While many gather to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of World War 1 troop ship, the SS Mendi, it is a little more personal for many of the descendants of the 139 Eastern Cape men who left to support a foreign war.
In all 616 South African soldiers, 607 of them black, nine white, as well as 30 crew died when the passenger steamship chartered by the British government as a troop carrier sank in the English Channel just off the Isle of Wright as it carried men to combat.
The SS Mendi had set sail from Cape Town on January 16 1917 carrying 823 men of the 5th Battalion South African Native Labour Contingent (SANLC).
In a Sunday Times article this weekend it was explained that the men came from all over southern Africa, although most from South Africa: among them were 287 from the Transvaal, 139 from the Eastern Cape, 87 from KwaZulu-Natal, 27 from the Northern Cape, 26 from the Orange Free State, 26 from Basutoland, eight from Bechuanaland and five from the Cape.
According to Stephanie Victor, history curator at the Amathole Museum in King William’s Town: “There were men who came from around King William’s Town as well as royals from the Mpondoland, such as the chiefs Henry Bokleni, Dokoda Richard Ndamase and Mxonywa Bangani.
“When news of the disaster was received on March 9, 1917, the South African House of Assembly, led by Prime Minister Louis Botha, rose from their seats in respect for the dead. Despite this gesture, the black non-combatants returning home from service abroad received none of the customary acknowledgements of war service, such as campaign ribbons or medals, which were accorded to combatants and nurses,” she said.
However the white officers did, as did black members of the South African Labour Corps from the neighbouring British Protectorates of Basutoland (modern Lesotho), Bechuanaland (Botswana) and Swaziland.
In her report on the SS Mendi, Victor said between 1916 and 1918, about 21000 black South African volunteers served in France with the SANLC and although they were not used as a fighting force and were forbidden to bear arms, they were encouraged to join the war effort by their chiefs and a poem written by a local author, SEK Mqhayi, The Black Army.
In his book, Touched by Biko, Dr Andile M-Afrika, great grandchild of Anderson Soka, one of the men who went down with the SS Mendi, expressed his sentiments about being a descendent of one of these men.
“My great-grandfather was martyred in a struggle on the sea. He was screaming, calling out for his father and the mother of his father to rescue him, crying for protection while on a sinking boat in the deep seas of Europe. There was no one around to hear and empathise with his cries, as all other Africans on board were equally praying to their gods and ancestors. There was never anyone to close his eyes, or those of other passengers,” he wrote.
M-Afrika explained that, like others from the area, Soka had responded to a call for new recruits to join the war effort in Europe. He said he believed a major drawcard had been that the men were promised wages for their months abroad and, with a child on the way, his great-grandfather thought it would be a good way to provide for it.
“How could he not respond when they promised to pay for every month away in Europe? How could he, when men of reputation, sons and grandsons of blue-blooded African kings were enlisting to fight in the defence of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Her Successors? How could he, when poverty stared him in the eye waiting to devour a child who was becoming, a child in his wife’s womb?” he said.
Lungile Makula, grandchild of survivor Mildred Makula, whom they were told was on board the SS Darro at the time of the incident, said they often became overwhelmed when they recalled how their bloodline almost never existed.
“We are blessed to have had the opportunity to spend time with him and get to know such a great man. The community used to fear him and mock him, because he was very strict and they mocked that he had risked his life, yet only received a scooter from the war.
“He was still a young man when he went to war, and he only started his family when he came back and had his first child in 1920. He died in 1969.”
Basil Bradford, 88, a nephew to Ernest Henry Richardson, another soldier on board the SS Mendi, said he was very proud of his uncle who died on the ship a century ago.
“I know very little about this tragic sea accident other than what everybody else already knows, but I am moved whenever I recall what my uncle must have gone through when the ship sank. He was the only one I never got to meet of all my mother’s five siblings, but I always heard about him and the extreme bravery shown by him and others on the vessel.”
Victor said Cordeaux and Farrow’s architectural drawing of the King William’s Town war memorial forms part of the Amathole Museum’s collection and from this she can read off the names on the memorial’s plaque.
“Included are the names of men from King William’s Town who died during one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th Century to occur in British waters. Some of the names of the men are: James Phambili, George Nini, John Clout Ndziba, Squire Nodolo (Dodolo), Kleinbooi Petela, July Mdunyelwa, Durward Ngcenge and Style Tetani. Lance Corporals Robert Madosi and Henry Gqweta, as well as Private Anderson Soka from King William’s Town, also died during the SS Mendi disaster, but have been omitted from the memorial,” she said. The current condition of the plaque in King William’s Town makes it impossible to read the names.
According to Ian Gleeson, author of Through Two World Wars, on its final journey the SS Mendi called in at Plymouth in Devon, England before heading into the English Channel for Le Havre in northern France where the men were to join the war effort. On this last leg of her journey the Mendi was said to have been escorted by the British destroyer HMS Brisk.
