Past Events

Following South Africa’s annexation of Marion and Prince Edward Islands at the turn of the year, the S.S. Gamtoos, the Department of Commerce’s coastal steamer, left Cape Town on 12 January 1948 with hut sections aboard to build Marion’s first weather station.  Also shipped were an extra 100 tons of coal in bags to add to the 160 tons in the bunkers, to give the ship an extended endurance of 25 days. Under the captaincy of Wally Finlayson, previously a…

On 13 January 1772 Marc-Macé Marion du Fresne with Le Mascarin and the Le Marquis de Castries (Le Chevalier du Clesmeur) on a southern voyage of discovery that commenced in Mauritius rediscovered two islands in the southern Indian Ocean.  He named them Ile de l’Espérance (now Marion Island) and Ile de la Caverne (now Prince Edward island, after the large cave visible from the sea in Cave Bay). What must have been these two islands were first discovered by a Dutch…

Under the command of Capitaine de Vaisseau Fabre de la Ripelle, the French aviso (colonial sloop) F.R. Bougainville sailed from Diego-Suarez, Madagascar on 11 January 1939 via Durban, South Africa for the French sub-Antarctic in the southern Indian Ocean on a scientific cruise and to affirm French sovereignty over its islands. The French Navy aviso (sloop) Bougainville On her way south the ship called at Marion Island, arriving at dawn on 23 January 1939 where she remained until the early…

Prince Edward Island from the H.M.S.A.S. Natal, 24 January 1948 On 24 January 1948, South Africa conducted a ceremony ashore on Prince Edward Island to proclaim that: “His Majesty’s sovereignty of Marion Island and Prince Edward Island is henceforth to be exercised by his Majesty’s Government in the Union of South Africa.  God Save the King”. The proclamation ceremony was conducted in both English and Afrikaans in front of the cave in Cave Bay by Lieutenant Commander Richard Paul Dryden-Dymond…

On 6 January 1962 South Africa’s newly-delivered Antarctic ship the R.S.A. left Table Bay Docks for Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica with members of the Third SANAE Overwintering team (S3) aboard, under the leadership of Radio Technician Marten J. du Preez.  The Master on the voyage was Captain Kenneth Thomas McNish (30.08.1923 – 19.08.2008). Captain Kenneth McNish The SANAE 3 Team before departure from Cape Town After a near three-week voyage the R.S.A. reached the ice shelf at Polarsirkel Bukta…

Following on from the ceremony claiming Prince Edward Island for South Africa on 24 January 1948,  a similar formal ceremony was held on Marion Island on the 26th. The proclamation ceremony was conducted above Boulder Beach near Gunner’s Point by Lieutenant Commander Richard Paul Dryden-Dymond, Officer Commanding the frigate H.M.S.A.S. Natal.  On the morning of the 26th, Mr H.P. Dike of the Public Works Department, who had come south on the S.S. Gamtoos, erected a flagstaff in the swampy ground. …

On 29 January 1948 the S.S. Gamtoos was off-loading the last of its cargo of materials to build the first weather station on Marion Island, following the island’s formal annexation only three days previously.  The modus operandi was for materials to be loaded onto or towed behind “flat boom” boats borrowed from the Department of Commerce’s Government Guano Islands which were then towed to the breaker’s edge off Boulder Beach by the ship’s motor boat Aqua.  The flat booms then…

On 02 February 1948 Allan Bryant Crawford went ashore on Marion Island for the first time.  He had travelled south to the island on the frigate H.M.S.A.S. Good Hope under the command of Commander H.G. Fougstedt along with members of Marion’s first overwintering team (M1), for which he was (as then called) Officer-in-Charge. The Good Hope sailed from Cape Town on 23 January, arriving at the islands on 28 January.  Aboard along with Allan Crawford were fellow team members Radio…