by Fred Khumalo
Troops: Uzowadla!
Ngqavini: Uzowenzani umgodoyi?
Troops: Uzowadla!
Captain Portsmouth, who had come on deck, had a good laugh at the Zulu warrior infusing the spirit of anger and war into his fellow troops. They were about to arrive in Europe. Energy levels needed to be kept high. The men had to be alert, ready. The army needed men like Ngqavini as officers, Captain Portsmouth thought, men who could lead and inspire. He planned to recommend him for a senior position once they got to France.
More white officers soon came onto the deck. For the first time in a while, there was a shared camaraderie between the men and their officers. Some of the officers – all of whom were conversant in at least one African language – engaged the troops in such friendly conversation that the troops were shocked that these were the same men who had seemed aloof all along, to the point of being hostile. Perhaps it had finally dawned on them that the enemy’s bullets would not discriminate between whites and blacks, officers and ordinary troops.
It was late in the afternoon when the ship arrived at Plymouth, followed by the other vessels in the convoy. Some passengers of the Mendi – retired officers who had hitched a lift – hobbled off the ship, relieved to be on terra firma at last. The troops were disappointed when told they were not to leave the harbour. They were only allowed to disembark and stretch their legs on the quay under strict supervision.
Reverend Dyobha asked the officer in charge for a moment with the men. He asked everyone to kneel on the ground and close their eyes. They said a quick prayer, thanking the Lord that the ship had arrived safely in England, the King’s country. Now, they were in for the last lap – final destination, France.
Ngqavini broke into song: ‘Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus …’
Late in the afternoon, Captain Yardley called for final inspection. The men moved like ghosts, taking orders from their officers as if in final rehearsal for the task that lay ahead of them in France. Then the Mendi set off, sailing from the port of Plymouth, escorted by HMS Brisk, a destroyer, since the English Channel was awash with submarines. As the Mendi sailed, the weather was overcast, with light mist, but the sea was smooth. By 5.30 p.m., it was completely dark.
The men were singing and talking now, already imagining themselves as decorated heroes going back home after the war. Their spirits were high.
‘This Mkhize bastard,’ said Ngqavini, ‘must ask the English about Isandlwana …’
‘That’s the spirit, boys,’ said Officer Haig, who had been sitting nearby, unnoticed. ‘We are going to show Fritz his mother.’
‘Hhawu,’ said one man. ‘Officer Haig, I thought we were going to fight Germans. Who is this Fritz?’
‘Same people, my boys. Another name for Germans is Fritz.’
‘Oh,’ the men said in unison. ‘Then we will show this Fritz his mother.’
Aware that these waters were busy and treacherous, Captain Yardley was not taking any chances. He had stationed one man in the crow’s nest, and two on the forecastle head as lookouts. Several of the troops were scattered around the ship, assigned at strategic positions, and a quartermaster stood with the officers on the bridge. At around 7.30 p.m., the oil sidelights and the stern light were lit – they used oil lamps because Yardley believed that they provided better visibility in the fog than electric lights.
But the officers kept cursing the growing lack of visibility outside. One of the men, by the name of Hertslet, had been on duty from 10 p.m. He would later record in his memoirs how it had been ‘a weird experience visiting the men on watch at midnight, the ship heaving and rocking in the choppy seas of the Channel, the whole sky dark, the fog increasing the invisibility of everything, the ship’s siren booming every minute making one jump at every hoot and the guards giving the challenge and taking the password at each strategic point on deck’.
Ngqavini, Pitso, Tlali and a handful of other men were on night shift in the engine room. At 4.30 a.m., they were ordered to go to bed. They took their time about going up. As they ascended the stairs, they could hear no voices; apart from the roar of the engine and the sound of water as it lapped against the hull of the ship, there was silence. They knew then that everyone, except for the guards, was sleeping. The officers and NCOs in their cabins amidships; the crew in their quarters forward; the black soldiers in the troop decks. They were mostly fully dressed, covered in blankets against the biting cold and using their lifebelts as pillows.
