South Coast Happenings Unclaimed

The enormity of the transportation logistics for ox-drawn wagons to ford so many rivers and ravines made any serious development south of Durban a highly unattractive proposition. Hence, prior to 1895, the focus was on circumventing the overland transport nightmare via establishing shallow-draft harbours in some of the South Coast’s river mouths.months after starting, the first boat ran aground. Further attempts were made during 1861 and then again in 1873, but all were eventually wrecked. Scottburgh was tried, only for the ship to end its second voyage on the beach. In 1878 a schooner-rigged boat named ‘Somtseu’ succeeded in visiting Scottburgh and other would-be ports along the coast, but was eventually beached at Umkomaas for 5 months before a team of oxen managed to drag it back into the sea. Rocky Bay, at the mouth of the Umzinto River, was also used for shipping sugar cane to Durban until a few wrecks there shut down operations in 1892. Long-term success also eluded Port Edward, despite those attempts still being alluded to in its name. The most successful shallow harbour venture along the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast was in Port Shepstone’s river, the Mzimkulu – Zulu for the river of all rivers –which, despite the occasional beaching and wreck, serviced the area until the arrival of the railway line.