It was in thick fog of the early morning of February 21 that the ship was accidently rammed by the SS Darro, a ship twice the size of the Mendi, travelling at full speed and sounding no fog signals. In just 25 minutes the Mendi sank.
“The Darro backed out of the hole she had caused and the sea poured into the breach on the Mendi. She immediately started to list to starboard and sink,” Gleeson wrote.
Victor said oral history relays that the men of the SANLC met their fate with great dignity. While some were killed in the actual collision, some drowned after jumping into the sea as most could not swim and many were trapped below deck.
“It is told that a number of them who remained on board, performed a death dance on the tilting deck before the Mendi finally plunged beneath the ocean. In the shock and confusion, their chaplain, Rev Isaac Wauchopei, then Minister of the Fort Beaufort Congregational Church, emerged as a remarkable figure. He reportedly calmed the men by raising his arms aloft and crying out in prayer.”
According to the Military Navy’s website, the men were reported to have sang and stamped the death dance together as the SS Mendi sank, taking with her all still on board and many who leapt into the icy waters. “Of note is that, regardless of clan or tribe, these men faced death together as South Africans.”
“Other heart-wrenching tales of valour are told of those trying to survive in the freezing water. It is said that the cries of the men dying of hypothermia echoed in the misty dawn: “Ho, ‘so and so’, child of my mother, are you dead that you do not hear my voice” and “Ho, to me, men of ‘so and so’, that we may all die together?”
Tales that have been passed down over the century include one of Joseph Tshite, a schoolmaster from near Pretoria, encouraging those around him with hymns and prayers until he died. And a white sergeant was said to have been supported by two black compatriots, who swam with him and found a place for him on a raft.
Victor said there were many stories told locally by people who may have been descendants, but none can be confirmed or verified because even the history books are written by people who were not there.
Referring to the legend that the men carried out a death dance as the ship went down: “It’s important to remember history as what has been documented, but it can be difficult too for historians because some things don’t always make sense and you have to put in that missing bit.
“It is also important to record history in a manner that can be comforting and meaningful to those that are affected.”
Ben Curran, a member of the South African Legion – an organisation which looks after some of the descendants of the deceased soldiers – said the organisation was dying as some of the descendants also passed on.
“It’s not just about looking after the families of the soldiers of the war, but we also have the responsibility of protecting monuments like the one that was built by the Legion in 1921 in King William’s Town.
“We need the government and municipalities to support and protect these meaningful structures, even if it means fencing them off because they have become homes to vagrants, when they should be invested in as historic tourist sites.”
Curran said the Legion cleaned the King William’s Town monument site annually in honour of the Mendi men. — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
Brave men died with honour in an icy sea
In all 616 South African soldiers, 607 of them black, nine white, as well as 30 crew died when the passenger steamship chartered by the British government as a troop carrier sank in the English Channel just off the Isle of Wright as it carried men to combat.
The SS Mendi had set sail from Cape Town on January 16 1917 carrying 823 men of the 5th Battalion South African Native Labour Contingent (SANLC).
In a Sunday Times article this weekend it was explained that the men came from all over southern Africa, although most from South Africa: among them were 287 from the Transvaal, 139 from the Eastern Cape, 87 from KwaZulu-Natal, 27 from the Northern Cape, 26 from the Orange Free State, 26 from Basutoland, eight from Bechuanaland and five from the Cape.
According to Stephanie Victor, history curator at the Amathole Museum in King William’s Town: “There were men who came from around King William’s Town as well as royals from the Mpondoland, such as the chiefs Henry Bokleni, Dokoda Richard Ndamase and Mxonywa Bangani.
“When news of the disaster was received on March 9, 1917, the South African House of Assembly, led by Prime Minister Louis Botha, rose from their seats in respect for the dead. Despite this gesture, the black non-combatants returning home from service abroad received none of the customary acknowledgements of war service, such as campaign ribbons or medals, which were accorded to combatants and nurses,” she said.
However the white officers did, as did black members of the South African Labour Corps from the neighbouring British Protectorates of Basutoland (modern Lesotho), Bechuanaland (Botswana) and Swaziland.
In her report on the SS Mendi, Victor said between 1916 and 1918, about 21000 black South African volunteers served in France with the SANLC and although they were not used as a fighting force and were forbidden to bear arms, they were encouraged to join the war effort by their chiefs and a poem written by a local author, SEK Mqhayi, The Black Army.
In his book, Touched by Biko, Dr Andile M-Afrika, great grandchild of Anderson Soka, one of the men who went down with the SS Mendi, expressed his sentiments about being a descendent of one of these men.
“My great-grandfather was martyred in a struggle on the sea. He was screaming, calling out for his father and the mother of his father to rescue him, crying for protection while on a sinking boat in the deep seas of Europe. There was no one around to hear and empathise with his cries, as all other Africans on board were equally praying to their gods and ancestors. There was never anyone to close his eyes, or those of other passengers,” he wrote.
