‘Cartel’ ships added to Cape’s heritage
MOST people learn new words throughout their lives, no matter which language they speak. Every day, some fresh expression pops up on social media which might earn a place in the mainstream vocabulary – or disappear without trace.
Last week I discovered an alternative meaning for “cartel”, which I knew meant “an alliance of manufacturers or suppliers for the purpose of fixing prices and limiting competition” – not a word that hardpressed consumers want to hear.
The older historical meaning referred to prisoner exchanges negotiated during times of war. “Cartel ships” were permitted to sail under flags of truce to carry prisoners to their homeland without interference.
The arrangement worked well enough when prisoner numbers were small and relatively equal, but it broke down during the Napoleonic wars, when the British captured thousands more prisoners than they lost to the French.
Napoleon refused to release any British captives, believing that they would renew the fight against him if they were set free.
Over 100 000 Frenchmen and boys were held in Britain during the period 1803-1814. Officers lived comfortably on parole, but the rank and file were crowded into depots, barracks and prison ships, where conditions were often deplorable.
It was the first time that so many captives had been imprisoned for the duration of a war, and it foreshadowed the modern system of PoW internment.
What has this to do with South Africa? The invasion of the French islands of Réunion and Mauritius by British forces during the second half of 1810 was launched from the Cape and several hundred prisoners were captured by each side.
In terms of the honourable French capitulation, it was agreed that the cartel system would operate so that French soldiers, sailors, prisoners and officials could return to their motherland.
In January 1811, a stream of ships carrying cartel prisoners reached Table Bay, where they took on provisions for the voyage to Europe. This must have pleased the locals, who benefited from the extra traffic and from the return of Royal Navy warships to their home station.
The Helena arrived first, carrying 222 prisoners, followed by the Lady Barlow with another 250. Next came the Portsea, the Anna and the Sir William Burroughs with 128, 298 and 306 French troops, respectively.
They were trailed by the Good Hope and the Emma carrying French troops and families and the defeated Governor of Mauritius, General Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen (1769-1832), “and some other French people”.
All the cartel ships remained at anchor for about three weeks, boosting the earnings of local chandlers and boatmen.
Decaen stayed for almost a month and continued to serve Napoleon after his release, fighting in Spain from 1811 to 1814 and later in the south of France.