The Union-Castle Pioneer

by Janet Traill

In these days of mobiles and e-mail it is difficult to imagine a time when the only means of communicating any distance was by letter, and the transportation of mail was paramount for people to receive news and do business. For those pioneers who went to South Africa two hundred years ago, mail from home could take months to arrive. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the number of British settlers was growing and a regular mail service was needed.