the society of master mariners south...

The Society of Master Mariners South Africa

History of the Society - The War Years

1940 to 1945

SOMMSA History (1st Edition Dec 2015)

A SOCIETY OF MASTER MARINERS IS LAUNCHEDThe Society of Master Mariners South Africa was founded at a meeting in the Bencorrum Hotel in Durban on the 9th of December 1940.

Two Durban pilots, Captains George Lindsay and Andrew Reidare credited as the initiators of this first meeting.

It was a time of war, the success of which hung heavily on the Allies’Merchant Service’s ability to move fuel, food,

weapons and other cargo around the world.

The formation of the Honorable Company of Master Mariners as a City of London Livery Company in 1926, the New Zealand Company of Master Mariners in 1928 and the later establishment of the Company of Master Mariners Australia in 1938no doubt prompted the South African fraternity into action.

An article by Walter E Sneyd in the Society’s first “Log Book” printed in 1941 offers further insight into the motivations behind the establishment of the Society.

After first presenting the extreme hazards confronting wartime Master Mariners and their crew’s heroism, Sneyd asks “and what will be the treatment meted out to the men of the Merchant Navy after the war has been won? Will the bad old times return and the part played by the merchant seaman in winning the war be forgotten?”

He then mentions the disgraceful treatment of merchant seamen put ashore in hospital where they and their dependents were left without any provision of any kind. Only after public pressure did the British Government start to grant the same rates of compensation

as those applying to the equivalent ranks in the Royal Navy.

Sneyd then says “there is still much to do, and that is why a Society of Master Mariners is so urgent at the present time, for we have learned in a hard school, but all to slowly, that “Union is Strength”, and that nothing can be gained except by a powerful voice continually echoing in the halls of the mighty”.

He finishes of his article by saying “So good luck to the launching of the Society of Master Mariners at all our harbours, and may it prove to be the nucleus of a strong body throughout South Africa which will link up with those overseas to maintain the status of the ship’s officer, and, with regard to Union harbours, will watch over the interests of officers in the service of the Administration as well as all Master Mariners who approach our shores.”

It is clear from what Walter Sneyd has to say that the Merchant Navy’s Masters, officers and seamen had been treated very badly after the First World War and were determined to take a hand in ensuring that, by acting collectively, they could protect their professional interest in the eventual peace time they saw coming.

THE WAR YEARS: 1940 to 1945

First Meeting

Within four months of the Society’s founding meeting the first Annual General Meeting was held at Howard College, Durban, on the 15th of April 1941.

The following office bearers were elected at this inaugural AGM:

Honorary Member and Patron:

Field-Marshal The Right Honorable J.C. Smuts, P.C.

President:

Capt. T.B.F. Davis

Vice-President:

Capt. J.A Thomson

Executive Committee – Durban:

Master: Capt. C.S. Hewlett

Deputy Master: Capt. M.G. Patterson


Capt. George Lindsay

Capt. Andrew Reid

Captains: J. Cox, J.E. Jones, J.H.F. Bailey, E.H. Dixie, T. Hoben, S.S. Franklin, Lt-Cmdr Scott-Stokes, R.N.,

Rtd, Lt-Cmdr R.G. Sargeant, S.D.F.

Honorary Treasurer:

Capt. A. Reid

Honorary Secretary:

Capt. G. Linday

Solicitor to the Society:

Mr. Leonard Goulding

The Society certainly had an auspicious start and the quality of the inaugural committee indicates the high level of respect commanded by shipmasters and the profession all those years ago. The fact that the Prime Minister, General (later Field-Marshal) Smuts and one of the country’s leading industrialists, Captain T.B.F. Davis were prepared to take on leading roles within the Society during a time of war says much


Field Marshal J.C. Smuts

First Patronof the Society

In 1940 General Smuts was 70 years old and Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.

In 1933, he had become Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice under Prime Minister Hertzog. Their coalition led to the formation of the United Party in 1934. In 1939, Hertzog and Smuts differed over the war issue and on Hertzog’s defeat in parliament, on the motion to remain neutral during the war, Smuts took over as Premier.

The decision to enter World War Two (WW2) on the side of Britain alienated many of the Afrikaans-speaking people from his government. Smuts contributed to the policy-making decisions of the Allied forces and was promoted to Field Marshal of the British Army in 1941.

