Adventures of the Blackgang

historicaltimes:

South African Sailors Pose for a Photograph on board HMS Nelson, 1941

via reddit

(via historicaltimes)

Arthur Conan Doyle (back row, centre) - Bertram Fletcher Robinson (seated, middle). This picture was taken on the steam ship Briton en route between South Africa and Britain c. 1900.

-A silly conspiracy

HMS Devonshire leaving Simonstown 2 Feb 1941

ADMIRALTY WAR DIARIES of WORLD WAR 2
SOUTH AFRICA, CAPETOWN - January to June  1941

HMS Devonshire was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy. Constructed at Devonport Dockyard and launched in 1927, she saw service throughout the Second World War.

She was part of the force for the raid on Dakar in August 1940 (Operation Menace), when she shelled ships and batteries in and around the port. When the attack was abandoned she was employed in operations against Vichy French territories on the coast of equatorial Africa, blockading the Cameroons and Gabon.

During her time off South Africa, she captured an entire Vichy French convoy east of the Cape of Good Hope, on 2 November 1941.

After the war, she was converted to the Royal Navy’s cadet training ship in 1947, in which role she served until 1953. Life aboard her during her service in this role was chronicled in John Winton’s We Joined the Navy. Devonshire was sold for scrap on 16 June 1954.

wikipedia

Rule Britannia c.1900

in comments:

It’s about the Boers in Transvaal having to accept British rule in South Africa.

C.I.V.: The City of London Yeomanry, also known as the City Imperial Volunteers

–posted by paul.malon

Original (2569 x 3383)

pieserota:

Cape of Good Hope

(via coldisthesea)

Natal Line (Bullard King & Co.) United Kingdom

General information booklet/deck plan w/fares; May 1953

Ports of call:
United Kingdom, Las Palmas, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Lourenço Marques, Beira, Mauritius.
Return voyages usually to London, otherwise called at Plymouth or Dover.

Fleet: Umgeni, Umtali, Umtata

Umona

Cargo and passenger service - 108.5 metres (356 ft.) long, speed of 12-13 knots. Built for Bullard King & Company, Limited (Natal Direct Line), of London.

Engaged on London to South Africa service (& beyond, to Delagoa Bay & Beira in Mozambique). On Mar. 30, 1941, the unescorted vessel was en route from Durban to London via Walvis Bay & Freetown with a cargo of grains & jam. About 90 miles SW of Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, the vessel was hit by two torpedoes, 2 minutes apart, fired by U-124.

At approx. 06.52N/15.14W. It sank with major loss of life. 102 were lost including Captain F. A. B. Peckham. 5 survived, all landed at Freetown.

Natal Line of Steamers brochure and time table

Passenger/cargo vessel Umtata; 1898

100.6 metres long, speed of 13 knots. Built for Bullard King & Company, Limited (Natal Direct Line), of London. Who had, in history, 4 vessels of the name. Engaged on London to Durban, South Africa, service (& beyond, to Delagoa Bay & Beira in Mozambique). Broken up 1924.