Still walking up the stairs, Pitso and his companions were startled by a loud cannon-like bang.
‘Wooo-haaaa!’ shouted Ngqavini. ‘Mkhize, we’re getting closer to you. Our guns will sound like this when we get to you.’
‘You pig-raping, twisted devil! We’re coming for you!’ cried Tlali.
The three of them had felt the tremor that coincided with the noise, but they’d dismissed it as a massive wave, or whatever happened in English waters. The commotion was nothing compared to the storm that had hit them as they entered the English Channel.
As they emerged on deck, however, they found themselves in the midst of pandemonium. Men were shouting, crying, running about in panic.
‘Calm down, you cowards!’ Ngqavini shouted. ‘This is plain sailing compared to the storm from the other day!’
‘Indeed,’ agreed Pitso.
Then the three men began to hear what sounded like the endless scream of the ship’s alarm whistle. The serenity that had possessed them began to lift off, gradually. But they still couldn’t make sense of what was happening. The ship was calm again, unlike the time they had encountered that memorable storm.
They saw men in full kit scurrying for the upper deck, defying the captain’s instructions, who had specifically told them not to go to the upper deck whenever the sea lost its temper.
Pitso, Ngqavini and Tlali felt like they were waking up from some dream. Things were not making sense at all. The frightened shouts that had greeted them as they ascended the stairs now came from everywhere.
‘I think we should find out exactly what is happening here,’ Tlali said.
‘Are you also getting cold feet?’ smirked Pitso.
‘These monkeys are cowards,’ Ngqavini said. ‘Imagine how they are going to behave when we finally get to the front, and the bombs start dropping.’
Two men came rushing past them. Tlali hailed them, ‘Where’s the party, my friends? Why are you rushing around like this?’
‘Think this is a fucking joke?’ a man shouted as he took the stairs two at a time, running for the deck.
‘We’ve collided with another ship!’ somebody else shouted. ‘We’re sinking!’
It was only then that Pitso began to feel the irregular movement of the ship. He couldn’t stand still. The ship was rocking this way and that; he had to hold on to something. But still, this was nothing compared to the first storm. This was not how he imagined a sinking ship would behave.
The three of them finally got to the upper deck and were met with chaos and the clamour of voices against the incessant scream of the ship’s whistle. Men were pushing and punching each other out of the way. No time for good manners, decency. The fight for survival had begun. Survival at all costs.
Pitso turned and ran down to his cabin to take whatever he could of his belongings – things he could slide into his pockets, just in case. But mostly to get his greatcoat, as he was mainly concerned about the cold on the upper deck.
Soon, he was back on the top deck, with his lifebelt on. He saw men in the freezing water, shuddering and thrashing about. Screaming. Cursing. But for some reason he still didn’t believe they were in serious danger. The captain had not spoken. It had to be a false alarm.
His mind began to race. So did his heart. The stampede intensified. It was time to plunge into the water. No. Wait. He turned back to the deck. Men were standing at attention there, clearly waiting for orders.
Do the right thing. You’ve never done this before. Wait for orders. You’re a soldier, after all. The captain hasn’
t said anything. So wait.
It was true that the ship was tilting. But what if this was something temporary? That would explain the captain’s decision not to make an announcement. Unlike when they endured that horrific storm, the ship was not flying in the air. There were no canyons of water besieging them. False alarm. It had to be.
So he stood. Looked around. No officer in sight.
‘Brothers, what is happening?’ he asked.
No response from the men standing at attention.
Then he saw a white man, an officer, at the other end. He was leaning against the rails. He seemed relaxed. Pitso ran towards him.
Pitso saluted him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘Sir, the men are waiting for orders. What should we do?’
There was no response from the officer. It was as if he were alone; the action around him did not seem to register, to penetrate the bubble he was in. He seemed hypnotised by some force just beyond his line of vision. Pitso wondered if he was in a state of shock.