The general election of May 1948, won by the Herenigde National Party largely supported by the Afrikaner community, decided the future policy of South Africa for the next fifty years. After the election Smuts resigned and Dr. D.F. Malan took over the government.

Jan Smuts died on his farm Doornkloof, near Irene close to Pretoria, on 11 September 1950, after suffering a coronary thrombosis and several heart attacks.

Smuts received a large number of decorations, honours and awards throughout his career. His house at Doornkloof is preserved as a museum, while his birthplace was declared a historical monument in 1955. Smuts has also been honoured with statues including one in Durban, Cape Town and in Westminster, London.

about importance placed on the marine profession.

General Smuts penned the first letter to the Society on the publication of its first “Bridge Watch”. He wrote:

Gentlemen of the Sea,On the occasion of the first issue of this Marine Journal, “The Log Book”, which I think will meet a real need in our country, I wish to extend to the President and all Members of the Society my best wishes for the future.I hope that in these pagesmuch of interest and perhaps enlightenment will be found, to the mutual enjoyment of all South Africans who might rightly claim the “Heritage of the Sea”.The inauguration of this Society reflects on the membership a spirit which will carry us through these bad times to victory.Good Luck!(Signed) J.C. Smuts

First President: T.B.F. DAVIS

On itsformation, the Society was extremely fortunate in having the full support of one of the country’s leading maritime industrialists and certificated Master Mariner,Capt. Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis (usually referred to as T.B.F. Davis), who became the firstPresident of the Society.

Capt Davis was born on the island of Jersey in 1867 and went to sea at an early age in the barquentine “Satellite”.

On his first voyage, the ship grounded in heavy weather on the Haisborough Sands just off the coast of Norfolk. In an attempt to save the ship’s papers and valuables he was put into the ship’s skiff with the documents but the painter broke and he was carried away from the vessel. Alone and drifting he was able to stay afloat by constantly bailing.

Meanwhile the Satellite was eventually refloated and returned to Southampton with the news that Davis was missing presumed drowned. He was saved when he was picked up a day later by a small Norwegian schooner, the Urda from Stavanger, who took him to the

Isle of Wight.

Once ashore in England he made his way to Southampton and the captain of the Channel Islands’ mail boat took him back to Jersey. He arrived just as his family was leaving to attend his memorial service at St Luke's Church where he had been a member of the choir. It is reported that his mother fainted from the shock.

Davis continued with his seagoing career sailing as a seaman around the world and obtaining his Extra Master's ticket at the unusually young age of 25. He served in the Royal Naval Reserve between 1896 and 1899 and taught gunnery on The President.

In 1899 aged 32 Davis moved to South Africa, firstly to East London where he took up a stevedoring post. He then moved to Port Elizabeth and finally settled in Durban taking over Brock and Company Stevedores. This formed the basis of his wealth as eventually he controlled all of the stevedoring business from Port Elizabeth to Dar-es-Salaam. He developed harbour installations in Durban and elsewhere in South Africa and ran at least one trading vessel the Modwena. She had been the private yacht of the sewing machine magnate Mortimer Singer but under the ownership of Davis was used for trading between Durban and Madagascar.

Within 10 years of settling in South Africa Davis had made his fortune.

Davis continued to be interested in sailing after making his fortune. He owned several racing yachts, the most famous of which was the 135-foot (41 m) schooner Westward.

Westward was built between 1909 and 1910 by Nathanael Herreshoff of the Herreschoff Manufacturing Company of Rhode Island for the New York industrialist Alexander Smith Cochran. She was constructed with an all-steel hull of LWL 97 feet (30 m), designed and built for speed. She was purchased soon after completion by a syndicate of German businessmen who renamed her Hamburg. She was sold back into American ownership after the Great War and resumed her original name. Davis acquired her in 1924. Between 1925 and 1935, Davis raced the Westward in British and European waters against renowned opponents such as Sir Thomas J. Lipton's 23m Shamrock (1908) and George V


of the United Kingdom's HMY Britannia I (1893). The Westward was a familiar entry for Cowes Week during this time. Over the years Davis and King George V developed a fierce though friendly rivalry.

