CONNECTIONS to the island of St Helena

Groot Constantia Vines

Was there, in the past, a connection between the wine farming area called Constantia, the once large private Maynard estate,Wynberg (a suburb of Cape Town), the island of St Helena and Napoleon Bonaparte? 

The Portuguese explorer Joao de Nova discovered the island on 21 May 1502 and named it after Saint Helena mother of the Emperor Constantine.  It became a stopover, a refreshment  station for many ships.  Thomas Cavendish an English sailor/buccaneer and third circumnavigator of the globe arrived there in 1588.  In 1659 the English East India Company took possession of the island. Opposing Dutch forces invaded in 1673 but soon surrendered.  The EEIC held the island until 1834 when it was brought under the British Government.

Napoleon

In 1815 Napoleon 1 was defeated at Waterloo.  His freedom was over and he went into exile on the island of St Helena where he remained until his death in 1821.  During his  years on the island the local economy boomed.  This was due to the several regiments of soldiers who had been sent to St Helena to see that he did not try to escape and that he was properly cared for. It is at this stage that one can begin to answer the question in the paragraph above. Commerce had entered the picture.

Groot Constantia Vines

 St Helena probably needed to import food, wine and other necessities of daily life.  Items required would have come from Britain but  probably also from the British governed Cape Colony.  The confined Napoleon is said to have enjoyed Constantia wines. Today Constantia still has farms producing quality products.

 Another link to Napoleon and the Maynare estate is as follows. In 1840 Napoleon’s remains were taken from the island and re-interred in Paris.  In 1841 the iron gates that had closed off the emperor’s tomb were bought by J M Maynard, shipped to Cape  Town and placed at the entrance to his estate at Wynberg.  In1949 the gates were returned to the island of St Helen.  by Maynard’s descendants Mr and Mrs Bernard.  

Longwood House

A while back I was told by the then French Consul that the gates still exist and are at Longwood House where Napoleon lived for the last six years of his life. The property is owned and maintained by the French government

The response to the question then is that there once were links, admittedly tenuous but ones that have, over the years, grown firmer and commercially stronger.  Tourism between South Africa and St Helena is constant. A mail ship docks regularly in Cape Town harbour, sometimes with individuals seeking work here, taking back visitors and what ever is required for the well being of the island.  The links written about may have been small but they help to fill in aspects of St Helena’s history.

SEE WEBSITE: http://factsfound.isat.co.za

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                                                                            Dawn.Gould1

                                                                            Phone:27 21:715 91 56

                                                                            e. topmarks@isat.co.za 

MARK TWAIN

Mark Twain

Steamboat

Mark Twain was the pseudonym of American author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1815-1910.  The two words “mark twain” were a Mississippi River phrase for two fathoms deep!  Clemens had, at one time, been a steam boat river pilot.

Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is still to be found in libraries and some book stores. I recently encouraged a high school learner to read it. Then used passages from the story as comprehension exercises.  At first many frowns and sighs were heard but eventually Tom’s cheeky escapades won the day.  To make things more interesting references were made to a couple of the author’s other books: The Innocent Abroad and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. To increase interest in the reading process we discussed Twain’s visit to South Africa. 

The author, during a world tour, visited this country.  He reached Durban on 6 May 1896, accompanied by his wife and daughter.  His stay here was spent travelling around giving talks and taking an interest in political issues of the time.  When questioned as to his local knowledge he referred to his acquaintance with the Jameson Raid member ( Decembr 1895), John Hays Hammond and his intention of visiting the individual then being held in the Pretoria jail. Dr Leander Starr Jameson had been the leader of a group of men trying to overthrow the Transvaal government. Cecil John Rhodes having been the instigator.  Unfortunately for Jameson and the other men, the attempt backfired and they found themselves in the Pretoria prison.  Twain also made a point of stating that he read newspapers to keep abreast of topical affairs.  He was keen to meet Rhodes whom he had been told was an “extraordinary man.”

Olive Schreiner

When questioned about local authors particularly Olive Schreiner his reply indicated a dash of chauvinism.  He had read her book  Story of an African Farm and examined the book for its workmanship and thought the greater part was “written crudely” and then stated….”it was a plenty good-enough book for a girl of her age…”  One wonders whether this statement was due to the author’s views on feminism ?  Perhaps feeling he had made a social blunder he said she had “a gift beyond the ordinary…gave large promise…which was not fulfilled in her first effort.”

