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Message from the Chairman: Mike Bosazza
Once again Capt Glen Knox has put together a comprehensive newsletter of what the Trustees, Executive Committee and volunteers are doing. I hope that you are impressed.
2025 has started with a bang with the opening of the SAS Assegaai Museum in a most attractive setting and very convenient situation. The visitors have enjoyed their tours and feedback has been excellent.
The Worksession conducted by Rienhardt Pienaar for the Executive Committee was stimulating and most useful for concentrating our thoughts as to the role of the NHT and where we believe we can take it.
One thing is clear: Heritage is a vital part of our lives but it needs to be recorded and made available for all to read, research and enjoy. Please remember that we are all part of our heritage, and share your stories with us for future generations to relish.
I hope that when you are next in Simon’s Town that you will come and visit us at the submarine museum.
Best wishes and regards
Mike Bosazza
Naval Digests (ND) and Books in the pipeline
Naval Heritage continues attempting to have a minimum of two Naval Digests published each year and one book. There are number of Naval Digests being worked on by the Trustees and other writers and they will be published as they are completed. The proposed digests below are an indication of what is being planned for the future:
Naval Digest 40. The Military Bands in SA from 1652 until 1972 by Cdr John Imrie.
This Naval Digest has been completed and is being proofread. The original book was written by Cdr John Imrie as his musical thesis in 1972 when he was the OC Naval Band. The reproduction of the book has been authorised by his grandson, Andrew Imrie. This ND covers the early arrival of musicians on sailing ships and tells the stories of how many private and Military bands developed and grew throughout South Africa over the years. This ND will be published in July 2025
Naval Digest 41. The SA Navy Band
This ND has been in the research stage for some time and has had many setbacks. However, Andrew Imrie has taken the project on and is attempting to have it ready for publishing in 2025 July / August.
Naval Digest. Voyage to the Ice – SAS Outeniqua by Marga Ley and navalised by Arne Soderlund. This ND is almost complete. However, Heritage is awaiting approval from the original author as her notes were used to compile the Digest. Good quality photos of the voyage are still being sourced to match the content. This ND could be published in 2026.
Naval Digest. Top Sportsmen and Women of the SAN 1922 – 2025, By Capt Henriette Moller, Capt Knox and SWO Dave Harrison. This ND is still being researched and is presently 140 pages strong with interesting sporting stories being unearthed. The research team is trying to ensure no top sportsman or woman is omitted from the book. Do you remember any of these sports people? If you do please let us know. NHT would like to publish this ND in 2026.
Naval Digest. SAS Protea Although on the back burner this ND has not been forgotten.
Naval Digest. Operations Pullen and White Dove, Drakensberg and Outeniqua visits to the Congo – Arne Soderlund and Chris Dooner. This Naval Digest is progressing slowly and could be published in 2026.
Naval Digest. Oral History stories. The Trustees are considering publishing a Naval Digest with a few of the older recorded Oral Histories. There are some amazing stories that have been related re naval lives at sea during and after WWII and even the early Type Frigate 12 days. The stories will be published as they have been recorded through the Oral History project without changing the style or language and in this way the reader will fully understand the naval lives and times some of the older generation lived through. These stories willl emphasise the importance of the Oral History Program.
New Books available through Naval Heritage
Journey of a Lifetime, by Nigel Peddie. This is a fascinating and extremely well written book on the life and times of a career naval officer in both the RN and SAN. The book is available through the Naval Heritage Office or postal delivery for an additional R60. The cost of the book is R300 for NHT Society members and R350 retail.
The SA Navy Diver- Semper in Excreta, By Daniel Gericke.
NHT has a limited number of these books and has only been asked to sell and distribute the book for the overseas author. Heritage had no input into its contents. Several pages and photos have been posted on the NHT fb page. The book is a glossy tabletop book and sells at R1000.00. The book can be obtained at the NHT office or via Paxi Post at an additional R60 for postage. There are unfortunately no Members discounts on this publication. There will be a second volume published at a later date.
A new book of South African submariners serving on Foreign submarines, not only in SA but also in RN and other nations’ boats, is nearing completion and is due for publication in 2025.
A second submarine book will feature all the foreign Submarines Visiting South Africa including naval submarine exercises held in our waters.
Also, those known to have operated in operations or exercises around the SA Coast. This book is also due for publication in 2025
NHT Office
The NHT office is operating from the SA Naval Museum Submarine Park on the left side of Cole Point Parking area. Over the wall from the NSRI Station 10. The office is open for members to visit on Mondays and Thursdays between 0930 and 1200. If you are in the area, you are most welcome to pop in for a chat. You will then be able to view the Heritage collection of books, paintings and Oral Histories in the Office. If you would like to confirm a visit, please message Glen on 0846861384 or Chris on 0845130617
The Assegaai Submarine museum is open for the public right alongside the NHT office
NHT Subs 2024/25
Although the yearly subs for Naval Heritage were increased as of 1 January 2024, to cover the climbing printing and postal costs, there is no envisaged increase during 2025.
