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feeding off 12 cylindrical boilers. She had a top speed of 18 knots (33 kmph or 21 mph) and a

range of 8,750 nautical miles (16,200 km). Her crew varied between 300 and 350.

In march 1902 she was commissioned as a port guardship at Queenstown. In 1903 she was

converted to a submarine tender and served at Sheerness from 1907 to 1917 before being paid
off in 1918. (Figs. 1.1 & 1.2).

In November 1920 she was purchased by South African entrepreneur TBF Davis (1867 – 1942)
for £8,000. Davis purchased her in memory of his son Howard Leopold Davis who died of

wounds sustained in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Later that month she steamed to the

West India Dock Tilbury for a brief refit. It was here that she was re-named Training Ship (TS)
General Botha – after Louis Botha, first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.

On 18 January 1921 she set sail for the Cape but ran into some heavy storms in the English
Channel that caused major damage to her sponsons (gun platforms projecting from the side of

the ship) and resulted in her having to return to Plymouth for repairs. She departed Plymouth

on 18 February 1921 and arrived in Cape Town on 26 March 1921. (Fig. 1.3).

On 9 May 1921 Davis donated the ship to a Trust with the stipulation that she be used

exclusively for the nautical training of boys of British South Africa, so that they could
subsequently serve in ships of the British Empire. The Admiralty agreed to cover the cost of

converting the General Botha into a training ship at the Simon’s Town Naval Dockyard, and

in September 1921 she was towed from Cape Town to Simon’s Town. The Admiralty also
agreed to grant the ship a mooring in Simon’s Town.

The first class of 75 boys reported on board on 15 March 1922 for a two-year training program.
(Fig. 1.4). On 1 April 1922 the ship was formally christened as South African Training Ship

General Botha by Issie Smuts, wife of Prime Minister Jan Smuts.

In June 1925 she was docked to have her engines and funnel removed, and her interior was

remodelled to create new mess decks, galleys and recreation spaces, after which she was

returned to her mooring in August 1925. By the late 1930s her guns and boilers had been
removed and the former engine and boiler rooms converted into a gymnasium. (Figs. 1.5 &

1.6).

On 7 September 1939 the Trust’s Board of Control offered the ship to the Royal Navy on a

thirty-day notice, the day after the declaration of war against Germany – but the offer was

declined. Nevertheless, they decided to build cadet accommodation ashore, on the off-chance