CAPTAIN EDWARD MANNING
MASTER, R.M.S. "TEUTON"
Captain Manning was the unfortunate master of the Union Line's "Teuton" when, on Tuesday, 30th of August, 1881 she struck a rock off Quoin Point. Marischal Murray in his book, Ships and South Africa (pp.137/8) gives an excellent description of this tragic event.
Originally a mail steamer, the Teuton had for some months been running in the intermediate service, when, towards the end of August 1881, she reached Capetown outward bound from England. At ten o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, August 30th, she proceeded on her way up the coast. On board there were 272 souls, of whom 187 were passengers.
All that day the Teuton skirted the picturesque coast of the Cape of Good Hope, and as the afternoon drew to a close she gradually approached the spot where, thirty years before, the Birkenhead had gone to her doom. As on that occasion, too, the weather was fine and the sea calm. As darkness fell the stars came out brightly and the moon shone above, although a slight haze lay off the land. At seven o'clock the Teuton was off Quoin Point, which showed up faintly some four miles away.
Dinner was just over in the first-class saloon and Captain Manning was chatting to some passengers at table when suddenly, at twenty minutes past seven, a shock was felt. Its force was sufficient to clear the crockery from the saloon tables.
Everyone at once rushed up on deck, and for a few minutes there was considerable alarm and excitement. The Captain, meanwhile, had ordered an examination of the ship's hull. The water was flowing in, but the vessel was divided into six watertight compartments, and there seemed no reason why the bulkheads should not hold. Passengers were assembled on the poop, and on being assured that there was no immediate danger of the ship's sinking they soon calmed down, while many of the men took turns at the pumps, which had at once been brought into action.
The case of the American must surely have come to Captain Manning's mind at this juncture. Here, too, there seemed no reason why passengers should be hurried into the boats for the vessel seemed likely to remain afloat. She might even reach port, and not only passengers and crew but even the vessel herself be saved. Engines, accordingly, were started again, and the course of the Teuton set for Simonstown.
As a precaution the boats were swung out, and at nine o'clock they were lowered to the rail and provisioned. But during the next hour the Teuton made little progress. She was well down by the bows and when, at ten o'clock her propeller was out of the water and further progress seemed unlikely, steam was shut off, and the Captain decided to put passengers and crew into the boats. In the boats or on rafts there was room for everyone on board, and the process of leaving the liner was a leisurely one, for even with her deck at a somewhat alarming slope the vessel did not give any indication of sinking at once. By half-past ten the women and children were safely put into the first boat. The second was just being filled when all of a sudden, without any warning, the Teuton reared her stern up in the air, and with a wild roar plunged down into the waters and sank like a stone.
The bulkheads had burst.
The scenes that followed were indescribable. Most of those who were precipitated into the sea were sucked down into the vortex formed by the sinking vessel, and of those who came up alive not many were able to struggle on to the wreckage that was floating about. The first boat, which had been safely launched before the end came, was overturned as the Teuton sank, and most of its occupants were drowned. Of the other boats there were a few which did not go down with the vessel and eventually, after terrific efforts, a number of survivors managed to clamber into three of these. Everyone else perished.
It was shortly after one o'clock on Wednesday afternoon that two boats were sighted from the naval station at Simonstown, and when its occupants landed soon afterwards they told the first news of the disaster to the Teuton. Among them was a girl named Elizabeth Maxwell, the only female survivor from the wreck. The news was immediately telegraphed to Capetown, where Messrs. Saul Solomon's hooter was blown, and the crowds which began to gather learned of the terrible catastrophe that had occurred.
At Simonstown H.M.S. Dido was immediately ordered to raise steam, and later that afternoon she set out in the direction of Cape Hangklip. From there to Dyer's Island, putting in at Hermanus and Gordons Bay, she scoured the coast, but no trace was found of any living thing from the Teuton.
One boat, however, with survivors was still afloat. It had got carried beyond Cape Point, and early on Wednesday afternoon when off Duiker Point its occupants sighted the R.M.S. Kinfauns Castle on her way up the coast. All attempts at attracting the attention of the mail steamer proved in vain, and so the journey to Capetown was continued. There, shortly after midnight, the last survivors from the Teuton were taken ashore.
Of the 272 souls on board the vessel 36 alone were saved, 11 passengers and 25 of the crew.
The Court of Inquiry subsequently declared that the Teuton had been lost through the injudicious reckoning of her Commander, for the vessel had struck rocks, the position of which was well known to navigators. On her Commander, too, was laid the blame of the loss of life that took place owing to his not having lowered the boats sooner.
Captain Manning went down with his ship. Ten days later his body was washed up near Kommetje, where it was identified by Mr. William Runciman, the Union Company's agent at Simonstown. Captain Manning's body, which was subsequently sent to England for burial, was the only one recovered from the wreck of the Teuton.
Comment by O.G. Keen
Poor Captain Manning, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and as is the case today, the 'establishment', those supposedly in authority, cast around for anyone to blame but themselves. I would be amazed if anyone with only a passing interest in nautical affairs would not today see one glaring similarity, the circumstances of the "Teuton" sinking and that of "Titanic" are almost identical. Had those who sat in judgement upon Captain Manning, instead of nailing him to the cross, asked themselves WHY did the "Teuton" after apparently surviving the initial collision suddenly rear up and sink then possibly the "Titanic" would have had a long and successful life. For it is clear to my mind that the same cycle of events occurred, the flooding of one of the water tight compartments causing the ship to sink by the head, the water from that compartment going over the water tight bulkhead to the next and so on. Had this fatal flaw in ship design been realised then, had naval architects realised then that a water tight compartment must also have a water tight deck above, then the "Titanic" may well have stayed afloat. Instead Captain Manning, being unable to answer for himself, was a convenient scapegoat.
I notice that the court of inquiry did not ask why the Captain of the "Dido" failed to find the third lifeboat.