When he arrived in Cape Town he gave talks at the old Opera House in the city – this building, no longer exists but at the time was approximately in the vicinity of Adderley, Parliament and Darling Streets.  When this venue was not available for further bookings the Claremont Town Hall was used.

It is obvious from newspaper clippings of the time that the American author and humorist  was very well received.  His audiences were appreciative of his style and the content of the talks.  They drew, apart from the general population, well placed government members, a number of military officers and “intelligent members of the community.”

His presentation was simple and held the attention of the people present.  He would walk slowly onto the stage, take up a position before the footlights, fold his arms and begin talking.  It was if he was speaking to a few friends and not the many people filling the halls. During his time here Twain was able to attend a debate in the Cape House of Assembly and is reported to have stated that “they quarrelled in two languages while I was there and agreed in none.”  As a visitor he admired the Cape’s scenery and the architecture of the Cape Dutch houses.  He left Cape Town on 15 July 1896.

SPECIAL MILKWOOD TREES : Sideroxylon inerme

How does one describe trees?  They are a necessary aid to a clean environment, human beings and animals find them both familiar and useful. Their fruit forms part of the food humans and animals eat, they offer shade and relief from the sun. They enhance the landscape.  The following are very specific trees that have each played a role in human lives.

MILKWOOD TREES KOMMETJIE

The milkwood trees, Sideroxylon inerme,  that are to be seen at Kommetjie, Cape Peninsula close to the Atlantic Ocean, are flourishing and have obviously been well looked after by the local authorities and are certainly not the smallish to medium in size and rather twisted trees, seen some years back. The thickets in this neighbourhood produce white flowers and purplish black fruit. No milkwood can be cut down or trimmed, without a permit from the relevant authorities.  In other words they are protected trees. Growth patterns are along the coast, from the Cape Peninsula to Mozambique.  Sometimes they do grow inland and will reach a shape called “umbrella like”.

Four of these milkwoods have been proclaimed national monuments and form part of South African history.  The term national monuments has been used above because that was previously the correct terminology.  Today the term is  provincial heritage sites.

From around the late 1490s or early 1500 when the captains of Portuguese ships sailing along the South African coast needed to get information to their masters back home,  they  are said to have hung a shoe on a milkwood tree in which they left messages.  That tree, thought to be 600 years old, now known as the Post Office Tree  is within the town of Mossel Bay.    It was classed a national monument on 9 September 1938.  This form of early coastal postal deliveries would also include inscribed  padroes – “a pillar surmounted by a cross” - as well as messages inscribed on stone and would  be used  as well, in later years,  by the captains in charge of  British and Netherlands ships.                                                                                                            

 The Treaty Tree,  in the Cape Town suburb of Woodstock,  became  a part of history after the Battle of Blaauwberg 6-8 January 1806 when General Jannsens on behalf of the Batavian Republic signed the articles of capitulation.to the British. The handing over ceremony may have taken place in a small house (now no long in existence) close by with the signing, on the 18^th January 1806, under a milkwood tree. National monument status came about on 26 May 1967.  This tree was recently inspected and it too has been cared for and shows off an umbrella like shape. It is to be found at the corner of Treaty Road and Spring Street off Albert Road, Woodstock.  In 1806 the area would have had a clear view of the sea, today it is in a very built up industrial area.  As a matter of interest the tree is within an enclosed parking area of a commercial building.  However, the immediate ground around it has been  attractively landscaped.  Sadly though the plaque indicating its history has been stolen.

TREATY TREE WOODSTOCK

The third National Monument is the Fingo Milkwood Tree near Peddie in the Eastern Cape. It also has monument status. In 1834 several hundred Mfengu arrived near the British camp at Butterworth asking for protection.  This was agreed to and because of this act,  their loyalty to the British king was affirmed, in 1835, under this particular tree.  Back in the Western Cape in the Bredasdorp district and near the farm Rhenosterfontein is a milkwood tree possibly a thousand years old.  It too was granted national monument status on17 December 1993,  because of its age and size. The girth of its trunk has been stated to be  over 3 meters and its crown over 20 meters.  From a photograph seen, it too has an umbrella shaped crown.       

These four trees have been selected to reflect aspects of the past but which have a bearing on the present.

SEE WEBSITE: http://factsfound.isat.co.za

                                                                            English conversation classes via SKYPE

                                                                            Dawn.Gould1

                                                                            Phone:27 21:715 91 56

                                                                            e. topmarks@isat.co.za