The Victorian Internet, 1899

St. Helena connected by Cable to Cape Town, November 1899

At the time of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 (Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift et al) it took twenty days for a message to travel from Southern Africa via steamer to the Cape Verde islands and on by telegraph to London.  As this remained the situation at the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899 a quicker and more direct route was urgently required.  The Eastern Telegraph Company contracted the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company to manufacture and lay the necessary cables which were to link Cape Town - St. Helena – Ascension and St. Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands.  Messages could then be routed over the Western Telegraph Companies’ existing cables from St. Vincent via Madeira to Carcavelos, Portugal.  From there to Porthcurno in Cornwall they again travelled over the Eastern network.

The Cable Ship Anglia laid the 2,065 nm first stage from Cape Town to St Helena, completing it by 26 November 1899, and while CS Anglia returned to the UK for more cable CS Seine laid the section from St Helena to Ascension, a distance of 844 nm, completing it by 15 December 1899.  CS Anglia then laid 1,975 nm of cable from Ascension to St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands, completing the task by 21 February 1900 only four months after the start of the war.

 Rebuilt Cable Landing Station, Comfortless Cove, Ascension Island, May 2010

Cable Entry Duct, Comfortless Cove, Ascension Island, May 2010

In 1901 the Eastern Telegraph Company contracted the same company to manufacture and lay another set of cables from St Vincent to Madeira, 1,130 nm, and from there a 1,375 nm cable to Porthcurno.  CS Anglia and CS Britannia carried out this work.  To provide an alternative route in case of cable failure another cable laid by CS Anglia in the same year was that from Ascension to Freetown, Sierra Leone, a distance of 1,125 nm.

The All Red Line Around the World

In 1902 the final link in the global network of cables owned and operated by British companies was made with the laying of the Pacific cable from Canada to Australia.  The Pacific Cable, jointly owned by the British Government and the Governments of Canada, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, Tasmania and Western Australia in a unique partnership arrangement was, “effected in obedience to the strong desire of the people of the wide-spread British Empire to utilize electricity for the accomplishment of Imperial consolidation”, and to ensure that “The All Red Line” touched only the territories of the British Empire.

Some parts of the line had been completed considerably earlier.  In 1866, the Great Eastern connected Ireland to Newfoundland, by 1870 Suez was linked to Bombay and from there to Madras, Penang and Singapore.  Australia was linked to British telegraph cables directly in 1870, by extending a line from Singapore to Port Darwin and by 1872, messages could be sent direct from London to Sydney.

To complete the network, the final major cable laying project was the trans-Pacific section.  The route selected was Bamfield, Vancouver Island - Fanning Island - Fiji - Norfolk Island.  From Norfolk Island, two cables would be laid, one to Southport, Queensland, with a landline to Sydney, while the other would land at Doubtless Bay, Auckland and in total 7,837 nm of cable would be required.

It was decided to lay the Bamfield-Fanning Island section in one continuous length.  At the time no cable ship existed that could carry the cable to do this, so the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Company had CS Colonia built.  Laying of the 3,459 nautical mile long cable began at Bamfield on 18 September 1902, reaching Fanning Island on 6 October.  Fanning Island had been formally annexed to Great Britain in 1888. 

In September 1914, the German cruiser, Nurnberg, slipped up to Fanning flying a French flag.  The Germans landed and wrecked the cable station, cut the cable and destroyed a cache of spare instruments. It is also said that they also found time to raid the local post office and steal some stamps.   Within two weeks the severed ends of the cable had been found and, communications re-established.  In December the same year Nurnberg was sunk at the Battle of the Falklands.
 
The CS Anglia which had been used to connect Cape Town and St Helena then laid all the sections from Fanning Island to Australia and New Zealand during 1902.

“The All Red Line” was inaugurated on 31st October 1902 and the Imperial Defence Committee was able to report to the British Government, “The dependence of the United Kingdom on cable stations situated upon foreign territory has been generally eliminated.” 