Pitso ran towards members of his company who were now untying one of the lifeboats that hung on the side of the ship. He wanted to tell them to stop what they were doing. They were behaving like cowards. They were overreacting. Then he saw Tlali, in tears, shouting, ‘Pitso, my dear friend, we are about to die here. But one of us must not die …’
‘Shut up, you fool!’
A scream in the distance. The continued wail of sirens. Still no word from the captain.
Tlali was still shouting, ‘But if I must die, I shall die. Die for my country, I die for the King!’
Ngqavini was running towards the white man who had ignored Pitso and shouted, ‘Sir, we need direction. Jesu-Maria-Josefa, we are waiting for orders!’
The white officer descended some stairs, went into a cabin. Then the unmistakable crack of a gun rang from inside the cabin. Ngqavini froze, beads of sweat on his forehead.
‘No, no!’ Pitso cried out.
The ship was listing. Some white officers were running towards the flooded holds. Men trapped there. Muffled cries. Some men so shocked they could not move. Not even shout. They just stood there. Screaming impotently. Holding on to whatever there was to hold on to. Many could not swim, a fact discovered back in Cape Town when they were being drilled. They also did not seem to have any confidence in the lifebelts that they were already wearing. They stood frozen. Some of them had to be kicked or punched to get them out of the trance of shock and fear, so that they would do something to save themselves.
Pitso cried, ‘Where is Portsmouth?’
‘Come on, man,’ screamed Tlali, ‘save your own life!’
‘I have to know he’s safe!’
Pitso decided there was no point in waiting for the captain to make the announcement to abandon ship.
He ran towards the officers’ cabins. But as he sprinted down the stairs, water lapped at his feet. The cabins were already underwater. He flew back towards the deck, cursing.
He bumped into Ngqavini, who shouted, ‘I’m going down to the prison. People are trapped there.’
‘Too late. The place is flooded!’
Ngqavini rushed towards the hold where the dungeon was. He plunged into the darkness and disappeared.
‘Portsmouth!’ Pitso shouted. ‘Captain Portsmouth!’ He was running up and down like a man possessed, bumping into people. ‘Portsmouuuth!’
Somebody pushed Pitso out of the way, sending him sprawling on the deck.
He got up. It was dark in the hold. He tried to find his bearings. There was a struggle in the obscurity to lower the boats. Pitso was finding it difficult to think because of the shouts. The whistles. The pushing and shoving.
He elbowed his way through a wall of men, then helped launch No. 3 boat. While he was busy, he saw a group of men lowering No. 4 boat. When the boat reached the water, a full load of men jumped into it. Just when Pitso thought the boat was stable, more men jumped on top of the men already in the boat. The boat capsized. Screaming and cursing, the men scrambled to stay afloat.
No. 6 boat was launched, but the bottom fell out of it as it hit the water. Some men must have been knocked out by the boat as it bucked. More screams.
‘He’s biting me!’ a man shouted.
After the boats had been disposed of, work went on to get out the forty-six rafts, each capable of supporting twenty people.
Pitso ran from where he’d been helping push men onto the boats below. He wanted to make sure that all his comrades were safely out of the forecastle. On his way back, Pitso noticed that the men he’d seen standing at attention were still there, still standing. He saw Reverend Dyobha, the big reverend towering above the men, also standing at attention.
Pitso shouted in all the major languages of the ship, ‘Reverend! Mfundisi! Moruti! We need to get on the rafts! Are you out of your mind, standing there like that? There’s no Jesus here. Save yourselves! Release those men! The ship is sinking!’
In his thunderous preaching voice Reverend Dyobha cried, ‘Be quiet and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do …’
Somebody screamed. Somebody shouted. Somebody wailed.
‘You are going to die … but that is what you came to do … Brothers, we are drilling the death drill.’
The music of the alarm whistles shrill and thick.
‘I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Swazis, Pondos, Basutos, we die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies …’
Two gunshots were heard above the din.