Besides the ND`s and book projects the Trust is also involved in Oral History recordings, assistance to the Naval Museum and the Submarine Museum project. All these events cost, and funds need to be carefully allocated to ensure the Trust can meet its Heritage goals. The Chairman has been fortunate in being able to acquire additional funding to assist in the production of the Oral Histories which can prove very expensive to have recorded and typed up.
There will however be a saving for those wanting the electronic copy of a Naval Digest. Published Books will still need to be hard copies.
New Subs will be as follows.
• Electronic copy only, subs R180 (no hard copy posted)
• Hard copy, subs R280. This will include the cost of the Paxi Post with Pep Stores. Hand delivered publications in the Cape Town area will also fall into this category as the Trustees will be required to travel around their allocated areas delivering the publications personally. Each Trustee will then be given a small travel allowance for this duty.
- Overseas delivery, subs R380 this will include the standard overseas postage with the Post Office (appears to be working better than local postal services)
- Corporate membership will also be R280.
Any other postage will be on an individual basis through the Paxi system.
All members should let the Trust know,
- Which option they are choosing Electronic (via email) or Hard Copy,
- Which Pep Store is their desired delivery point and their correct cell number. Paxi Post will have the packages delivered within 7 days of posting. Their system is well controlled, and packages are tracked constantly.
- Hand deliveries will need correct street address, not a P.O. Box
Hand delivered publications in the Cape Town area can only be delivered to actual addresses no longer P.O. Boxes.
Notification of Pep Store delivery point or actual home address as applicable and correct Cell phone numbers should be sent to Andre Wessels at nhtmembership@gmail.com
NHT Library of Collected Books
The Trust continues to build its library of Nautical Books and magazines.
Heritage is always on the lookout for Nautical themed books and in particular those with a South African maritime theme which can be added to the Heritage reference library. Any books donated to the Trust that are found to be duplicates will be donated to the local Sea Cadet units and Lawhill Maritime school library.
Oral History Program
Every day of your life is a page of your history.
The Heritage Trusts Oral History program has continued strongly. There are now 337 completed Oral Histories with 6 in the final processes of proofreading. The additional 30 old tapes that were found during the office move have been transcribed and printed. These have now been digitised and added to the collection.
One-on-One recordings continue with both Glen and Eddie attempting to make inroads into the considerable backlog. Numerous Mini Oral Histories with the info being obtained from family members, old Navy News articles and other documents continues.
The oral histories presently being proofread include Capt Peter De Beer Strydom, Capt Chris Dooner, Capt Richard Loydell, Capt Jock Deacon, Capt Peter Louwrens, Capt Sonica Schulenberg, RAdm Steve du Toit.
Oral Histories completed since the last report include Capt Jock Deacon, AB P Smith (WWII), Graham Hebbard, Capt Sonicia Schelunberg, Capt Alberts, PO Ford, Cdre Hogg (Updated), AB De Stadler and his wife Tinkerbell, 4 OCs of SAS Donkin in a joint sitting (Cdr Chris Barnes, Capt Schechter, Cdr Adams, Cdr Webber) , Cdre Bitzker, Cdr Sibthorpe, Capt Jock Deacon Capt Peter Louwrens, D. Walton WWII(Mini) J Lewis WWII (Mini, J Greenacre WWII (Mini), A jeffrey WWII(Mini), W Clark WWII (Mini) The Bothie Association is thanked for their contribution to the WWII stories.
WO1 Roy Marks continues putting his book together and Marius and Johan van Blerk are working on their father’s (LtCdr Van Blerk) Oral History. Capt Gerrit Rademeyer is also working on his book of his naval career.
A trip to both the South Coast and Durban areas for a recording session is still on the cards and will be programmed in once 10 candidates have been confirmed for each area.
We would encourage Society members to start writing their own Oral Histories – an hour or two each week is all it takes. However, if you would prefer a recording to be conducted as part of this important Heritage project, please get in contact with Glen Knox on his email glenknox090@gmail.com or through WhatsApp on 084 686 1384.
Membership
New members to the NHT Society are warmly welcomed and we trust you will all enjoy the publications produced and interacting with the Trust and Society members.
The new members since November 2025 are:
Thomas Jarmolowicz; Joshua Wilby; Cole Rozant; Stuart Wood; S Isaacs; R Marks
We would like to encourage all Society members to recruit amongst their own friends and other retired Naval and Defence personnel who are not yet members, to join up if they are interested in SA Navy and SA Naval Heritage. The Application form is on the SA Naval Heritage fb site and on the Heritage web page.
Paid up membership for the Naval Heritage Society now stands at 250. With 20 members arrears in payments.
Society members who do not respond to renewal emails and are non-paying for 6 months after renewal date are unfortunately removed from the Heritage data base.
If you are moving home or changing your email addresses, kindly update any new addresses with Andre Wessels. Confirmation of your Email, postal address and cell numbers may be sent to the membership secretary at nhtmembership@gmail.com.
Naval Heritage Website
The Naval Heritage web page continues to be maintained by the Web Master, Nicholas Dunn.
