Vernon’s book sets sail on shipwrecks

AFTER years of fascination with shipwrecks, former East London museum director Gillian Vernon has finally put pen to paper and written a book.

Vernon’s book, so many years in the making, is titled Even The Cows Were Amazed and published by Jacana Media.

Speaking at the launch on Thursday night, Vernon described writing the book as a journey of “amazing discovery”.

The book covers shipwrecks off the South African coast in the period between 1552 and 1782.

“Although the book is in the shipwreck genre, it is actually about people – the survivors, who were a mixed bunch, and the people who they encountered,” Vernon said.

Her journey to writing the book started when she joined the East London museum in 1979, so it was only fitting the launch be held at the museum.

Much to the delight of her audience at the launch, Vernon told the story of her experience of working with Graham Bell-Cross, who was identifying Portuguese shipwreck sites.

Bell-Cross was the deputy director of the East London Museum when Vernon first joined.

“Through Graham I was alerted to the survivor records, and became interested in the different ways that survivors approached local people,” she said.

“I approached professor Gary Minkley at the University of Fort Hare with my ideas [to do a PhD] and he gave me every encouragement.”

The book is based on her thesis, which is called A New Light on the History of Southern Africa.

In researching the book, Vernon undertook a “journey of exploration” to Mozambique where she studied the routes and trails travelled by shipwreck survivors.

She even travelled the inland route survivors of the Santo Alberto shipwreck took through the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

“In trying to identify where these survivors would have crossed the Thukela River, we found ourselves in a long valley, and that was a time-warp moment. There we saw an area exactly as it was in the account 400 years ago,” Vernon told her guests.

The theme of the book is the diversity of human behaviour and how survivors’ actions resonate down the generations.

“While the actions of some survivors contributed to the roots of racism in South Africa, the actions of Nuno Velho, the leader of the successful Santo Alberto group, provide a shining example of diplomacy and respect for others we could all emulate,” she added.

Velho would greet the different chiefs, offer them gifts and ask for permission to go through their land. — siyab@dispatch.