Britain dominated the international cable networks and no other country possessed such an extensive network. In 1896 there were 30 cable-laying ships in the world, 24 of them owned by British companies.  The Eastern Telegraph Company controlled almost 50 per cent of the world’s submarine cables while other British companies owned another 30 per cent of the cable routes.  These figures underestimate the extent of British domination of worldwide telegraphic traffic because, apart from a number of transatlantic cables, most of the submarine cables owned by non-British companies were local links connecting to British long-distance routes.

Over the following years the Eastern and Western Telegraph Companies merged along with others such as The China Submarine Telegraph Company and The British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Company to form the, wonderfully named, Imperial and International Communications Ltd which in 1934 became Cable and Wireless.

Map from "The Annals and Aims of the Pacific Cable Project." Johnson, Ottawa 1903.Text adapted from "Colossus" by Paul Gannon and http://www.atlantic-cable.com/CableCos/CandW/index.htm

The Last Boer Prisoner, 1949

When my wife and I first visited in 2006 I bought a copy of “St. Helena: The Forgotten Island”.  This is a reprint, produced on behalf of The Museum of St. Helena, of an article by Quentin Keynes published in the National Geographic Magazine in August 1950 and includes some photographs not selected for the original article.  In the booklet are biographical notes, by his nephew Simon, describing the development of Quentin’s attachment to the island.  Helped by the purchase, in March 1951, of Philip Gosse’s collection of books on St. Helena he eventually owned what he believed must be one of the largest collections in the world of rare and early books and pamphlets on this interesting place.  Simon opines that he no doubt felt a connection with St. Helena through his maternal great-grandfather, Charles Darwin, who had visited on the homeward voyage of the Beagle in 1836.  He describes Quentin’s first visit in January 1949 as “the fulfilment of a boyhood dream and the start of a man’s career” and I am grateful to Simon for allowing me to use, from the article, the picture and text below.

Beside a Muzzle-loader Stands the Last Boer Prisoner.

Although he was soon liberated, 75-year old Charles Smith liked St. Helena so much he has left it but once since he was brought here by the British from South Africa.

On his second day ashore Quentin climbed the 699 steps of Jacob’s Ladder, taking “a panting 15 minutes,” an exertion he thought worthwhile because:

”up on the fort stood a very interesting old man: Charles Smith, 75, St. Helena’s last surviving Boer War prisoner  He was captured by the British in South Africa and had been shipped along with the Boer general, Piet Cronje and 512 other captives to this island which had already been the rocky cell for another distinguished man of action.  He told us he had been liberated in 1903, but that, liking his insular prison, he had elected to stay there forever.  He had married a native and for many years had run a bakery.  Only once had he ventured into the outside world, and that was in 1912 when he travelled to Durban to see his ailing mother.”

Is it possible that someone with access to the St. Helena BMD Records could tell me when he died?

Note: Cronje and 514 (Jackson) prisoners arrived at Jamestown on HMS Niobe the 11th April 1900.

St. Helena: The Forgotten Island ISBN 0 906919 21 5, Baldwin’s London, 2005

War's End, 1902

The following notes and the photograph are taken from the 1905 American Edition of Emily Jackson’s St. Helena “The Historic Island”.  Published by Thomas Whittaker, New York which can be downloaded at: http://www.archive.org/details/sthelenahistoric00jackrich

Philip Gosse described this book as “a work of full of useful information but sadly in need of “editing”  It lacks an index and though profusely illustrated by photographs, far too many being of groups of British soldiers who guarded the Boer prisoners.  Undue space is allotted to this subject in the text.  All the same it is a useful work of reference”.  Gosse does give her some credit for being “a woman remarkable for her energy and her gift for organisation”.  “St. Helena stands today (1938) in sore need of such another helper.  Emily died in Capetown in 1923.

