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(1840
edition).
Naval Military Press
Ltd, United Kingdom, 2009.
Nabu Press, United
States, 2010.
A quotation from Alexander's Colonies of West Africa, including the surfing report, was published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 21 December 1837, page 2.
This entry includes reports and images from newspaper articles, 1891-1894, that provide additional information on the use of native surfboats in Ghana as initially described by Alexander, pages 178 and 179.
1891 The Graphic
: Surf Boats, Ghana.
Extracts from August
15, 1891, pages 196 and 198; and January 13, 1894, pages 36 and 38
Importantly, the surfboat image (sketch by Airey, engraving by Nash, 1891) shows virtually an identical craft, with the same "forked" blade paddle design, as featured as native fishing boats in a segment of Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer (1966) filmed in Ghana.
While Brown's narration
suggests that the local fisherman are normally adverse to riding waves
in their fishing boats, inspired by the visiting American surfboard riders
(Robert August and Mike Hynson), they do so on this occassion.
The historical evidence
would indicate that this was not the case, and wave riding was the common
method of returning to the beach.
The Ghana sequence
also shows juveniles riding waves on small prone boards, consistent with
Alexander's account (page 192).
According to the
narration, this was also inspired by the surfing of August and Hynson and
in their enthusiasm the young natives pull wooden panels from their houses
to use as surfboards.
It is possible that
this was dramatic license on Brown's part, and that juvenile surfing was
already a common practice before the arrival of the American surfers.
These fishing boats
are still in used in a similar manner in 2007, see:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/diannemurray/west_africa_07/1173285120/6.jpg/tpod.html
For recognised surfing
breaks and conditions in Ghana, see:
http://www.globalsurfers.com/country_details.cfm?land=Ghana
Page 158
(at Cape Coast Castle)
Mr. Maclean is
very fond of boating, and has a couple of ship's gigs.
In these he occasionally
takes a cruise; and instead of going to Accra (sixty miles) by land, he
goes by sea.
There is no great
difficulty in this little voyage, with the prevailing easterly current:-
"sed
revocare gradum," &c.- it is not easy to return; and he has sometimes
been three days and as many nights beating about in an open boat.
But of this he
thinks nothing; nor of beaching his boat in a heavy surf, when no canoe
will venture out.
Page 167
In walking
along the beach, we saw men embarking in canoes to go along the coast to
Elmina, and other places, which they do here with confidence ; but not
so beyond the Volta, where they would stand a chance of being kidnapped.
Also children
rushed in among the surf behind the ledges of rock, where sharks (here
numerous and bold) could not reach them.
Mothers were
seen scrubbing their children with sand and salt-water; and in looking
to the left, we saw a tropical vista of reed-thatched huts, cocoa-nut trees,
canoes, and groupes of half-naked Fantees.
Page 174
We set off in several canoes for the frigate, ...
Page 175
... and got safely
through the surf with a little sprinkling.
Next morning
we were under sail for Accra.
Page 178
Passing the deserted
Dutch fort of Courmantine on a long wooded line of coast, in the evening
we had run our sixty miles, and anchored off the lights of Accra.
A large canoe
was soon seen rising on the heavy swell, full of men, who sang and shouted
loudly, "Eeo wabara ! hoo ! hoo !"
They paddled
alongside with considerable merriment among them, perhaps in anticipation
of realizing a plentiful harvest of "cut-money" and tobacco, in exchange
for fruit and fish on the morrow.
Some tall figures
then stood on deck, and among them a well-known character here, Massa Dodo.
He brought a
message from the principal English merchant, Mr. Bannerman, that he would
be ready to supply us with what stock we required.
Page 179
(At Accra)
As the white walls
of the English fort (James) rose upon us, we dashed into two or three lines
of heavy rollers, and then paddling along shore, passed behind a ledge
of rocks covered with white foam, and well adapted for a pier.
We shipped one
sea, and then were run up high and dry on the sand.
Page 191
In the evening
I took a drive with Mr. Hansin in his "man drag," as it would be termed
in London; and saw some more of the plains of Accra.
At dusk, Mr.
Bannerman gave all the officers on shore a handsome dinner, and then sent
them off to the ship in canoes.
One of them,
who was late, and occasioned a canoe to turn in the surf for him, (by which
means she shipped a sea,) was punished for his carelessness, by a good
sousing with the paddles: at which the negroes were mightily pleased.
Page 192
(page heading:
SURF GAME.)
From the beach,
meanwhile, might be seen boys swimming into the sea, with light boards
under their stomachs.
They waited for
a surf; and then came rolling in like a cloud on the top of it.
But I was told
that sharks occasionally dart in behind the rocks, and "yam" them.
Page 318
(after leaving Accra)
Standing to the eastward, we had rolling seas, albatrosses, and thirteen-knot gales indicating the ...
Page 319
... latitude of the cape of storms; and rounding the giant promontory of the Cape of Good Hope, we dashed up False Bay, and anchored, on the 18th of January, off Simon's Town.
Page 331
(at Port Elizabeth)
We had a south-east
gale, and rolled and pitched, and shipped many seas, owing to the load
of heavy guns which we carried, and which were intended to strike terror
into the hearts of the ferocious Kaffirs.
We were under
close-reefed topsails for two or three days; then we got a westerly wind,
and saw the land on our larboard bow: brown and green with sand and bushes.