‘We are drilling the drill of death, we are drilling the drill of death, we are drilling the drill of death, nasi isporho! Hamba sporho!’
Pitso ran towards Reverend Dyobha, tried to pull him away from the scene, hoping that this would break the trance that these men were in. But Reverend Dyobha, a big man, simply pushed Pitso away. Pitso fell on the deck, grazing his cheek against a pillar.
The reverend then joined the rest of the men as they took off their boots. Still in a trance, they started shuffling their feet on the ground as they would have done at the funeral of a king or chief. Shhhhm! Shhhhhm!
‘You are going to die … but that is what you came to do … Brothers, we are drilling the drill of death. Asikoyiki sporho ndini! Hamba!’
Like a well-rehearsed troupe of dancers, they lifted their right feet into the air. In thunderous unison, they thumped their feet on the deck – boom! – in time with their muffled cry of ‘Aji!’
Drilling the death dance. Not crying, not panicking, not screaming at the approach of death. In Africa, even in times of death, people celebrate. Death becomes a spectacle, a moment of defiance, the defiance of death itself. Staring death in the face, challenging it to a duel. Come and get me, death. I am not afraid of you.
‘Brothers, we are dancing the death drill. We’re going to die.’
They lifted their left feet into the air. In unison, their feet thundered across the boards, in time with the loud chant, ‘Aji!’
‘Aji! Aji! Aji! Brothers, we are dancing the death drill. We’re prepared to die.’
They moaned and repeated the reverend’s words: ‘Brothers, we are drilling the drill of death. We’re drilling the drill of death, we have no choice but to die …’
The uniform explosion of their feet sounded a tattoo on the deck, gaining momentum with each second, each minute.
‘We’re drilling the drill of death!’ That was the men’s resounding cry of selflessness, men daring death, men resigning themselves to their fate, men taking the idea of war to another level. Their dance was their fight, the ship deck their last battleground. They were not going down without a fight. They were going to fight death through their dance.
Boom-boom! Aji-aji!
Pitso tried to disrupt the crazy dance of death by shouting at the reverend, ‘Mfundisi, you are mad! You are possessed!’ before giving up on them and running away.
Elsewhere on the ship, a loud shout came, ‘All overboard … boats … she’s sinking!’ That would have been Captain Yardley, the man in charge of the ship. Why had he waited so long?
On the deck, Pitso noticed that about fifteen to twenty yards from the ship’s starboard side, lay one of her boats, fastened to the ship by a rope. With a pang of joy he realised that his friend Tlali and Portsmouth were among the men who were already sitting in the boat.
Somebody from one of the lifeboats was shining a bright light on the water to increase the visibility of those trying to swim towards the boat. Someone else unfastened the boat in which Tlali and Portsmouth were sitting. It started moving away. The sea was suddenly a boiling mass, the rescue boats being swept upward by the rising swells. The ship was sinking fast. Those people still on board were sliding as they ran towards the railings.
Pitso shouted as he jumped into the water. It was freezing cold. He panicked as he went deep under the waves, wondering if he was going to come up again. But the lifebelt held him up and he resurfaced quickly. His teeth began chattering with such violence he thought they were going to break. He could barely see through his salt-encrusted eyes as he started thrashing about in the water, slicing the surface with his strong hands as he swam as fast as he could in the general direction of the rescue boats. He had never in his life experienced such cold – and this was also his first experience of the sea; he had never braved such a strong, frenetic body of water. As his body acclimatised to the cold, he began to see other men thrashing about and shouting in the water. Some had resigned themselves to their fate. They were singing dejectedly; others were praying.
Pitso’s hands and his feet inside his boots were completely numb. But he pressed on. His chest was burning, his heart thudding violently. Strong and fit as he was, he began to feel the enemy of fatigue overpowering his arms. His greatcoat, which had protected him from the severe cold on the top deck, was weighing him down, sapping the last remnants of energy. He struggled to keep his head above the surface, and water was washing into his mouth.