Shaka the Great (10 page)

Natives encountered were at first hostile. “But when we became better acquainted, they were extremely well disposed and expressed a particular desire for us to remain among them.”

All the same, some reinforcements would be welcome. Although his main aim is to trade with Shaka, whose capital he estimates lies about 250 kilometers to the north-east, King also ventures to suggest this might be a good spot to relocate some of the British settlers sent to the Cape Colony in 1820.

These worthies had been promised a better life, away from the squalor of the Industrial Revolution, only to be placed on the frontier, facing hordes of pissed-off Xhosas, and they haven't stopped complaining since. What's more, precious few have any farming experience and “settling” for most has entailed recreating the slum dwellings they left back home in an agrarian setting.

“I should not, my Lord, have ventured to offer an opinion of the capability of the soil of this country,” writes the former midshipman, “but having several very clever men who appeared perfectly acquainted with agricultural pursuits, and who were unanimous in declaring that, if Government were acquainted with its advantages, they would not hesitate to remove the unfortunate settlers thither.”

King's report will be accompanied by an artistic little chart. Along the bluff of land that shields the bay from the ocean is inscribed:
Good timber for ship building
. At the head of the bay is:
Good forests and large trees
. The northern sector King has designated
Hippopotamus
grazing ground
. Along the beach that runs north-east, away from the bay, there's
Bush
and, inland,
Extensive grazing flats
.

The report will make no mention at all of Lieutenant Francis Farewell or the Farewell Trading Company.

The
Salisbury
and the
Julia
reach Cape Town on December 3, 1823.

As far as Farewell and King are concerned, the expedition has been a huge success.

Fact: the Portuguese are doing very well at Delagoa Bay—why else would they maintain a presence in such a fever-ridden hellhole?

Fact: their main supplier is Shaka. Has to be, since he's the local Napoleon.

Fact: make nice with him and establish a base at Port Natal, preferably with the Crown's backing, and you'll divert all that gold and ivory your way.

Fact: neither Farewell nor King have as yet managed to make contact with this all-powerful potentate, who keeps the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay rubbing their hands in glee (when they're not writhing on their beds racked by malaria, dengue and sundry other horrors, that is).

Fact: neither Farewell nor King are overly concerned they haven't as yet managed to make contact with this all-powerful potentate. Neither are they worried because they can't produce incontrovertible proof that Shaka even exists, or is anything like the figure mentioned in the stories they've heard.

These are details to be dealt with at the appropriate time.

Of more immediate concern is the fact that the two men are now rivals, each vying to be the first to establish a trading station at Port Natal.

Farewell is especially aggrieved. The speculation was his idea, but now King's acting as if he's Clive of bloody India—which is a laugh. Sailing Mommy's ships back and forth is one thing, but establishing and running a settlement is something else entirely. And Farewell possesses precisely that kind of experience.

He was with Captain William Hoste on the
Amphion
when they were attacked by French and Venetian ships off the island of Vis on March 13, 1811. The
Amphion
was accompanied by three other frigates, giving Hoste 124 guns and about 900 men. Commanded by Bernard Dubourdieu, the enemy squadron comprised seven frigates and four smaller warships—or 276 guns and nearly 2,000 men.

With the
Amphion
flying the signal “Remember Nelson,” the British proceeded to thrash the enemy.

Being one of Hoste's favorites, Farewell was placed in charge of the small complement of men the captain sent ashore to occupy Vis, while the captain himself shepherded his battered frigates to a better equipped port for repairs. For a few months subsequently, until Hoste could arrange for a garrison to be sent there, Lieutenant Francis Farewell was the supreme commander of ninety square kilometers of some strategic importance in the Adriatic. (And although the local cricket club is named after Sir William, it was in fact Farewell who introduced that game to the Croatian island.)

So who better to establish a trading post at Port Natal, and start persuading the Zoolas they'll be better off enriching King George?

Not that Farewell's all that surprised by King's perfidy. It's a betrayal very much in keeping with the reefs and shoals he's had to navigate these past few years, where if you're not actually becalmed, you're turning turtle in a tempest.

There he was, his career all shipshape, then Boney's imprisoned on St. Helena and he's cast adrift, and “retired” on half pay. He wasn't alone, since many other Royal Navy officers were in the same predicament, but that wasn't the end of the old vicissitudes.

Drifting south, Farewell had purchased the
Princess Charlotte
and begun to engage in what Fynn terms “mercantile speculations.” These involved carrying various cargoes from Calcutta to Rio de Janeiro, filling the holds again and sailing to the Cape, and then setting out for Brazil. Farewell had been returning to Rio with a full cargo when the
Charlotte
sank, leaving the lieutenant all but destitute.