Gosse’s own book St. Helena 1502-1938 was described, by The Sunday Times at its publication in 1938, as “A well documented, enthusiastic and easily read book permanently valuable”  The Illustrated London News agreed.  ”Mr Gosse writes like a romantic, a humorist and a scholar.”  He died of salmonella poisoning in Cambridge in October 1959.

Alexander Schulenburg’s 1999 analysis of Emily’s efforts was that: Although her work is much valued for its documentary extracts and photographs, the book as a whole is terribly ill-organised.  For all intents and purposes, Jackson had done what the historian Finberg has called paying "homage to the muse of history after their fashion by serving up the contents of their notebooks in a kind of substitute for narrative”

In fact much like these blog pages, but for my part I enjoyed reading, and learnt much from, both.

On June 1st 1902 St. Helena received news of the war’s end on receiving the cable "Peace," though with no mention of terms.  Prisoners and British were alike loud in their demonstrations, and the stock of champagne in the island was speedily lessened.  The British were confident the Peace was in their favour.  The prisoners also were quite as confident they had at last gained their independence but on the following day came the terms, and with them the downfall of the Boers' hopes.

On Sunday, June 8, thanksgiving services for Peace were offered in the Churches.  At the Cathedral a detachment of Royal Garrison Artillery, who had returned from South Africa, attended, and instead of the usual organ music, the Band of the Buffs accompanied the hymns, and played the National Anthem.  After service the Artillery lined up near Plantation House, when the Governor distributed to them the medals and clasps won in South Africa, and made them a most impressive speech.  After the declaration of Peace and publication throughout the camps of the terms by which the war was ended, notices were posted in English and Dutch throughout the island, and arrangements made for the taking of an oath of allegiance to Great Britain.

NOTICE,

From and after Wednesday, 18th inst., those burghers of the late Orange Free State and South African Republic who are desirous of taking the oath of allegiance to His Majesty King Edward VII are directed to attend at the Court House, Jamestown, between the hours of 11 to 1 p.m., and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. daily, Sundays and Coronation Day (26th June) excepted.  Permits for this purpose will be granted by Commandants at each camp. The oath of allegiance will be administered by Col. AJ Price, CMG, and Capt. John Proctor, CGA., who have been appointed Special Commissioners.

The Castle St. Helena 14th June 1902.

The taking of the Oath was more universal than had been anticipated, though several hung back; having been urged not to take it.

Boers on Parade being addressed by The Governor prior to embarkation June 26th 1902

On the 25th June the “Canada” arrived from England and the following day there was great excitement in the town, when over 470 who had taken the oath came from the camp to embark on the Canada for South Africa.  They were escorted by the band of the 3rd Wilts, and they marched down with Union Jacks flying and prior to boarding they assembled on the Lower Parade where the Governor bade them farewell.  He said he was glad to have an opportunity of saying good-bye, and of wishing them good luck in the future.  It was a mark of regard on the side of the Government that they were being sent home first, and on arrival at the Cape they would meet the loyalists from Ceylon, and so the first one thousand men to land on their native shores would be those in whom the Government felt confidence.  Had all been of their opinion, and refrained from countenancing a hopeless contest, their country would not have been in the same sad condition as it now was.  He felt sure, however, that under the firm and just rule of England prosperity would come again, and that all would be firm friends.  His Excellency concluded by saying: "I trust we shall always be friends and grow in prosperity day by day.  You have been here now over two years and we part with you with regret.  We have admired the fortitude and constancy with which you have borne exceptional trials, and I feel that amongst you I am parting with some personal friends of whose welfare in the future I shall always be glad to hear.  And now I bid you all good-bye, and wish you all good fortune in the years to come." This was translated in short sentences to the prisoners by Captain Proctor, and was replied to by Commandant Jooste on behalf of himself and his fellow loyalists.  He thanked the Governor for all his kindness to them, and then with three cheers for the King, three again for the Governor, and another three for Colonel Wright and other officers, they marched down the parade along the wharf, headed by the band playing " Auld Lang Syne."  They were hardly able to control their excitement at the thought of seeing all those from whom they had been so long parted and of reaching their native shores after their tedious and enforced exile.

