Port Shepstone, which lies on the southern bank of the Mzimkhulu River, was named after the 19th century colonial statesman, Sir Theophilus Shepstone.
The first vessel to enter the Mzimkhulu River, in 1880, was a steamer named Somtseu.
Colonist William Bazley began to build a wall at the mouth of the river and, in 1882, about 10 years later, Port Shepstone became a functioning harbour.
Its first rudimentary light was constructed in 1895: a ship’s masthead lantern mounted on a platform on a ladder-like structure, placed on the southern bluff of the river mouth.
This served the purpose of being both light and signal station and was manned by a Norwegian, E K Andreason, from June 1889 until his retirement at the end of 1929.
In 1906 the lighthouse at Scottburgh, which marked the southern end of the Aliwal Shoal, was dismantled and put up at the port.
It was equipped with a petroleum vapour burner, which was later replaced in 1912 by an acetylene gas apparatus.
This apparatus consisted of a 187.5 mm focal distance, three-panel optic using a twenty litre incandescent mantle burner. It produced a single white flash of 27 000 every 10 seconds. The lens was rotated by a weight-driven clockwork machine.
This was replaced in 1961 by an electric motor reduction gearbox unit, changing the light to one white flash every six seconds. The lighthouse became fully automatic in 1963: the range is 24 sea miles.
With its circular tower painted in distinctive black and white checks, the lighthouse is a well-known landmark on the South Coast.
This dangerous coastline is associated with numerous shipwrecks, including those of the São João and the Grosvenor, occurring two centuries apart but both remaining topics of fascination and research.
The wreck of the Grosvenor, an East Indiaman, occurred on 4 August 1782 on the Pondoland coast of South Africa, north of the mouth of the Umzimvubu River.
The shipwreck was close to the place where the Portuguese ship, São João, had gone down more than two centuries earlier on 8 June 1552.
We are fortunate to experience the annual NTC 3 Drak canoe challenge on the river and, during June of each year, Port Shepstone is famous for the ‘Sardine Run’, which has everyone abuzz with activity.
Southern right whales and dolphins are often sighted and an assortment of boats can be seen heading for the beach, towing nets bulging with thousands of small wriggling silvery sardines. The local inhabitants vie fiercely with one another to take a ‘fry up’ home with them.
The closest wreck is that of the Defiance which ran aground during the night of 6 October 1871 near the mouth of the Mzimkhulu River, bound from Bombay to Liverpool with a cargo of cotton and buffalo horns on board. There were no casualties.
(Source: Wikipedia, other).
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