rorkesdriftvc.com :: View topic

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:22 pm

Answers to this connundrum please..

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:56 pm

Well done for providing this.

It's a bit of an easy one (as I think you know) but it's nice to see such a clear rendition of the Rorke's Drift pont crossing with a fully constructed Fort still in place on the high ground above it. The 'cask ferry' appears to have been removed, leaving only the prefabricated pont in place and its whaler.

Those more astute than I will be able to draw conclusions on the likely dates, but this may be a refurbishment of the site in the 1880-81 period when Fort Northampton had also been set up on the opposite (Zulu) bank.

But, pre-dating the 1882 rebuild of the Otto Witt house, as the top left detail on the skyline appears to indicate.

G

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:15 pm

Looked at a bit more carefully, there is some excellent detail here.

The cask ferry appears to be moored downstream of the pont to the left of the picture. The ramp for its probable use is still in place near the tent towards the middle. Between these ramps at the water's edge is a simple coffer dam intended to let the river water be filtered then more easily drawn for human consumption.

You can also see an unpstream third set of posts that would enable either of the two ferries or the whaler to be used from it. The apparent blemishes on the surface of the water are sub surface rocks, still there today. As the river rose and fell the ferries would probably be repositioned individually onto whichever cable enabled them to be used most effectively without risking their damage on these rocks. The existence of these rocks is one of the reasons why these ferries had to be hauled backwards and forwards manually. There just wasn't enough unobstructed space for them to 'fly' assisted by the current as Durnford had originally envisaged in his August 1878 planning report.

G

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:37 pm

Outstanding image and "caption". I'm thinking that at this period in their development (no pun intended), cameras were still in their infancy (read big, bulky, expensive and delicate) and it would have been an intrepid photographer indeed who would cart one plus all of the related accouterments necessary for its use to such a remote location over undeveloped "roads" . Wouldn't it be likely that this was done by Lloydd during the same "photo op" which produced the other, better known photos of the station and it's surroundings?

Twenty minutes later, he added: Just got back from an extended comparison of the image of the tree at the station in this photo and that in the well known photo of the monument carving. It's the most obvious element included in both photos and it definitely looks taller and therefore older in this photo. Unless this is because of some aberration in the camera lens or the angle from which the photo was taken, this suggests to me that this is a bit later a picture, but still very close to 1879. I'm no dendrologist, but '80 or '81 sure sounds about right.

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:40 pm

Sawubona,

The image is a B. Kisch rather than a Lloyd.

I have it in an album which is dated 'Oct. 1879' which belonged to a R.N. officer, supplied by Kisch from his Durban office. So I would contend it is prior to October 1879.

G.,

Your observation re-the cask ferry is indeed correct, as the casks litter the shoreline and float on the river.

John Y.

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:42 am

Thanks for the correction, John. So much for my clever detective work, huh? Was B. Kisch responsible for any/all of the other photographs of Rorke's Drift taken around the same time?

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:23 pm

John,

You either have foreknowledge or a sharper image. If you mean thsat the objects between the two ramps are casks littering the shoreline, then what's keeping the ferry to the left afloat?

These objects at the shoreline I had taken to be rocks forming some sort of coffer dam enabling river water filtration into a sump. If they (on a clearer picture) are casks then they would probably be too small, numerous and dense to lash into place under a timber deck for flotation purposes.

They could possibly be casks that are being soaked so as to make them watertight again, however - after a long shrink in the heat. Dunno

G

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:50 pm

G.,

Here they are:

Barrels/casks for sure.

Sawubona,

Kisch took two photographs of Rorke's Drift, one from each bank, the other one I have appears at http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/battle/full_defence_account.htm has been coloured.

In the album he has written as a caption for the image from the Zulu bank, Fort Melville [sic] Rorke's Drift.

He also took an image from the front looking towards Shiyane, with the plough in the foreground. One from the rear with the memorial in the middle of the image. His other well-known one is the storehouse with the thatch removed, with loop-holed walls on each side.

John Y.

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 7:48 pm

Thanks for that, John. I always thought that Lloydd took the picture of the storehouse! I'm not familiar with the other two you mention. Care to share some low resolution scans if you have them?

Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:05 am

Sawubona,

Photobucket is playing-up from my end, otherwise, I'd post the others, by-the-way I just find another to add to the list, again from the rear of the post.

Lloyd used an embossing stamp on his images, I've taking a copy of one as an example, once Photobucket's in play again, I'll post that so you can see it.

John Y.

Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:34 pm

These are fascinating pictures since, with others, they appear to indicate that the cask ferry has a longer load carrying bed. However, without knowing how the two ferries are actually supported for buoyancy purposes it's hard to know which is which.

The ferry closest to the bank appears to be of the 'standard' Natal design, as also seen in photographs of that used at the Lower Drift.

Durnford originally envisaged both ferries being able to carry a cargo wagon plus its four disselboom oxen.

The actual solution brought onto site for 10-11 January would appear to vary that intention and possibly because the layout of the actual crossing site used was technically much more difficult than Durnford had forst thought in August 1878. It's a pity that they online Killie Campbell pictures are fairly indistinct on these details.

G

Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:49 pm

Sawubona,

Here's one of them.

Here's the Lloyd embossed stamp from one of my Lloyd's.

John Y.

Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:51 am

Thank you kindly for those, John. Lordy, that's a bleak place, seasons notwithstanding. "Take a Irishman to give his name to a middle of nowhere ..."

Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:01 am

John Young wrote:

Sawubona,

Here's one of them.

Here's the Lloyd embossed stamp from one of my Lloyd's.

John Y.

Thanks for sharing these.

Can anyone tell me if this pic was taken facing North or South?

Many thanks

Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:50 am

Looking West towards Helpmekaar ridge - you can see the RD cemetery on the left and the memorial created by Mellsop.