Page 9 - Bulletin 15 2011

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Australia and Tellicherry in India with Margaret on board. He hoped to land her in Cape

Town to join their son George who had moved there from London to take over the ships’
chandlery business. Unfortunately, he was forbidden by his contract to stop in Cape Town so

the opportunity was lost and tragically, after long delays in the tropics, Margaret died. The
voyage bankrupted him and he had to sell the Alacrity in London after a long drawn out

lawsuit. In 1830 he returned to Cape Town with his daughters Margaret and Ann and was
introduced to George Rex of Knysna who had laid down the keel of a stinkwood-built brig on

his farm Westford. John was engaged as the master of the brig, the Knysna, in 1831 carrying

stinkwood and other cargoes on the coastal trade and to St. Helena and Mauritius. He must
have been a skilful captain to have navigated this little sailing ship numerous times through

the notorious Knysna Heads without mishap. (Fig. 1.7.)

By 1832 economic times had become so bad that John’s son George had to sail for Tasmania,
or Van Diemensland as it was then called, to seek his fortune. In Cape Town John’s daughter

Ann, whose second name was Bertram, married attorney John Barker and her sister Margaret

stayed with the Barkers in Helmsley Cottage in the Gardens. They were very involved in the
social life of Cape Town and often wrote to George in Tasmania describing the scenes of the

time. These letters have been preserved and were published in 1954 in a book called The

Findlay Letters which is today one of the leading authorities on the contemporary social life
of Cape Town.

In 1836 the Knysna, under the command of John Findlay, made history when she was

chartered by the Cape Government to investigate the founding of a port on the Buffalo River
in the Eastern Cape at what was later to become East London. During the Frontier Wars Col.

Harry Smith had undertaken surveys and three Johns, Captain John Findlay, George Rex’s

son John, and one of Col. Smith’s men, Captain John Bailie, headed the expedition. Captain
Findlay, using his expertise gained at the Knysna Heads, was the first to sail a ship through

the river entrance but he anchored the Knysna firmly near the river mouth, refusing to risk the
sandbanks farther upstream. Captain Bailie, who has been recognized as the founder of East

London, landed and climbed the hill to hoist the Union Jack, while John Rex proceeded to
trade with the Xhosa people in the neighbourhood for the next two-and-half months.