In 1936, following the death of the King, Davis more or less gave up racing. He had a motor

fitted in Westward and used her for cruising. Westward was laid up in Dartmouth for the duration of the Second World War. She was offered to three training schools after the war but no one could afford to repair and maintain her. When no suitable owner

could be found for his beloved Westward, in accordance with his wishes, she was scuttled in the Hurd Deep in the English Channel, at a memorial service on 15 July 1947.

Throughout his life Davis maintained links back to Jersey. He was a Patron of the St Helier Yacht Club and served as the Commodore of the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club between 1937 and 1939. He also gave numerous gifts to the Island.

During the First World War Davis remained in South Africa but his younger son, Howard Leopold Davis, served with the Highland Light Infantry. Howard was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and died of his wounds on 12 August 1916. He is buried at Etaples cemetery, France. Howard's death prompted Davis into philanthropy.

Davis founded and endowed the Durban campus of the University of Natal. In 1926 he donated £140,000 for the building and the Town Council of Durban donated 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land in the Stella Bush. Howard College was officially opened in 1931 by Earl Clarendon, Governor General of the Union of South Africa. The College began by holding classes in Commerce and Engineering. Howard College remains a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

In 1935 Davis presented the Howard Davis Challenge Cup, which is now in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, UK. Prior to World War One Howard Davis had been a cadet of the training ship Worcester. The cup was for a competition between the Cadets

serving on the Training Ships Worcester, Conway and General Botha. The race was to be in cutters of twelve oars with the winners to retain the Cup. The first and only race was held in London in 1935 and was won by Worcester with the General Botha coming second.

Davis also purchased a Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat for the cost of £3,623. It was named the Howard D as was the first motorised lifeboat to be stationed at St Helier, Jersey. She arrived at the St Helier station in August 1936.

Davis continued with acts of philanthropy throughout his life. During the Second World War Davis established a fund of £100,000 to help dependents of South Africans serving in the forces.

In 1920 Davis purchased the HMS Thames (1885) an obsolete ex-Royal Navy sailing

cruiser of 4050 tons that had been used as a submarine depot and repair workshop on the Medway. Davis donated it in memory of his son to the Union of South Africa Defence Force for use as a training ship for cadets. The ship was renamed the General Botha Memorial Training Ship and was christened by Mrs Issie Smuts, wife of the Prime Minister, on 1 April 1922.

It was the first training ship in the Southern hemisphere. Davis stipulated that the ship be used for the full-time training of boys of British South Africa. His aim was to give the boys the opportunity to receive character building and nautical training of the highest standard so they might serve in ships sailing under flags of Great Britain and the British Empire.

He died in October 1942, in Durban, at the age of 75. He left one son, Glenham, and two daughters, Marguerite and Minnie.


President addresses the first AGM

In his inaugural address to the first AGM of the Society on the 15th April 1941, Captain Davis expressed his belief that the Merchant Service, after the Navy, was the backbone of any maritime nation. He also pointed out that British Masters and Officers, once they give up the sea, are met all over the world in all classes of business.

He further gave the example of the Howard College Hall (where the Society was holding its first Annual General Meeting), whichwas presented to Durban by a Merchant Service Officer; was

erected in memory of another Merchant Service Officer; and built by yet another Merchant Service Officer. The latter worked on practically his own

plans without the assistance of an architect.(Howard College Hall is now part of the University of Natal),

In 1940 there were 150 engineers in training at Howard College and the Baylis Prize for engineering, competed for in the British Empire, was won by students at the College three years in a row (i.e. 1933 by L.G. Hay; 1934 by H.M. Irving, and in 1935 by J.W. Hooper).

The College educated for the engine room, just as the training ship General Botha educated for deck officers and both were in memory of T.B.F. Davis’ son Howard Davis.

He ended his address by counseling members to take time in laying the foundation of the Society and to build cautiously and well so that it would remain firm for those who were to follow.

The 1941 “Log Book” of the Society records an impressive number of members for a new organisation as follows (see appendix 2 for full list of these members):

106 Foundation Members (Durban)

47 Foundation Members (Cape Town) 12 Foundation Members (East London) 5 Foundation Members (P. Elizabeth) 4 Members (Durban) 27 Honorary Foundation Members

Only Members joining before the 1st of June 1941 were eligible for Foundation Membership. With 201 members then, the Society got off to a good start.