Somehow he managed to get back to the Cape … and ended
up marrying Elizabeth Schmidt, the stepdaughter of the owner of the boarding house where he lodged. A short while later, Owen's surveying expedition had given him the idea of forming the Farewell Trading Company.

James King has done very well, thanks to Farewell, but now, doubtless spurred on by his mother, who's part owner of several ships engaged in trade with the West Indies, he's developed ideas above his station.

Which is typical.

Although King—who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia—had also served in the Royal Navy, signing on as a ship's boy at the age of eleven, he had resigned as a midshipman ten years later, which means he isn't in fact entitled to the rank of “lieutenant.” Yet he has the gift of the gab, can turn on the charm, and few of his acquaintances or employers know of this pretense. As a consequence,
Lieutenant
James King is well liked in Cape Town. His advice is often sought and, as his report to Bathurst shows, he does his damnedest to appear quite the expert in several areas.

He will even on occasion claim kinship with the Captain James King who served under James Cook on the latter's last voyage around the world. That other James King was employed to take sextant readings for Cook's surveys, but after Cook's death he helped lead the ships on the remainder of their course, and then completed Cook's account of the voyage. Like his namesake, the False Lieutenant King fancies himself as more of a scientist and explorer than a mere speculator.

Sheer poppycock, of course. Before Farewell chartered the
Salisbury
, King's main source of income had been transporting troops between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Even Mommy didn't trust him with any better ships and longer runs!

Then, even as Farewell is considering scouring the streets of Cape Town to find King and throttle him, the latter makes an incredible blunder.

He suddenly sets sail for London, and Farewell can't believe his luck. King clearly thinks he'll be able to raise more money back
home—and perhaps he's right—but now Farewell has both time and proximity on his side. He can have an expedition together, and at Port Natal, before his rival is anywhere near reaching England.

On May 1, 1824, he submits a memorandum to the Governor of the Cape, Lord Charles Somerset, explaining how he has discovered Port Natal and outlining his plans for establishing a settlement. Contact will be made with “the Interior.” With a vessel constantly lying in port, his men will collect gold and ivory from “the natives” who “have already requested that we would come and traffic with them.” The resulting “constant intercourse,” adds Farewell, will eventually lead to “a commerce of importance to the Colony and advantageous to ourselves.”

The trading party will be made up of at least twenty-five men, including servants and crew.

Lest his proposal seem merely a crass attempt to make his own fortune, Farewell ends the memorandum by stressing the hazards involved and how, if successful, the exercise is “likely to lead to important advantages to the Colony in furnishing articles of Export, as well as new Sources of Trade,” not to mention “tending to the Civilization of many populace nations hitherto unknown to Europeans.”

Somerset is quick to give his permission, but this is to be a
private
venture, he insists. There will be no annexing of anything for the Crown. Furthermore, all dealings with the local inhabitants are to be conducted in “a conciliatory manner and upon fair terms of Barter.”

Regarding this, and Somerset's refusal to “sanction the acquisition of any territorial possessions,” as so much fine-print blah-blah-blah, Farewell sets about seeking investors.

He consults his wife's stepfather, Johann Petersen, who in turn approaches other money men in the Colony's Dutch community, who are duly won over by Farewell's tales of cattle kraals constructed entirely of elephant tusks.

“I cannot allow myself to make a statement against the veracity of this gentleman without expressing the opinion that he was either
told or given to understand this by some native who intended merely to imply that the elephant tusks were placed
around
the cattle kraal,” Fynn will later write, charitably giving Farewell the benefit of the doubt on this score.

Henry Fynn is, of course, another who Farewell persuades to join his party. It's a smart move, not least because Fynn, who arrived at Cape Town in 1818 at the age of fifteen, has some prior knowledge of the region they're heading for.

After knocking about the Colony for a few years, he was hired by the merchants Messrs. H. Nourse & Co. and appointed supercargo on the sloop
Julia
, which was sailing to Delagoa Bay with the brig
Mary
, to trade for ivory. While there Fynn got to hear about Shaka and promptly set out to find him. He managed to reach a Zulu village and learned (to his own satisfaction, at least) that Shaka was no myth. Now he's eager to repeat the exercise with better preparations, and hopefully more success this time.

His presence in the expedition, then, means Farewell will have an ally, someone else who actually “knows” Shaka, should mutinous mutterings start up. Not having any money of his own to invest, Fynn will manage the “trading transactions” and also lead the advance party that will prepare dwellings for the main contingent and meanwhile try to make contact with Shaka.

Fynn might, by his own admission, be a little too reserved for his own good, but he can be counted upon in a tight spot. On his trip to Delagoa he looked after the interests of Nourse & Co. admirably, relieving the
Julia
's drunken captain of his command and putting the first mate in charge instead. Later, he showed himself more than able to deal with the intimidatory tactics employed by the Portuguese authorities to deter foreigners from trading with the local inhabitants.