Picto Diary - 20 December 2018 - The Boer War
Regent Seven Seas Explorer. SSE bound. Cranking. 20 knots. Off west coast of South Africa.20 December 2018.
Seas two meters. 66 degrees F. Wind 20 knots from the NNW. Hoist the spinnaker!
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 20 December 2018.
Onboard lecture.
Andy Jampoler
THE BOER WAR
1652. The Dutch started Cape Town as a way station to re-provision far east shipping.
Some Dutch stayed, started farms.
1805. Brits come to Cape Town for anti French strategic reasons during Napoleonic Wars.
1830. Loner Dutch, now called Boers, chafe under British authority, administration and rule making. In great trek north, they found Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Natal state.
1860's to 1880's. Gold and diamonds discovered in Boer lands. Boers want to farm...not interested in bling. But, in search of wealth, outsiders, including British business interests, flood Boer lands.
1902. Brits win second Boer War...annex Boer states.
1910. Union of South Africa formed. Paul Kruger, canny, fundamentalist Boer leader secures self rule from Brits for Orange Free State and Transvaal for all but foreign policy, which remains with Britain.
Independence from Britain in 1961. Union of South Africa formed. Fundamentalist Boers remain influential in government and push for, and succeed in getting Apartheid...formalized racial division.
Ummm.... what other Christian religious movements do we know of who chafed under government authority and made a great pioneer trek (or the equivalent sea voyage) in search of religious and societal freedom? The American colonists fared better than the Boers, leveraging the assistance of the French to enable their independence from the British. And, of course, the LDS, who, like the Boers, never fully were able to separate from their oppressor, this time, the United States, following their great trek west to the Great Basin of North America.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 20 December 2018.
Onboard lecture.
Andy Jampoler
THE BOER WAR
Troop strength of combatants in 2nd Boer War, 1899 to 1902.
Brits had to learn a new way to fight. Boers lived and knew the land. Excellent horsemanship. Well armed. Fought from the.shadows. Guerilla fighters. In the end, the Brits prevailed with greater numbers. Also, the Boers were unsuccessful in ginning up international support, like, for example, the American colonists did in securing French support.
Winston Churchill was a young newspaper reporter who worked his way to the front. He was captured by the Boers and imprisoned. He made a miraculous escape from prison, became a national hero at home, and launched his storied political career.
Almost exactly two years ago, I completed reading Candace Millard's "Hero of the Empire," the story of Winston Churchill's brief, but amazing experience, written by Candace Millard. In August 2016, I had read the first of Ramachandra Guha's two part biography on Gandhi, "Gandhi before India." So, Gandhi's experience in South Africa was fresh on my mind. It struck me as interesting that these two great antagonists-to-be were also players in the Boer War, though not acquainted (as far as is known) at the time.
Gandhi, then a South African solicitor, who had become an advocate for "coloreds'" freedom from British segregation rules in South Africa, set aside his fight with the Brits during the Boer war to lead a column of stretcher bearers for the British Army.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer
Onboard lecture.
Andy Jampoler
THE BOER WAR
First attempt at federation between new Boer states, Transvaal and Orange Free State, and British controlled Cape Colony, in 1875, failed. Full federation not achieved until 1910.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 20 December 2018.
Onboard lecture.
Andy Jampoler
THE BOER WAR
Jampoler's summary slide listing his lectures during our December 2018 sailing down the west coast of Africa.
His lectures made for a fantastic overview of west African history as we sailed Diaz and Da Gama's route from Lisbon to Cape Town.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 20 December 2018.
Starboard.
Cabin 941
Channeling Vasco da Gama
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 20 December 2018
Gingerbread scene.
I gotta say...these guys (Regent) go all out.
Still, I was a bit disappointed by the surfeit of secular Christmas music, with no traditional carols, being played over the ship's PA in public areas.
Regent Seven Seas Explorer 20 December 2018.
Ship entertainment team
Constellation Theater
River Dance move over
Addendum:
Your wild life photos brought back memories of my South East African motorcycle ride. We rode through five countries south Africa Botswana Zambia Malawi and terminated the trip in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. We did a similar boat trip in the same area were you were describing on the Zambezi River. We had safaris in Kruger national Park, Chobe national Park and Mikuni national park in Tanzania. The wildlife was incredible and one gentleman came along just to do photography. By the way, Jim Hunter, Henry Black and I bunged off of the Victoria Falls Bridge. It’s a long drop! Glad to see you got off the ship and back to Mother Nature for a while.
ITYW,
San Angelo, TX
ITYW. Sounds like the exact same trip I went on at the exact same time! PS. Let's look for an opportunity to do another ride half way between us next year.
Love to read your travelogues. Namibia is a country I would like to see. The desert there is one of the driest and hottest on earth, if my recollection is accurate. I have read many Wilbur Smith books and in a couple of them they talk of travelling across the Namibian Desert with Sand people, the pigmy like folks. The thing I would like to see is the riot of color that occurs in springtime with blooming wildflowers for mile after mile. That may not extend into Namibia. I am sure it happens along that coast in the northerly reaches of South Africa.
I think John Hardy would be very informative to LSDM.
Come home safely.
Ray,
Park City, UT