The South African Naval Museum Copyright © 2020 South African Naval Museum All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. First printing, 2020. South African Naval Museum St George’s St, Simon’s Town, Cape Town, 7995 Tel: +27 21 787 4686/4622 www.sanavymuseum.co.za EDITOR Cdr Leon Steyn PHOTOGRAPHS Cdr Leon Steyn, CPO Marc Zeeman, Ansel van Schalkwyk (or otherwise credited) DESIGN & LAYOUT Estelle Tanner.design PRINTER Digital Action MESSAGE FROM THE OFFICER-IN-CHARGE SOUTH AFRICAN NAVAL MUSEUM The writer Robert Brault said, “Enjoy But, the one success that I am the proudest The future holds much promise and the the little things in life, for one day you will of, is that the museum has become, truly addition of the historic racing yacht realize, they were the big things.” The South internalised – recognised amongst our Voortrekker will be the most important African Naval Museum has through the own people – we have become “the Navy’s activity of 2020. The addition of several years, achieved a host of seemingly “small Museum”. This we have done; among other small craft, such as a Vredenburger things”, especially in the bigger scheme of other things; by promoting ourselves as workboat, a Marine Tender that dates Fleet activities, but in time this has truly the “Memory of the Fleet”, widening our back to the Second World War and other added up to be worthwhile and meaningful footprint to provide a relevant service to smaller redundant weapon systems to our achievements. the Fleet and the Navy – to prove that a collection are all dependent on additional museum has a place and a function. exhibition-space that must be allocated to Time and life goes by so quickly that we us. We remain hopeful. seldom create moments to stop and really In a wider regard, the museum’s look back at all these achievements. The prominence has been raised through The staff of the SA Naval Museum is an idea to produce a museum year book, for the educational function we offer, with enthusiastic group of navy people who; the first time is therefore something we many individuals, school tours and remain dedicated to their task – they do intend to continue henceforth. groups visiting us on a daily basis. We their best within their means. We remain have maintained a monthly return of thankful for the support that Flag Officer It has already been eight years since I about 1200 visitors per month, while the Commanding Naval Base Simon’s Town, reported for duty as the Officer-in-Charge December holiday period always ensures a R Adm (JG) Joseph Dlamini and Flag Officer of the South African Naval Museum in peak of around 3000 visitors. Fleet, R Adm Bubele Mhlana have provided Simon’s Town. In those eight years the during this year. museum has achieved a lot. The opening I am also glad to observe a steady increase of the Transformation Display in 2015, the in the donation of historical items to our Commander Leon Steyn Arctic Convoy Display in 2016, the upgrade museum. This is an indication of the trust Officer-in-Charge of the library and archives and the recent the public has placed in us, as a reputable South African Naval Museum book launch for Project Tshintsha stand out heritage institution. December 2019 as the most noteworthy achievements. FUNCTIONS OF THE MUSEUM South African Naval Museum Staff 2019 Front from left to right: CPO Marc Zeeman, WO1 Harry Croome, Cdr Leon Steyn, Esn Arno Cronje, WO2 Beverley Beukes Back from left to right: CPO Martin Venter, PO Yumna Phillips, AB Conrad du Plooy Absent: CPO Harry Monyepao, PO Precious Mohlala, Mrs “Mama” Ntshobololo South African Naval Museum Values: M = Morale U = Uniformity S = Safekeeping E = Excellence U = Understanding M = Memorable JANUARY 2019 SAN Museum today. SA Naval Museum Awarded Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2018. TripAdvisor is an interactive travel website, with more than 315 million reviewers and over 500 million reviews of hotels, restaurants, attractions and other travel-related businesses. The SA Naval Museum in Simon’s Town received very positive reviews during the last few years and has steadily climbed the rankings to the # 2 spot of things to do in Simon’s Town, receiving a Certificate of Excellence in 2017 and 2018 from TripAdvisor. This shows the positive experience of visitors to the museum, mainly thanks to the extra effort put in by the front desk and tour guides of the SA Naval Museum (CPO Marc Zeeman, PO Precious Mohlala and AB Conrad du Plooy). 