WHO SAVED NATAL? BY COLIN BENDER, FIRST EDITION

"Who Saved Natal?  The Story of the Victorian Harbour Engineers of Colonial Port Natal" by Colin Bender, Hardcover, First Edition, 162 pages. Frontispiece, maps, with photographs and illustrations. In very good condition.

Tucked into the South East coast of Africa lies a tidal lagoon known over the years as eThekwina, Ponto de Pescario, Rio de Natalia and Port Natal. It was the pristine domain of the elephants, hippos and stone age Bushmen. Then came the Iron age Zulus, the Ivory Hunters, the Voortrekkers and finally the settlers from the British Isles and India. In the 19th Century maritime charts, Port Natal was one of those romantic far off places.....Windjammers, paddle steamers, dredgers, divers and hooting tugboats. But it was a navigator's nightmare and a ship's graveyard. The old sailing vessels were slowly giving way to the new steam monsters and Natal was desperate for a deep, safe harbour. He who won the battle of the sandbar would save Natal!