M-Afrika explained that, like others from the area, Soka had responded to a call for new recruits to join the war effort in Europe. He said he believed a major drawcard had been that the men were promised wages for their months abroad and, with a child on the way, his great-grandfather thought it would be a good way to provide for it.
“How could he not respond when they promised to pay for every month away in Europe? How could he, when men of reputation, sons and grandsons of blue-blooded African kings were enlisting to fight in the defence of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Her Successors? How could he, when poverty stared him in the eye waiting to devour a child who was becoming, a child in his wife’s womb?” he said.
Lungile Makula, grandchild of survivor Mildred Makula, whom they were told was on board the SS Darro at the time of the incident, said they often became overwhelmed when they recalled how their bloodline almost never existed.
“We are blessed to have had the opportunity to spend time with him and get to know such a great man. The community used to fear him and mock him, because he was very strict and they mocked that he had risked his life, yet only received a scooter from the war.
“He was still a young man when he went to war, and he only started his family when he came back and had his first child in 1920. He died in 1969.”
Basil Bradford, 88, a nephew to Ernest Henry Richardson, another soldier on board the SS Mendi, said he was very proud of his uncle who died on the ship a century ago.
“I know very little about this tragic sea accident other than what everybody else already knows, but I am moved whenever I recall what my uncle must have gone through when the ship sank. He was the only one I never got to meet of all my mother’s five siblings, but I always heard about him and the extreme bravery shown by him and others on the vessel.”
Victor said Cordeaux and Farrow’s architectural drawing of the King William’s Town war memorial forms part of the Amathole Museum’s collection and from this she can read off the names on the memorial’s plaque.
“Included are the names of men from King William’s Town who died during one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th Century to occur in British waters. Some of the names of the men are: James Phambili, George Nini, John Clout Ndziba, Squire Nodolo (Dodolo), Kleinbooi Petela, July Mdunyelwa, Durward Ngcenge and Style Tetani. Lance Corporals Robert Madosi and Henry Gqweta, as well as Private Anderson Soka from King William’s Town, also died during the SS Mendi disaster, but have been omitted from the memorial,” she said. The current condition of the plaque in King William’s Town makes it impossible to read the names.
According to Ian Gleeson, author of Through Two World Wars, on its final journey the SS Mendi called in at Plymouth in Devon, England before heading into the English Channel for Le Havre in northern France where the men were to join the war effort. On this last leg of her journey the Mendi was said to have been escorted by the British destroyer HMS Brisk.
It was in thick fog of the early morning of February 21 that the ship was accidently rammed by the SS Darro, a ship twice the size of the Mendi, travelling at full speed and sounding no fog signals. In just 25 minutes the Mendi sank.
“The Darro backed out of the hole she had caused and the sea poured into the breach on the Mendi. She immediately started to list to starboard and sink,” Gleeson wrote.
Victor said oral history relays that the men of the SANLC met their fate with great dignity. While some were killed in the actual collision, some drowned after jumping into the sea as most could not swim and many were trapped below deck.
“It is told that a number of them who remained on board, performed a death dance on the tilting deck before the Mendi finally plunged beneath the ocean. In the shock and confusion, their chaplain, Rev Isaac Wauchopei, then Minister of the Fort Beaufort Congregational Church, emerged as a remarkable figure. He reportedly calmed the men by raising his arms aloft and crying out in prayer.”
According to the Military Navy’s website, the men were reported to have sang and stamped the death dance together as the SS Mendi sank, taking with her all still on board and many who leapt into the icy waters. “Of note is that, regardless of clan or tribe, these men faced death together as South Africans.”
“Other heart-wrenching tales of valour are told of those trying to survive in the freezing water. It is said that the cries of the men dying of hypothermia echoed in the misty dawn: “Ho, ‘so and so’, child of my mother, are you dead that you do not hear my voice” and “Ho, to me, men of ‘so and so’, that we may all die together?”
Tales that have been passed down over the century include one of Joseph Tshite, a schoolmaster from near Pretoria, encouraging those around him with hymns and prayers until he died. And a white sergeant was said to have been supported by two black compatriots, who swam with him and found a place for him on a raft.
Victor said there were many stories told locally by people who may have been descendants, but none can be confirmed or verified because even the history books are written by people who were not there.
Referring to the legend that the men carried out a death dance as the ship went down: “It’s important to remember history as what has been documented, but it can be difficult too for historians because some things don’t always make sense and you have to put in that missing bit.
“It is also important to record history in a manner that can be comforting and meaningful to those that are affected.”
Ben Curran, a member of the South African Legion – an organisation which looks after some of the descendants of the deceased soldiers – said the organisation was dying as some of the descendants also passed on.
“It’s not just about looking after the families of the soldiers of the war, but we also have the responsibility of protecting monuments like the one that was built by the Legion in 1921 in King William’s Town.
“We need the government and municipalities to support and protect these meaningful structures, even if it means fencing them off because they have become homes to vagrants, when they should be invested in as historic tourist sites.”
Curran said the Legion cleaned the King William’s Town monument site annually in honour of the Mendi men. — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
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