On July 4 His Excellency received a deputation from the German residents of Deadwood Camp.  Lieut.-Colonel Hind, Camp Commandant, introduced the deputation, and Colonel von Braun presented a beautifully carved casket containing an illuminated address, which was read out by Captain Weiss:

Deadwood Camp June 24th, 1902.

To His Excellency R. A. Sterndale, Governor of St. Helena.

Having heard that peace has been proclaimed and that the prisoners of war are soon to leave the island, the undersigned take the liberty of addressing your Excellency.  In the first place we wish to express our heartfelt thanks for the kindness and consideration shown to the prisoners of war by your Excellency in issuing to the inhabitants of the island a seasonable proclamation exhorting them to treat us with the respect due to an honourable foe.  Secondly, we beg your Excellency to convey to the inhabitants of the island our sincerest thanks for the noble manner in which they have responded to your Excellency's appeal.  The kindness shown to the prisoners of war one and all by the people of the island, with very few exceptions, is a fact which will long be remembered and cherished by them as a bright speck in the gloomy days of captivity in St. Helena. We have the honour to remain, Your Excellency's obedient servants.

Having received the address, His Excellency replied:

It is a most agreeable surprise, for which I thank you very much, to receive from you this beautifully illuminated address in such an elegantly carved casket, both of which will always be carefully preserved by me and my family as a valued memento of the past two years.

I thank you heartily, on behalf of myself and the inhabitants of St. Helena, for the kindly sentiments conveyed in the address, and I trust that those friendly feelings which have grown up by the intercourse of the past two years will continue to our lives' end, and bear good fruit in helping to bind our two nations in closer bonds of friendship.  As the time of your departure approaches, I feel I lose some personal friends, who will not, I trust, forget me in the time to come and to you all I wish good fortune in the future, and a bright, happy meeting at home with those who are so anxiously looking out for a re-union after the weary time, which has now, I am glad to say, passed.

On June 30 General Cronje came into the town, accompanied by his secretary, to the Castle, and there took the oath of allegiance.  At his own request, his guard, which had never been withdrawn, was allowed to remain, as many of the prisoners, still obdurate, were very bitter against him.  On August 22 he left the island for the Cape in the transport Tagus, with 994 other prisoners.  Many incidents tend to show the good feeling which sprung up between the prisoners and the military staff in St. Helena.  To Dr. Casey, who was in charge of the medical ward at Deadwood Camp, was presented a very handsome album by some of his Boer patients

Before leaving for South Africa a public letter was written by the prisoners to the St. Helena Guardian. In this they say:  We find it impossible to leave St. Helena unless we contribute our share of thankfulness to His Majesty's officers placed over us from time to time, for what they have done to make us take courage to fight the future.  Much is owed to His Majesty's officers for the kindness and consideration accorded by them since January 12th, 1901, and the conclusion has been made that the prisoners of war have been squarely and gentlemanly treated.  The calm Lieut.-Col. Paget ; the placid and collected Lieut.-Col. Barclay and Hind; the manly attitude taken up by Col. Price, the even and courteous Lt. Garden, will never be forgotten ; nor will they ever cease to respect the genial Captain Meiklejohn and his staff.  Our heartfelt thanks go to the gentlemen mentioned for the kind and courteous way they have received and met us from time to time kindness that was a sweet drop in our bitter glass.  Their general attitude towards us prisoners of war will always be recounted with pleasure an attitude at once firm and manly, and worthy of admiration and why?  Because politeness was evinced in all their actions and doings.

In September the special court was closed.

NOTICE.

Notice is hereby given that by order of H. E. the Governor, Colonel AJ Price, the special Court constituted for administering Oath, or taking declaration of allegiance to His Majesty King Edward VII by the burghers of the late South African Republic and Orange Free State will close on Saturday next, the 6th of September, 1902, at 12 o'clock noon.

