Only History Stuff …

If you like HISTORY then this will give you rapid access to some of the many fascinating articles on this website.

Some typical examples are:

Sometimes complex litigation can mask a powerful human drama. The case of Argentum Exploration against South Africa is just such a tale. Behind arcane argument in the UK courts about whether SA had to pay salvage costs to Argentum for raising lost treasure from sea-bed depths of almost three kilometres, there lies a forgotten story. Read the story which has been published with permission. https://carmelrickard.co.za/a-shipwreck-lost-treasure-and-lessons-for-lawyers/

In 2014, a group of Cape Town-based researchers said they wanted to conduct a unique historical trawl survey experiment. The bold project would regress trawling technology by over a century. It was going to make valid comparisons with trawl surveys conducted about 115 years ago. This article completes this story… Read Recreating an Historical Trawl Survey

The current climate crisis raises many questions. Some are forward-looking: how can this be fixed? Some look to the recent past: how did we get here? And some reach further back into history: are today’s extreme heat waves, catastrophic droughts and floods all due to climate change? Was climate and weather this bad 100 or a few hundred years ago? Read the article written by Stefan Grab, University of the Witwatersrand. Climate Change. Colonial Diaries in South Africa are Helping Scientists Reconstruct Weather Patterns of the Past to Protect Against Future Events

The history of South Africa’s fishing industry is comparable to a huge incomplete picture puzzle with a few pieces in place but showing numerous gaps. Although the Bushmen and Hottentots fished and harvested from the shoreline for subsistence use it was with the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck on 6 April 1652 in Cape Town to refurbish his food supply for his crew by “draw the net for some fish for the crew”, that was the first recording of commercial harvesting. Read … The History of the Fishing Industry Understood…

The Snoek have been running and this brought to mind an article which explains why this fish is considered by South Africans to be a gastronomic delight, nutritious, and relatively cheap. Read… The Fish of the Poor. The Gastronomic Delight that is Snoek

There was an era when whales were not celebrated but sacrificed. The following article tells of when whaling was a major international operation focusing mainly on the whaling grounds of the Southern Ocean…. Read Rekindling Memories of Whales and the Whaling Factory Ships at the Cape

Major energy sources such as coal and oil are under increasing scrutiny for lots of reasons. The ships housing the gas-fired power generation capacity (powerships) are supplied with gas from floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), which are in turn supplied with imported liquified natural gas (LNG) from aqinternational suppliers on purpose-built LNG carrier ships. This article provides insight about the gas carrier fleet since the first custom-built ship was commissioned nearly 60 years ago. Read Energy Sources that Fired the Growth of a Gas Carrier Fleet

A photo of the Skulpiesbaai fishtraps near Stilbaai was a reminder of a book a Nelson Mandela University academic has co-authored with local Khoisan chiefs about the first indigenous people of southern Africa. Research revealed precolonial fish traps and nurseries. Read Rich Coastal Heritage of Precolonial Fish Traps and Hatcheries Uncovered

One of the great South African salvage operations was the refloating of the stranded Ellerman freighter City of Lincoln from a reef off Quoin Point in March 1947. Stout wooden fishing boats from the local fleet were used to land over 3000 tons of cargo. Although it was a thoroughly scientific operation that, sadly it had a tragic twist. This is A Piece of History. How Wooden Fishing Boats Helped a Post World War 2 Salvage Operation

Vetch’s Pier has been in existence since the mid-19th century. One of the largest sub-tidal mussel beds in the entire KZN coastline, it is also the home of millions of other marine creatures which has made it an extremely popular snorkelling hot spot for novice divers, recreational and subsistence fishermen. Some years ago, one man, activist Johnny Vassilaros, took on the controversial former Durban City manager and his cronies at eThekwini Municipality whose grand vision was for a multimillion-rand waterfront development including a new iconic hotel at the mouth of the harbour. The problem was that very little consideration was given to the environment or to the impact this would have on the fishing community or residents of Durban. Read A Piece of History. The Battle to Save Durban Vetch’s Pier

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