First Branch Masters

Capt. C.S. Hewlett, Assistant Port Captain, Durban, and Examiner of Mates and Masters

in South Africa was unanimously elected Master of the Executive Committee, Durban, while, a month later, Capt. John England was unanimously elected Master of the Cape Town Branch at their first Branch AGM on the 29th

May 1941.

It is worth noting that at its formation, the Society’s structure was by way of an Executive Committee in Durban and a Branch in Cape Town. Durban was not a “Branch” as such and the Executive Committee was effectively also the Durban Branch. (Editor’s Note: The Society’s Executive Committee is currently considering reverting to this type of structure).

No sooner had the Society been established than interest was raised in changing the Society’s name to “Company of Master Mariners, South Africa”. The 1942 Log Bookreported that the Executive believed that in order to achieve better co-ordination internationally, the Society should conform to the title as used in the United Kingdom and Australia. The views of members were requested but it appears as if there was insufficient interest in this name change as nothing ever materialized.


Establishment of the Merchant Navy Club

A priority of the Society as it got underway was the creation of “rooms” in Cape Town and Durbanto serve as headquarters for the Society and as a rendezvous for members and visiting Masters and Officers.

Plans to turn this dream into reality got underway almost immediately with an 11-man “ways and means” committee being formed on the 17th of June 1941 with the purpose of establishing a Master Mariner’s Club.

It is interesting to note that although the 17th

June meeting of the “Ways & Means” Committee decided on the name of the club as the “Master Mariners’ Club” all subsequent records refer to it as the Merchant Navy Club.

In 1942 the Merchant Navy Club opened at 17 Gardiner Street (now Dorothy Nyembe Street), Durban, and all Society members were automatically members as well certain invited non-members.

By 1943 a new Club and Hostel for Merchant Navy and Naval Officers was planned, which the Society hoped to build as a memorial to Captains and Officers of the Merchant Navy who lost their lives during the Second World War. An amount of GBP20,000 had been advanced by the Navy War Fund for the purpose of providing a larger club which would include sleeping accommodation.

On the 30th April 1945 an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Durban Branch met to discuss the separation of the Merchant Navy Officers’ Club from the Society of Master Mariners. Several proposals were accepted at this meeting, including:

1. A proposed constitution had been drawn up which would be handed to the new committee once formed and who could change it if they so wished.

2. Two members of the Society should be on the Club Management Committee to ensure the interests of the Society were safeguarded.

3. The initial membership of the Club would be made up of 25 members of the Society and 25 citizen members. Following this a meeting would be called at which a new Management Committee would be elected by the new membership.

The 1947 “Log Book” reported that the Durban Branch had been able to hold 3 highly successful dances in the Hall of the Merchant Navy Officers’ Memorial Club during the year.

Editor’s note: A recent search of South African companies on the Internet brought up a report on the Merchant Navy Officers’ Memorial Club, which reported it as a Non Profit Company, incorporated in South Africa on 7th September 1950. It gives the address as “Memorial Club, Lindsay House, 16 Aliwal HSE 1724 and a P.O. Box number 3883, Durban 4000.

There was also a desire that one day the Society should obtain a Royal Charter and a Seal.

It must be borne in mind that in 1940 the Union of South Africa had British Dominionstatus putting it on par with three other important British dominions and allies: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. As such, British Royal approval carried much


Capt. Graham Mannall, a recent President of the Society reported that he had the honour of interviewing one of the founders of the Society and of the Merchant Navy Club in Durban, Captain George Lindsay; this was prior to the fortieth anniversary of the Society in 1981.

The Branch Master asked him to research what he could from George who had retired as a Durban pilot. When he heard Graham was a fellow pilot he was delighted to give him the history of its formation.

Before WW 2 he was piloting an American ship whose Captain had asked where his crew could go for some R&R, this struck a chord that Durban lacked such a facility and mentioned it to colleague Andrew Reid who was of the same mind.

Together they approached the Society’s benefactor T.B.F. Davis to ask his help in acquiring premises to establish a club along the lines as above. He agreed to provide funding conditional on Captains George Lindsay and Andrew Reid obtaining additional public donations.