We rounded Cape
Recife, and saw the white houses of Port Elizabeth in Algoa Bay: which
is forty miles across, and the shores generally low and sandy, with scattered
bush.
In the interior
are ranges of primitive mountains.
H. M. S. Trinculo,
and eight merchantmen, lay at anchor off the town: which has risen from
three huts in 1819, to one hundred houses in 1835; and is distinguished
by a fort on an elevated site, a church, and a pyramid erected to the memory
of Lady Elizabeth Donkin, after whom the town is named.
It blew a furious
north-wester as we approached the anchorage; sand and locusts covered our
decks; the sea was alive with the struggling plagues; and the captain's
monkey chattered with delight, and ran up the rigging "crunching" them
...
Page 332
... in dozens.
The signal was
displayed from the Trinculo "to land stores immediately;" the Wolf
was
" worked up like a duck;" we saw long trains of wagons approaching the
beach; and surfboats put off to us the moment that the anchor was let go.
All this had
a serious aspect, betokening that the "enemy was at the gates."
The blue-jackets
were in high spirits, anticipating a fight, and worked " double tides."
I landed in a
surf-boat piled high with campkettles and entrenching tools.
Additional Reports
1891 The Graphic
: Surf Boats, Ghana.
Extracts from August
15, 1891, pages 196 and 198; and January 13, 1894, pages 36 and 38
1. The Graphic
(London,
England),
Saturday, August
15, 1891; Issue 1133, page 196.
Sourced from the
British Library
Gale Document Number:
BA3201451542
"THE WEST COAST
OF AFRICA: LANDING IN A SURF BOAT AT ACCRA.
Amongst the
anchorages in open roadsteads of the west coast of Africa is that of Accra,
the seat of the Govenment of the Gold Coast.
Owing to the heavy surf braking all along the beach, it is impossible to land in any ordinary ship's boat, and, therefore, on the ship hoisting the signal - the Zanzibar ensign at the fore - a native surf boat shoves off from the shore to meet the approaching ship's boat just beyond the surf.
Having received
its living freight, the surfboat commences her retum to the shore.
She is a large,
stronly-built open boat, manned by ten natives with short wooded paddles,
and steered by a 'boatswain,' who uses an ordinary oar in place of a rudder.
As the boat
is propelled through the water by the paddlers, the crew keep time with
a musical chant. Nearing the beach, the boat arrives amoungst the breakers,
and then comes the tug of war.
The "boatswain,"
every nerve and muscle strained, steers her wIth unerring eye, the crew
with a will work their paddles and shoot her like a rocket through
the heavy surf.
At last, within
from twenty to thirty yards from the shore, the song ceases and the paddles
are stopped, until a huge breaker comes up surging and roaring from stern.
As it reaches
the surf boat, it lifts her on its crest like a cork; the crew throw up
their paddles with a loud yell; and allmost before your are aware of it,
the boat is landed on the sandy beach, and you are in the arms of two stalwart
natives who - with or against your wili - carry you up clear of the succeeding
wave, which sometimes turns the boat completely over.
- Our engraving
is from a sketch by Mr. Fred W. J. Airey, H.M.S. Magpie, Fernando Po."
2. The Graphic
(London,
England),
Saturday, August
15, 1891; Issue 1133, page 198.
Sourced from the
British Library
Gale Document Number:
BA3201451546
 |
LANDING IN A SURF BOAT AT ACCRA. Drawn by Joseph Nash. - Our engraving
is from a sketch
|
 |
FOR SIERRA LEONE BY SURF BOAT. Illustration by "an English Officer". |
"(At Cape Coast
Castle) ...
The Castle
must have been strongly fortified for those times, and fully capable of
resisting the invasion of pirates, as the old guns have a good command
of the only practical landing place; heavy surfs are frequent all down
the coast, and make the landing very dangerous.
The native
crews are very skilful with their paddles, and manage to get through somehow;
but many lives have been lost by the capsising of the boats."
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LINES
FROM MY LOG-BOOKS
BY
ADMIRAL THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
Sir JOHN C. DALRYMPLE HAY, Bt.
K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S.
EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS
MDCCCXCVIII
Page 32
When the south-east wind prevailed, a very heavy
surf rolled into Algoa Bay. The work of loading
or discharging was carried on in large-decked surf-
boats, and even then the bay was a network of
hawsers, laid out in different directions, by which
they were hauled from ship to shore and from
ship to ship. On i6th March we were ordered
again to land
Page 35
To show the dangers of the surf, Bentall, coming
ashore in the jolly-boat instead of getting into a
surf- boat to land, rowed in on top of a wave.
Fortunately a good many of us were on the beach,
for the boat made a complete somersault, and lay
bottom up, while Bentall and his men were sprawl- ing on the sand and
shingle. The lookers on rushed
in, and dragged up each individual, before the next
wave came, as well as the boat, oars, and other con-
tents. If there had not been a number of spectators,
all would have been sucked back by the returning
wave
ILLUSTRATIONS
Landing of the Settlers in Surf Boats
129
Landing of the Settlers on the Beach 144
------ The Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, 1894.
G. W. Ellis: Negro Culture in West Africa (Vai-speaking peoples), 1914/
Hugh Clapperton
Emil Holub
Mungo Park
Jacob Le Maire
Jacob Roggeveen