We encourage all our Society members to log on and see the additional items on display. The link for the site is navalheritagetrust.co.za
Typing in SA Naval Heritage Trust will also link you to the page.
Additional books and Naval Digests can also be ordered through the web site.
The NHT web page has had 18215 Hits, Naval Digests and Books have received 1210 and 1317 visits respectively. Assegaai project 2843 visits. The section on the History of the SAN has been read over by 3044 visitors.
Have you visited the Naval Heritage webpage yet?
Where can you purchase Naval Heritage books and Digests?
All our published Naval Digests and books are available at the NHT Office in Simon`s Town at the Submarine Museum Park or through the Naval Heritage web page. Remember paid up members get a big discount on all purchases bought at the office or online. Payments can either be cash or card.
Other stockists include Enkosi Africa gift and souvenir shop in Simon`s Town and the SA Naval Museum. Both these venues only hold a selection of the inventory and sell the publications at the full retail price.
NHT Worksession
On 30 January the NHT Trustees and Board Members held a worksession to confirm the way ahead for the Trust and Society.
The session was led by Mr. Reinhardt Pienaar from the SAN Management Services. Although only 5 hours were available for the session it proved to be very interesting and beneficial.
During the session the Board was able to look at what the NHT does compared to the Deed of Trust and the NHT Constitution. The NHT has grown over the years and now takes on many more tasks compared to the original mandate. Amendments to the NHT Constitution may have to be approved at the next AGM. The approved NHT Vision for the forthcoming years is
“The NHT is the foremost authority and guardian of South Africa`s rich naval heritage, inspiring pride and fostering a deeper understanding of South Africa`s naval legacy through world-class preservation and engagement”.
Lawhill Maritime Student Awards
Each year the NHT awards prizes to four students at the Lawhill Maritime School in Simon`s Town for their achievements during the year. This year once again four students were highlighted. They were K. Nkoane, L Mgenge, L Sibeko and C Kanu. Each student received R500 and the books SA Navy Day-by-Day and Troopship Mendi.
Special deals on Naval Digests
The Trust has made the full set of the Naval Digests number 1 to 39 available to members at just R2000. Normal retail price R3510 to non-members for this set. Postage of R150 with POSTNET and R110 with PAXI will need to be added in unless collected in person from the NHT office Simon’s Town or in Muizenberg.
Naval Digest numbers 1-39 at R2000 a set
To obtain this Heritage book bargain contact Glen Knox
Individual Naval Digests sell for R70 to members and R90 retail.
SA Naval Heritage Society Facebook Site
This site continues to be extremely popular with 7183 members having joined the fb site since it commissioned in 2009. There have been many positive interactions on the site which have highlighted new and interesting items on the SAN. Even naval photographs not seen before are being posted. The daily Shipwreck Heritage Report is also included, this makes for fascinating reading each day.
Are you a member of this Facebook site yet? If not click on it and join in the daily discussions and also encourage your friends with naval interests to join this active fb site.
Naval Heritage Trust Banking details
Naval Heritage Trust Standard Bank code 051001
Account number 072 102 276
SUBMARINE MUSEUM FEEDBACK: OCTOBER 2024
Submarine Museum Update – Trial Opening Received from Arne Soderlund via SPINDRIFT (Feb 25)
Photos Glen Knox
Looking at the photos of SAS Assegaai on 10 February, it is hard to believe that in less than five months the project team could hand her over to the operating team in a pristine state and ready for visitors.
All this was achieved by a team of ‘four admirals, a captain and two Harrys (Harry Croome and ‘Harry’ Harrison) assisted at various stages by about twenty volunteers and some very generous sponsors and donors! An amazing feat indeed and fitting end to a 21-year crusade. I wonder how many readers thought that they would ever see it materialise!
Two special guests at the hand-over by the project team were the first and second OCs of then SAS Johanna van der Merwe, later Rear Admirals Theo Honiball and Peter Fougstedt.
Finally, the newly registered not for profit company Assegaai Management NPC was able to open the museum and submarine to visitors on a trial period on Monday 16 December – three days after accepting the keys to the boat!
Ready to open for first visitors – a family affair! What an opening! Limited to 170 visitors a day (10 per tour every 20 min) we ended the day with 180 passing through, a tempo that continued for the holiday season but has since dropped to about 50 per day in the week but over 100 on weekends.
After six weeks, we have already had over 5 000 visitors.
Naval Heritage Trust Board
Chairman: Mike Bosazza
Vice Chairman: Capt Glen Knox
Secretary: Capt Trunell Morom
Treasurer: Mrs Glynnis Hellemann
Trustee: RAdm (JG) Arne Soderlund
Member: Capt Chris Dooner
Trustee: Cdr Eddie Wesselo
Trustee: Cdr Mac Bisset
Member: WO1 David Harrison
Trustee: WO1 Andre Wessels
Web Master
Nicholas Dunn
Volunteer staff
WO1 Harry Croome
Next newsletter – April 2025
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Those that provided feedback on the last newsletter many thanks.