeman and was first of a class of four large Voith tractor tugs built by Dorbyl in 1980. She is 43 tons registered bollard pull. She started life in Durban alongside the last of the four, the Paul Sauer (now Pinotage). Then Cape Town claimed all of that class and the J. H. Botha and R. H. Tarpey were sent to Rickie's Vlei to join the W. H. Marshall Clarke and the Jan Haywood when the latter was brought down from Walvis. Later all the Schottels were consolidated in Durban so instead of providing a variety of tug sizes and powers in each port, the standardisation of spare parts idea was followed.

The next tug, further away from the camera is the Japanese-built Z-peller ASD (azimuth stern drive) tug, Brenton which was built as the P. J. C. du Plessis. She is 2700 bHp and 27 ton bollard pull.

The furthest tug is really hard to tell. I think I can make out '?ko' at the end of her name. That would then be the Ngqura (Coega) tug Lizibuko, built 2010 and 70 tonne bollard pull. Coega tugs sometimes help out in PE when extra power is needed.

Thanks Father Scott!

106. The Port Elizabeth Container Terminal in September 2009. This view was taken from the container ship  Safmarine Oranje, built as Oranje in Croatia in 1991. At the time, she was the only commercial freight-carrying vessel on the South African registry; when she was sold later that year, no commercial vessels remained on the local registry. At present only three commercial vessels are on the register that once boasted about 50 ships flying the local flag.

107. The refrigerated ship Cloudy Bay arriving in Port Elizabeth in September 2009 to load export fruit at the fruit terminal. Another refrigerated vessel is already loading fruit. Export fruit is brought from the Langkloof and Gamtoos River valleys to the west of Port Elizabeth, and from the Kat and Great Fish River valleys to the east of the port. Following the introduction of refrigerated containers that now carry the bulk of export fruit, fewer refrigerated ships such as those in this photograph are in service when compared to earlier pre-container times.

108. The manganese terminal at Port Elizabeth in 2017. Manganese exports railed from the Northern Cape have increased over the years. The terminal was originally built to handle iron ore but the growing export volume of this commodity and the need for larger bulk carriers to move it, exceeded the limitations of the port. Proposals to build a new terminal at St Croix to the east of Port Elizabeth were shelved in view of the difficulty in upgrading the railway from the mine at Sishen in the Northern Cape. Thus when the iron ore terminal at Saldanha Bay opened in 1976 with a dedicated high-speed, heavy duty railway link from the Sishen mine, the Port Elizabeth facility was modified to handle manganese. 

109. The Port Elizabeth harbour tugs Shiraz (nearest the camera) and Imonti standing by to assist the container ship Safmarine Oranje to sea in September 2009. Shiraz (ex-Ben Schoeman) was built in Durban in 1980 as one of a flotilla of second generation multi-directional tugs for service in South African harbours. She was initially in service in Durban harbour and then in Cape Town before being transferred to Port Elizabeth. A series of nine new Durban-built tugs have entered service in the last two years as the fourth generation of these tugs. The Diesel Z-peller tug Imonti was one of three sister ships built in Japan in 1977 to replace the old steam harbour tugs that had been built in the 1930s. Imonti has since been withdrawn from service. 

The informative captions for photos 97 to 100 were provided by Brian Ingpen (as well as the photos!).

That's all for this issue of "Soul of A Railway".  Our next chapter covers the suburban and local freight services in and around Port Elizabeth.