SS Aliwal....to Natal 1849.

[tazzie]

  Hi ....

 New to this board. Does anyone have any more information on SS Aliwal.
 She sailed from London 25 Sept 1849 and landed 14 Dec 1849 Natal.
 I have found that she hit a reef off the coast and sunk ..creating the Aliwal Shoal now a highly regarded dive site.
 We have Emery Robarts and his wife Martha with children William Emery Robarts & Emma Furley Robarts on board the ship.
 Emma died on the boat aged about 6 months.

  Where can I find info on the accident..I know all about the reef as it is today.

                  Thanks

                           Tazzie

[trellisick]

hi tazzie, i have found the info you mention on distant cousins but nothing more im afraid but will keep a look out for you, kali. they docked at port natal but there is no mention of her striking a reef on this voyage, this seems very strange?

[trellisick]

THE ALIWAL SHOAL
Taking it's name from the three masted vessel "The Aliwal", captained by James Anderson, which sunk after hitting the reef in 1849,  found this but that's it for now, kali.

[tazzie]

   Hi Kali......


  Looks as though it may have been on leaving port and after Emery had left the ship.


                 Thanks

              Tazzie

[trellisick]

hi tazzie, i think that is the answer but will keep searching, kali.

[tazzie]

   Hi Kali...

  Emma's death on the boat seems to have been in October so not anything to do with the sinking....long journey small baby...conditions on the boat... not a good mix eh!

  They had 2 more children in South Africa but they both died within the first weeks.
  William b 1847 lived on till 1903 and married Elizabeth Ward Povall.

        Cheers

                     Tazzie

[Mole]

Hello - sorry, I've only just picked up your post re the 'Aliwal'. Some of your facts are correct and others not quite. She was certainly one of the Byrne emigrant vessels, left London 25 Sept 1849 with 117 emigrants, Captain Anderson in command, and arrived safely on 14 Dec 1849. While she was at Port Natal, she could easily have been wrecked during two gales while at anchor, but in fact rode out the weather without any damage.
Emery Robarts and his wife Martha, with children William E and Emma were certainly among the passengers on this voyage and had been allocated 45 acres of land in Natal. The full passenger list can be seen among other Natal arrivals at www.genealogyworld.net/rose/natal.html
The reef now known as the Aliwal Shoal was definitely not so-named because the ship was wrecked there, but because the shoal was first spotted from the 'Aliwal'. In a letter to the editor of the Natal Witness newspaper Jan 14 1850 Capt Anderson wrote: 'I think you would like to know that about 30 miles to the SW from Natal and distant from the land about 2 miles, I observed a very large and dangerous rock, or shoal, with heavy breakers ...'  Prior to Anderson's sighting the shoal had not been alluded to in any shipping directories.  J C Bryant, a missionary at Ifumi on the south coast of Natal, responded to the above letter, stating that he could 'testify to the correctness of Capt Anderson's statement, as I have often seen from my residence at Ifumi a line of heavy breakers apparently a mile in length - the breakers are not always seen ...but commonly appear after a strong southerly wind and perhaps may also be affected by the state of the tide.'

all the best from Mole

[tazzie]

   Hello Mole....

 Wow...the view must be fantastic.

 I have been trying to get as much information on Emery and his family for my friend who is emigrating to Canada in a few weeks. She asked if I could find her grandfathers family the Robarts. Emery is a grt grt grt uncle.

 I tried the link but it would not open ..sorry..

 Do you know how I can find out more about the land..how was it given out that sort of thing.

 When I googled ss Aliwal the dive club sites came up which is there they state the ship sank. Glad to know it sailed on hopfully bring more families to a new start in a new land.

                     Tazzie

[Mole]

http://www.genealogyworld.net/rose/maritime/b_aliwal.html
Try pasting the above into your browser - this link should take you directly to the Aliwal passenger list and some background re the shoal etc.

On this passenger list, which is taken from a newspaper shipping column (inaccurate spellings of passengers' names were a feature of these columns), the ROBARTS family is given as ROBERTS, but there's no question that it's the correct family. I have no individual details on the family immediately to hand; it would require some dedicated digging.  There is a deceased estate file in Pietermaritzburg Archives for William Robarts who married Elizabeth Ward born Povall: see www.national.archives.gov.za/  reference below -

DEPOT     NAB                                                                   SOURCE    MSCE                                                                  TYPE      LEER                                                                  VOLUME_NO 0                                                                     SYSTEM    01                                                                    REFERENCE 19/4                                                                  PART      1                                                                     DESCRIPTION          ROBARTS, WILLIAM EMERY. (S/S ELIZABETH WARD, BORN POVALL).           
STARTING  19030000                                                              ENDING    19210000                                                              REMARKS   SEE MSCE163/49 IO408/1903 R6/3804B.                                   


The best source for general info on the Byrne settlers, sorry not online, is John Clark's book 'Natal Settler Agent: The Career of John Moreland Agent for the Byrne emigration scheme 1849-51' published by AA Balkema Cape Town 1972 ISBN 0 86961 019 8
Almost impossible to discuss the complex topic of settlers' land allotments on RootsChat!  You - or your friend - need to do some reading on the Byrne settler topic to get the big picture.
Shelagh Spencer's volumes, so far up to surnames beginning with 'G', of British Settlers in Natal - she does have a couple of mentions of William Robarts, Emery's son, scattered amongst the text published in the first 7 volumes, and eventually there will be a special section for ROBARTS when the 'R' surnames are reached - but a long way to go before that happens, the volumes appear very slowly, Spencer being incredibly detailed in her research.

The dive sites you mention are inaccurate in their info concerning the naming of the Aliwal Shoal - it is a fairly common misconception; the origin of the name is definitely as stated in my previous mail.

best wishes, Mole