Graham didn’t get when exactly sufficient was obtained but with the war looming enough was raised to provide a building to house the club for Merchant Navy Officers and was given the name Lindsay House.

George’s initiative with the establishment of the Club and the Society enabled the “Masters Room” to be used in perpetuity.”

credibility and signaled total acceptance by the establishment.

Ties with Britain were very strong and most members of the Society were or had been employed on British flagged ships and had studied and obtained their Certificates of Competency in the UK.

A letter from Buckingham Palace dated 2nd

March 1942 shows the importance of British connections.

The Society gets down to business

Following the death of the Society’s first President and major benefactor, T.B.F. Davis, in 1942, a new President, Captain C.S. Hewlett was elected President in1943.

The incoming committee expressed the belief that the Society’s membership had stabilized with 168 Durban members and 67 Cape Town members. Six members had been lost at sea due to enemy action.

A significant Honorary Member joining the Society in 1943 was Mr. F.C. Sturrock, Minister of Transport and Honorary

Commodore of the South African Naval Forces.

In addressing the meeting at which he was granted Honorary Membership he made a number of important points, which still have ramifications today.

He said he was particularly interested in the question of replacing the S.A. Training Ship “General Botha”, which could no longer carry the burden of training South Africa’s young seamen, had been returned to the Royal Navy and would not be asked back again.

He further explained that the Government, including Field-Marshal Smuts himself, was determined that her fine tradition should be perpetuated and expanded.

A committee had been appointed to consider how best to do this and had recently submitted its report to the Minister of Defence. This committee had recommended the combining of all training for officers and seamen in one “naval college”.

In 1943 only 30,000 tons of merchant shipping were registered South African, of which most belonged to the SAR&H fleet.

Mr. Sturrock continued his speech by explaining how the war had quickened naval, harbour and industrial development and for this to be maintained, South Africa had to have a greatly expanded Merchant Navy after the war to use her much improved harbours and to handle her increased trade with the rest of Africa.

There was also concern that an increased Merchant Navy would need an appropriate South African Navy for protection. An anticipated problem however, was that an expanded South African Naval Force during the war and the anticipated formation of a South African Navy after the war, where prospects of promotion would significantly slow down, would need alternative career opportunities for seafarers.

The Government had therefore appointed a committee to consider how far South Africa’s Merchant Navy and Harbour Services could offer prospects of future careers for those serving in the contemplated permanent S.A. Navy. (See Annexure 1 for a synoptic view of the history of the South African maritime industry)

Mr. Sturrock advised the Society of a matter that they could greatly assist Government with which was the passing of South Africa’s


The steam tug FC Sturrock named in his honour

Merchant Shipping Act which he hoped to see adopted by Parliament the next year. (Ed’s note: very optimistically as it turned out – it would actually take another 7 years).

It must be born in mind that up until then the British Board of Trade controlled the licensing, registration and general control of conditions of South African merchant ships and personnel.

The Minister concluded his acceptance speech by saying that members of the Government could not be expected to know very much about marine matters but that the advice and help of the Society of Master Mariners, who did know about these things first hand, would be welcomed and carefully considered. “Probably nine times out of ten,” concluded Mr. Sturrock, “the Government will act on your advice.”

An important event signifying the Society’s recognition by the Government as a body to be taken seriously was the meeting on the 1st

of October 1943 with J.H. Hofmeyer who was then both Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Education.

It was reported that the Minister gave the Society’s delegation a most sympathetic and helpful hearing, the discussion ranging on a number of important subjects in connection

with the proposed Merchant Shipping Acts, the issue of certificates and the initiation of nautical instruction in Durban.

The 4th AGM of the Society took place on the 6th June 1944 – the same day the Allies commenced their invasion of France. The assembled members stood for a moment’s silence in hope for the success of the venture and in homage to those taking part – especially the vast number of Merchant Seamen.

As the invasion represented a crossroad for the war, so the 4th AGM was regarded as a crossroad for the Society. It was felt the Society’s efforts over the preceding 4 years had consolidated the organization and that the demands of the Society now necessitated it becoming more businesslike.

Captain W.E. Chicken became the third President and now presided over an Executive, which met separately from the separated Durban Branch Committee. Yet another committee, responsible to the Branch Committee was elected to govern the affairs of the Merchant Navy Club.

