With the Flag to Pretoria: A History of the Boer War of 1899-1900. Volume 1

by Herbert Wrigley Wilson

ARRIVAL OF NEW SOUTH WALES LANCERS AT CAPE TOWN FROM ENGLAND.

This detachment, being the only Colonial force in England when war broke out, was accorded an overwhelmingly enthusiastic send-off by the immense crowds who lined the London Streets to see them march to the railway station.

ARRIVAL OF THE WELSH FUSILIERS AT PORT ELIZABETH.

[Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co.

The voyage out.

Nov. 1899.] Sir Redvers Buller's Plans.

The voyage was covered by the Channel Squadron and its cruisers. At Gibraltar were the eight battleships of the squadron; between Gibraltar and the Canaries, patrolling the route, the cruisers Furious, Pactolus, and Pelorus; and at the Canaries the 20-knot vessels Niobe and Diadem. Nor were these attentions superfluous. Some days before the time when the transports began to arrive at the Canaries a strange cruiser appeared, which had been built in France for Brazil and sold, no one knew to whom. Before the war there had been talk of Boer privateers, and this vessel was a most suspicious intruder. She was watched night and day by the cruiser Niobe, but it was possible that she had confederates. Accordingly, orders were given to the transports on leaving the Canaries to put out all lights and to alter course, steaming 100 miles to the west of the usual trade route. Nothing happened, however, and the Boer cruiser, if Boer cruiser the stranger really was, vanished. It would be interesting, however, to know what subsequently became of her.

The last of the Army Corps transports left England on November 9, and on the same day the first arrival at Capetown was recorded. This was the Roslin Castle, which had left Southampton on October 20 with General Hildyard, his staff, and one battalion of his brigade. She was at once sent on to Durban by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Redvers Buller, who had reached Capetown on October 31. The next transports in were the Moor, which arrived on the 10th, the Yorkshire, Lismore Castle, Aurania, and Hawarden Castle on the 11th, and the Gascon on the 12th. Thereafter every day for a week saw the arrival of more ships and men.