By Order,

JOHN PROCTOR, Captain, Jamestown 2nd Sept. 1902,

By this time very few remained obdurate concerning the oath, and the greater number had already embarked after their enforced stay of considerably over two years.  The Golconda in October took the last batch, who travelled back as British subjects to the two republics which had become part and parcel of the British Empire.

Jackson lists the ships conveying the prisoners as follows:

Canada left St. Helena on June 26, taking 370 (Peace Camp) and 110 others.

Kirkfield left St. Helena on July 7, taking 11.

Goorkha left St. Helena on July 25, taking French prisoners to Europe.

Abaka left St. Helena on August 1st, taking 20 prisoners of war,

Avondale Castle left St. Helena in August, taking 20 prisoners of war.

Tagus left St. Helena on August 21, taking 994 prisoners of war.

Canada left St. Helena on August 21, taking 984 prisoners of war.

Malta left St. Helena on August 30, taking 990 prisoners of war.

Goorkha left St. Helena on September 18, taking 12 prisoners of war,

Orotava left St. Helena on October 8, taking 990 prisoners of war,

Braemar Castle left St. Helena on October 12, taking 2 prisoners of war.

Golconda left St. Helena on October 21, taking remainder, but leaving the Cape rebels and a few unpardoned men still on the island.



Boer Prisoners on St. Helena, 1900-1902

Boer Prisoners under escort, Main Street, Jamestown

The Second Anglo-Boer War, the origins of which were rooted in over a century of conflict between the Boers and the British, took place between 11th October 1899 and 31st May 1902 with the British fighting the two independent Boer Republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

The first sizable batch of Boer prisoners of war taken by the British consisted of those captured at the Battle of Elandslaagte on 21 October 1899.  At first many were put on ships but, as numbers grew, the British realised that they could not accommodate all POW’s in South Africa.  The British feared they could be freed by sympathetic locals, they already had trouble supplying their own troops in South Africa, and did not want the added burden of sending supplies for the prisoners.  Britain therefore chose to send many POW's overseas.  The first of these camps off the African mainland was opened in Saint Helena, which ultimately received over 5,000 and became quickly overwhelmed.   5,000 more were sent to six camps in Ceylon, 1,443 to Portugal and others to five camps in Bermuda and thirteen camps in British India, which then included what is today Pakistan. In all over 25,000 POWs were sent overseas.

On April 5, 1900, Governor Sterndale published the following proclamation: In a few days the troopship Milwaukee, escorted by H.M.S.Niobe, will arrive with prisoners of war.  No unauthorized persons will be allowed on the wharf at the time of disembarkation.  The police will assist as far as they can the military, acting under the orders of the officer commanding the troops, in keeping order. H.E. the Governor expresses the hope that the inhabitants will treat the prisoners with that courtesy and consideration which should be extended to all men who have fought bravely in what they considered the cause of their country, and will help in repressing any unseemly demonstration which individuals might exhibit.

Deadwood Plain Site of the first POW Camp, May 2010

 

Deadwood Plain from Flagstaff, May 2010

Deadwood POW Camp from Jackson, 1903

Deadwood was the site of the first of the Boer POW camps established on the island.  Some recalcitrant or insubordinate prisoners were confined for a time at High Knoll Fort and a second camp known as Deadwood No. 2, or the Peace Camp, was set up when quarrels broke out between the irreconcilables and those who were willing to take the oath of allegiance to the British.  Further quarrels between Free Staters and Transvaalers meant they had to be separated and so the Broadbottom Camp was established.

In the middle distance below Broadbottom Flax Mill is the site of the Boer POW Camp, May 2010

Broadbottom POW Camp from Jackson, 1903

On 11th April 1900 the troopship SS Milwaukee, escorted by HMS Niobe, arrived off St Helena with 514 Boer prisoners on board including the Boer General Piet Cronje (accompanied by his wife) who had surrendered on the 27th February with 4,000 of his men to Lord Roberts after the battle of Paardeburg.  Illustrating his arrival on the island of St Helena, Punch magazine depicted the Boer General saluting the ghost of Napoleon and saying 'Same enemy, Sire! Same result.

