Shipwrecks of Buffalo City: Lady Kennaway

The Lady Kennaway was a three masted, square rigged barque of 584 tons which had been built of teak by Kid and Company in Calcutta in 1817. Her anchor cable was originally of coir rope but later 1½ inch chains.

In her early years she had carried guns, as the picture above indicates -- mouse-over the picture to see an enlargment. She had a long bowsprit, jib boom, quarter galleries and a figurehead of the period.

The ship was used most frequently on the East India route. On at least four occasions she was chartered to convey emigrants to Australia, although she was probably more famous in Australian history as a convict transport ship.

Her final voyage was to East London, South Africa. She sailed from Plymouth Sound before noon on Saturday, 5 September 1857, carrying 231 emigrants for British Kaffraria. Of these, 153 were single women from Ireland, 42 were artisans with their wives, and 36 were children.

The Lady Kennaway dropped anchor in the East London roadstead on Friday, 20 November 1857. She lay at what was considered a safe berth in 22 metres of water, just over 1.5km off-shore.

Her anchor cables, however, were well worn, were too light and too short for a vessel of that mass. To cap it all, only two anchors were used and no spare was put in readiness should the others fail.

On Wednesday, 25 November, heavy winds came up that day and the Lady Kennaway parted from both her anchors. Another error then occurred, this time in the attempt to raise the sails. As a result, the vessel was driven by the gale on to the sandspit in the river mouth. There she would remain for some months as an obstruction to ships and boats which attempted to enter the river. No lives were lost in the accident.

The ship's bell was salvaged by Reverend William Greenstock and used as a church bell for his chapel at East London. He later took it with him to St Matthew's Church near Keiskamma Hoek. Unfortunately it disappeared in the disturbances of the mid-1970s.

Teak from the hull of the ship was salvaged by the local East London merchants and used in the construction of many of their houses on the West Bank.

Source: Dr Keith Tankard

East London author and historian