30 January 2019: DONATIONS 50 Years ago, the Dockyard 50 ton crane, also known as the “Goliath Crane” went into action. Mr Leslie “Les” Dawe (90 years old) was the engineer who designed and oversaw the construction of the crane. He visited the museum with a model of the crane, which he donated. Les started working in the dockyard in 1962 and was responsible for the rebuilt of eleven cranes in the dockyard converting them from the dc to ac current. He was also responsible for the construction of two cranes as Klawer, the 20 ton crane at the submarine workshop and the 50 ton crane at the drydock. 3 January 2019: VISITS Rear Admiral (Ret) Yuri Eremiu from the Russian Navy visited the museum, seen here in front of the Russian Arctic Convoys (1941-1945) display. The Goliath Cranes at sunset. 31 January 2019: The inaugural meeting of the Friends of the South African Naval Museum was successfully held on Thursday 31 January 2019. Although the turnout was less than expected on the blustery “night at the museum”, all the objectives were successfully met. The Officer-in-Charge of the SA Naval Museum, Commander Leon Steyn presented the activities of the museum to the Friends and reflected on the many successes and growth, while acknowledging the challenges and opportunities the future holds for the museum. The nominated chairperson of the Friends, Captain Chris Dooner (Ret) then presented the proposed Constitution to the Friends. The Friends of the South African Air Force Museum have been very helpful to assist and the process to establish the Friends have been bench- marked from their established structures. The Friends posed a number of questions to Cdr Steyn and Capt Dooner, but in turn also offered a number of great ideas. The members were invited to put their creative caps on for the design of a Friends of the Museum emblem or badge and this will be opened up to all interested Friends joining in the near future. The meeting was concluded with some light refreshments and a tour of the museum. NEW From Left to Right: Cdr Leon Steyn, WO1 Harry Croome, R Adm André Rudman, Dr Kerry Louw, Mr Grant Duncan, Lt Cdr Glenn von Zeil, Mr John Sutherland, Capt Chris Dooner. BOOK AT MUSEUM “We are all in a state of trying to remember… If the body heals, but the spirit doesn’t, you’ve got a problem… And when it comes to inter-generational traumas that involve loss of identity and memory, it is only art that can help us to excavate lost aspects of history and go beyond the literal, beyond facts. Those men that were swallowed, we do not remember their names. Like it or not, we remember ‘Mendi’ in the singular. They have become Mendi. So too, Mendi is becoming us. We are Mendi – we are the commemoration Flag Officer Commanding R Adm (JG) Joseph Dlamini and the Chairperson of the Friends of that memory.” – Mandla Captain (Ret) Chris Dooner signing of the Friends of the Museum Constitution. Mbothwe, artist (Holm, 2017) Albert Grundlingh’s Fighting Their Own the legacies of today (2017-2019), both War (1987) and War and Society (2014), artistically and in the narrative. a number of other books were published in 2017 and included; Dancing the Death This is vividly illustrated throughout the Drill by Fred Khumalo, Troopship Mendi; book, but especially so in a poignant image the Black Titanic by Nick Ward, We Die of the SA Naval Museum and the frigate Like Brothers – the Sinking of the SS Mendi SAS Mendi on page 14 of the book. by John Gribble and Nick Scott, Men of the Mendi – South Africa’s Forgotten Heroes The book was reprinted for the SA Naval of World War I by Brenda Shepherd and Museum in January 2019 and the author Black Sacrifice – the Sinking of the SS traveled to Simon’s Town to personally Mendi by Dr Sandi Baai. sign a number of copies for the museum. A limited number of signed copies are Re-Framing SS Mendi – Curating and available at the museum at R290.00. The Commemorating a ‘Missing’ Memory in author can be contacted through https:// South Africa by Swedish photographer and www.shphotography.org/ visual researcher Susanne Holm, however strikes a different chord. Holm’s work is a rich and meaningful visual ethnography that investigates Mendi “behind the scenes” so to speak. Ethnography is the scientific description of people and cultures with their customs, habits, and mutual differences. Mainly through her photography; but definitely not limited to it; Holm examines the dilemma of “how to visually and materially reconstruct a memory from a history that was largely ‘forgotten’”. Re-framing SS Mendi is the culmination of Holm’s Masters studies in Visual Ethnography at Leiden University in the Netherlands that saw her travel These powerful and true words to Cape Town in the Mendi centenary encapsulate the “effort of memory”, year.