General and Mrs Cronje were accommodated at Kent Cottage, some distance from Deadwood from where he used to ride to visit his men.

RH Keizer, General Cronje and his wife and AN Other outside Kent Cottage

A week after the 'Milwaukee', the steamship, 'Lake Erie' arrived with another batch of 394 prisoners including 34 officers.  On 1st May the transport ship, 'Bavarian' brought 1,099 men.  Another ship to bring prisoners was the 'Mongolian' when it landed 649 men on 3rd February 1901 bringing the total to that date to 4,689 men.  The number of prisoners was swollen during the beginning of 1902 with the arrival of the 'Orient' with 1,050 prisoners and the 'Brittania' with 39 officers, among them General Ben Viljoen.  St Helena thus held both the first and last of the important Boer generals captured during the war.  The death rate in the POW camps of approximately 3% is cited as proof that the conditions under which the prisoners lived on the island were of a high order.

This is in sharp contrast to the death rate at the start of the war amongst the Boer civilians who remained in South Africa.  By mid 1900 the British had become exasperated with the military situation.  The Boers seemed to be able operate with impunity in the veld and a new course of action was decided upon.  In the last months of 1900, the British began to build what eventually became 45 separate tented camps, established to systematically remove women and children from their farms to prevent them aiding and supplying the Boer soldiers in the field.  Civilians were taken from their farms and interned in the camps, but the insanitary conditions cost many their lives as hunger and disease ran rampant.  Up to October 1901, the number of inmates in the 45 camps increased to 118,000 Whites and 43,000 non-Whites and the death rate amongst the whites was 34%.  At one stage in the Kroonstad camp the death rate was 87%.

Emily Hobhouse visited some of the camps in the Orange Free State between January and April 1901 and what she found shocked the public in England.  Her report led to a government enquiry and in their report, the Committee criticised the camps and listed a number of recommendations for improvement.  Lord Milner, the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, assumed direct control of the camps in November 1901 and acted on the recommendations in the report to improve the conditions and rations in the camps.  By January1902 the overall mortality rate had reduced to 16% and by February to 6.9%.  By the end of the war the death rate had fallen below the peace-time rate, but decades of resentment had been generated.

By the end of the war 27,927 Boers had died in the South African camps, of whom 4,177 were adult women and 22,074 were children under the age of 16.  These figures are even more disturbing when compared to the combat fatalities for the entire war where some 7,091 British soldiers died, while on the Boer side some 3,990 burgers were killed, with a further 1,081 dying of disease or accident in the veld.

The arrival of another high profile prisoner was reported in the The New York Times of June 28th 1900.

JAMESTOWN, St. Helena, June 27. -- Sarel Eloff, President Kruger's grandson, who was captured by the British at Mafeking, landed here to-day with eleven officers and ninety-eight troopers, mostly foreigners. The prisoners were immediately sent on to Deadwood the prison camp.  Most of the Boers at Deadwood are in good health, and thus far there has been but one death from enteric fever.

Considering the isolation of St Helena, surrounded by thousands of square miles of ocean, escape was virtually impossible.  Yet, on 2 February 1901, four prisoners, including Sarel Eloff, made a determined attempt at Sandy Bay.  Having collected a quantity of provisions, the four men seized an old fishing boat in which to make their escape.  However, fishermen removed the oars and, despite a struggle, managed to hold on to them.  The prisoners climbed into the boat and tore up the bottom boards, intending to use them as paddles.  Finding them to be useless, the prisoners then returned to the beach and tried in vain to bribe the fishermen, offering them a good sum in exchange for the boat and oars.  In the meantime, a messenger had been sent to report the occurrence and soon after dawn a guard arrived from Deadwood Camp to arrest the escapees.

