African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 414 New Hamburg Port

  November 12, 1872.

East African Navy Lieutenant Colonel Julian and East African port designer Roy Weiss took two navy warships to Richard's Bay. Julian was from a serious Austrian navy. Because Richard's Bay was too far away from East Africa, Filippo It was impossible for Archduke Dinant to go to Richard's Bay himself, so he appointed Julian to go there.

Julian stood on the bow deck, high-spirited, watching his small "fleet" riding the wind and waves on the sea. This was a completely new feeling that could not be experienced in the Adriatic Sea. The billowing black smoke was drifting towards the north along with the sea breeze. .

The navy wants to roam freely on the ocean, rather than being stuck in a big bathtub in the Adriatic Sea like the Austrian navy. However, Julian still has some unfinished ideas. It would be better if he could drive an ironclad ship, that would be more capable. It embodies the romance of soldiers on the sea.

Richards Bay is located on the east coast of South Africa, with Maputo in the north and Durban in the south. The defense pressure in East Africa here can be imagined.

So Archduke Ferdinand assigned two warships currently in service in the East African Kingdom to Julian's command, which was definitely a surprise for the fledgling Julian.

 He was not even a captain in the Austrian Navy. Not only was he promoted in East Africa, but he also directly controlled two warships.

Of course, the most important thing is that the East African Navy never defaults on wages, and the welfare benefits are better than those in Austria. Although the wages are lower than those in the Austrian Navy, the cost of living in East Africa is much lower than in Austria.

The East African Navy has a total of eight main warships, two of which will be retired to Haiti. This means that the East African Kingdom actually only has six available warships.

The two battleships commanded by Julian were retired from the Austrian Navy and sent to East Africa. They can only be said to be old friends, so they are not unfamiliar.

If two warships were deployed to defend South Africa before, Archduke Ferdinand would definitely feel pain. However, since East Africa wants to purchase new ships, Archduke Ferdinand has become more generous. If the new warships are not in place, the entire East Africa Even Archduke Ferdinand would not object to the navy being packed up and sent to South Africa.

However, because East Africa occupied this place, the name Richard's Bay did not exist. Instead, it was called New Hamburg Bay by the Kingdom of East Africa, and the port planned to be built by East Africa here was also called New Hamburg Port.

The reason why the New Hamburg Port is different in name from ports such as Dar es Salaam and Mombasa is that it was completely built by the East African Kingdom and has no historical burden. Hamburg plays an important role in German history, especially the Hanseatic Alliance period.

As a nomadic people who migrated from the interior, the Zulu people have no concept of ports at all, leaving the entire Zulu Kingdom coastline in a state of desolation.

Royavis: "The New Hamburg Port is positioned as a dual-use military and civilian port. According to the geographical conditions of the New Hamburg Bay, we can set up two ports, build a civilian port at the seaside of the bay, and build a military port in the southern hinterland. In this way, the military port can be realized Double insurance."

The shape of New Hamburg Bay is approximately trumpet-shaped, but there are two narrow areas. One is that the width of the bay mouth is about 800 meters, and there is another narrow mouth of about 500 meters along the channel inward. This width is not too wide, but it is much better than the conditions of Durban Port. The mouth of Durban Port is only close to 400 meters.

Moreover, this layout naturally divides the new Hamburg Port into an inner and outer harbor. The previous Durban Port also had this layout, but the inner and outer harbors of Durban Port were realized by building embankments on both sides.

Julian: "Would it be better to place the military port at the mouth of the bay? It feels unnecessary to place it inside. Moreover, I feel that the north side of the inner harbor also has good construction conditions, even better than the two locations you selected. , why not use it?” Rojaves: “Because it’s not necessary. I had a separate discussion with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince before arriving here. In fact, I also wanted to choose the north side of the inner harbor as the port construction area at the beginning, but the Crown Prince told me Currently, South Africa is not a key construction area in East Africa, so there is no need to pursue an oversized port, as long as it is sufficient.”

Ernst This is considering that the new Hamburg Port may become the largest coal and mineral export port in East Africa in the future, so space is reserved in advance.

In its previous life, New Hamburg Port was called Richards Bay (or Richards Bay Port). It was one of the largest coal export ports in the world. In its previous life, South Africa produced more than 200 million tons of coal annually, and most coal exports were completed through New Hamburg Port. , and only Ernst knows about the existence of huge coal reserves in South Africa.

Ernst does not plan to develop the coal mines in South Africa at present. The coal mines in East Africa (mainly Tanganyika and Kenya) are fully sufficient now, and the role of the new Hamburg Port is to facilitate the export of materials from East Africa to South Africa. save costs.

Because South Africa borders the British Cape Town Colony and the Natal Colony, it is also the area with the greatest defense pressure in East Africa. A certain number of troops will be maintained here for a long time. The consumption of the army is indispensable, and sea transportation is obviously the most important. The cost of land transportation is very high, unless Zimbabwe is developed and agriculture is developed, and materials can be exported to South Africa nearby.

Julian: "If that's the case, then it makes sense, but our trouble now is that it's too deserted here, and we can't even see a single person."

Royavis: "Because the Zulus generally live inland, they don't care about the coast. After living in East Africa for so long, except for some black people who believe in Arabia in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, I have never seen a black fisherman. But don’t worry about the port construction issue, the army in South Africa will assist us, and they have a large number of slaves in their hands now.”

The East African Army stationed in the former Zulu Kingdom was mainly deployed north of the Tugela River, across the river from the British colony of Natal, while the South African Army Headquarters was in Pretoria.

Julian: "The map shows that there are two large lakes to the north and south of the New Hamburg Port. I wonder if we can make use of them."

Royavis: "The lake in the south is unlikely. In fact, it is a large swamp with very shallow water. The lake in the north is possible. Its area even exceeds the New Hamburg Bay. The best thing is that it has natural rivers and new Hamburger Bay is connected.”

 In fact, the population of Richards Bay in the previous life was mainly distributed along both sides of the Great Northern Lake. As for the natural river channel, it only needs some modifications to better connect with the New Hamburg Port.

The river is only seven meters wide where it connects to the lake mouth, and it only needs to be widened to about 800 meters. The width of the river below is more than 20 meters, and the width of the downstream is more than 100 meters. If it can be used well, it will be extremely Greatly increase the value of the new Port of Hamburg.

Julian: "In this way, the lakes in South Africa are indeed strange. These lakes are not small in area and are distributed close to the coastline. There are three large lakes around the New Hamburg Port alone, and there is another more than three hundred lakes further north. Lake Saint Lucia, which covers an area of ​​​​square kilometers, is also located close to the coastline.”

This series of lakes is strung along the South African coastline like a necklace of pearls. The closest lake to the sea is even less than two kilometers away. As shown on the map, the land part in the middle is like a thin line, just in line with the coral reef island chain off the coast of East Africa. on the contrary.

 (End of this chapter)