The Cape Town and Durban Branch Committees were presided over by their Branch Masters Captains I. Montgomery and E.H. Dixey.

The South African Nautical College

In 1943 a report by the South African Nautical College Committee had been tabled. The Society was so concerned by the report’s lack of appreciation of the requirements of the profession that a Special General Meeting of the Executive was called. As a result of that meeting a Resolution and Memorandum were submitted to the Prime Minister Field Marshal J.C. Smuts.

The resolution expressed the Society’s “deep concern at the recommendation of the Nautical College Committee; that it considers the recommendations detrimental to the best interests of the Mercantile Marine Service of the country and to the youth of South Africa aspiring to a sea-going career, and not in the interests of South Africa in general.”

The main reasons for the Society’s strong stance on this issue were:


Jan Hofmeyer and Jan Smuts. Smuts always regarded Hofmeyer as his political successor but his hopes of a continued legacy were smashed with Hofmeyer’s untimely death in 1948.

1. Only naval “experts” were consulted. No Merchant Navy or fishing industry personnel were consulted.

2. The report was focused exclusively on the naval officer training to the exclusion of merchant officer training.

3. Concern that the absorption of the Training Ship “General Botha” into the proposed training college was originally justified on the basis that more cadets needed to be trained than the ship could produce, yet the committee’s report proposed catering for fewer cadets than had been successfully produced – when post-war naval and merchant requirements were still unknown.

4. Concern that the proposed Nautical College, which would essentially be a training school for cadets entering the Merchant Service, was to be established as a branch of the South African Naval Forces.

While the bureaucratic process slowly proceeded, the Society, impatient to get training for officers wanting to prepare to sit Certificates of Competency, opened a Nautical School in July 1945 in conjunction with the Technical College, Durban at the Merchant Navy Officers’ Club.

The war comes to an end

The Second World War ended in Europe on the 8th May 1945 followed by Japan’s surrender on the 15th August 1945.

The Society did not produce its annual Log Book that year as the dramatic changes from wartime to peacetime disturbed the usual arrangements of the Society.

Of a total number of 12 foreign going merchant vessels sailing under the South African flag during the war years, four were lost, one with all hands.

Statistics produced by the British Government revealed that at the peak of mobilization the personnel of the Merchant Navy totaled 180,000. Of this total casualties amounted to 45,329. As in the First World War, the

percentage of casualties in the Merchant Navy was higher than in any other branch of the Services.

A letter to the Society from the Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief provided a list of 129 British merchant ships sunk around South Africa during the war.

Shortly after end of hostilities, the 1st Annual Congress of the Society took place over the 21st and 22nd August 1945 and was held in the Merchant Navy Officers’ Club, Durban.

Issues dealt with at this Congress included work on the draft of the Merchant Shipping Act, the possibility of the Society becoming affiliated with the British-based Merchant Navy Officers’ Federation, vigorous opposition against incorporation of the General Botha with any scheme as envisaged by the Government.

Constitutional changes approved saw the introduction of “Associate “ and “Honorary Life Membership” being introduced.

The Congress Dinner following the conclusion of the first Congress was honoured with the arrival of the Society’s Patron, Field Marshal Smuts, who spend an hour and a half with the assembled members and made an impromptu

speech revealing some interesting details of the war previously unannounced.

1945 saw the first occasion in which the Society took legal action in defence of a Master who, although not a member of the Society, represented a matter of principle, which could effect all ship masters. The Master of the S.S. “Essex Trader” was


The Society's Patron, Field Marshall J.C. Smuts, addresses the 1st Congress dinner

convicted by the Magistrate’s Court in Durban of failing to provide a safe and proper gangway.

The prosecution arose as a result of the death of a member of the crew of the vessel.

The Society took the Magistrate’s conviction on appeal with the Court setting aside the conviction and sentence.

The end of the war saw the Society settling into an important role in the South African maritime environment.

The new Merchant Shipping Act, Maritime training for Cadets and Deck Officers, the establishment of a South African Navy and Merchant Navy would occupy the interest and intervention of the Society over the years ahead.

TO BE CONTINUED...............................


ANNEXURE


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