Another escape was attempted by two Frenchmen amongst the prisoners.  Whilst bathing off the beach at Rupert's Bay, they tried to swim to a ship at anchor. Spotted by the guardship, guns were directed against them and they were challenged, whereupon one turned and swam back to Rupert's Bay, whilst the other swam to the landing steps at Jamestown, only to be escorted back to camp.

The most enterprising attempt to escape was by made by Andries Smorenburg who made a crate and "mailed" himself from Saint Helena on the Union Castle Mail Ship SS Goth.  In the event he was discovered when the ship was out at sea, landed at Ascension, handed over to the authorities and returned to St. Helena. (See The Boer in The Box, 1902).

It was inevitable that there were occasional spots of serious trouble. For example, on one Saturday night early in 1901 a prisoner was shot by a sentry. It emerged at the Military Court which followed that for some time the prisoners had been pelting the sentries with stones, sticks, tin cans and other missiles, and that the sentry in question had been struck in the face on that occasion.

It was also inevitable that a number of prisoners would die on the island. The Anglican Church on St. Helena refused consecrated ground for a cemetery because the Boer prisoners were 'Enemies of Her Majesty'. Fortunately the Baptist Church felt differently and granted ground for a cemetery near its stately building overlooking the now well-cared for burial ground.  The church building was also put at the disposal of the prisoners for the conduct of their religious services.  167 Prisoners are buried here, the graves arranged in neat terrace-like rows on a steep incline of about 40 degrees.  At the bottom two imposing red-brown granite monuments record the grave numbers, names and ages of the dead. One of these was erected by the prisoners while they were detained on St Helena, whilst the second was put up by the Union Government during 1913.



Knollcombes Boer Prisoners' Cemetery and Memorials, May 2010

 

Sources:

http://www.rense.com/general17/britishhidhorror.htm

http://rapidttp.co.za/milhist/vol113an.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War

Information from The South African Military History Society Journal Vol 3 No.1.
http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/en/zoekresultaten/pagina/6/st%20helena/%28cql.serverChoice%20all%20st%20%20AND%20helena%29 





The Boer in the Box, 1901

Andries and his box

Andries Smorenburg was one of the over 5,000 Boer Prisoners of War sent to St. Helena between April 1900 and February 1902. In December 1901 he made a crate for himself marked "Curios”, ”Handle with Care” and “This Side Up” and "mailed" himself from Saint Helena on the north-bound Union Castle Mail Ship SS Goth.  He prepared his crate by labelling it with a false address in Stroud, Gloucestershire and then packed it with clothing, matches, and enough food and water for 20 days.  Armed with a rough map of Southampton dock, he climbed inside and was loaded aboard.  Despite his labels the crate was tossed about and overturned on board Smorenborg was concussed and lost most of his water.  Having failed to appear at roll-call his disappearance was linked to the mysterious crate and the recent departure of the Goth.  The telegraph cable from St. Helena to Ascension had been laid the previous year so Ascension was warned to look out for him.  In the event  he was discovered by Captain John Attwood on Christmas Day when the ship was out at sea, landed at Ascension, handed over to the authorities and returned to St. Helena.

Photograph courtesy of: http://www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com/ 
Accession Number KO1466/10-077 other details from: http://www.napoleon.org/en/reading_room/articles/files/helena_prison_obey.asp

Andries under Escort outside Jamestown Goal

The New York Times of 27 December 1901 reported as follows: Boer tried to escape in a box.

ASCENCION, Dec 26 - The British steamer, Goth, from South African ports, arrived here today. A Boer prisoner, who was smuggled on board the vessel in a box at St Helena, was handed over to the British naval authorities here.

I believe that the box was taken from St. Helena and the Smorenburg family gave it to Miss Anna Smith of the Johannesburg Museum, now Museum Africa, but I have been unable to confirm this.

A cropped version of the goal picture appears in Emily Jackson's "St Helena The Historic Island" London 1903.
The two lower photographs are taken from:

http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/en/zoekresultaten/pagina/6/st%20helena/%28cql.serverChoice%20all%20st%20%20AND%20helena%29