Quote the Stamp Bulletin of the Ciskei Post Office.
"Troop Ships. An interesting part of the history of Ciskei is embodied in some sailing vessels of the previous century, when the territory was the scene of various conflicts between its inhabitants and the British Government and citizens of the Cape Colony. In their efforts to maintain local law and order in terms of a succession of agreements - some reached by negotiation, others by force of arms ‑ the British authorities had to maintain and supplement armed forces in what is now Ciskei".
ANTELOPE was a snow (224tn.bm 1107: actual measurements 150ft x 41ft. Built at Sheerness (wrong‑Built 1803 at Howden Pans near River Tyne) and taken into service 10 Nov 1802. Became a Troop Ship 1818 and left Table Bay for Algoa Bay with a complement of armed forces arriving 3 Sept 1821. At that time she was a 4th Rate of 50 guns, commanded by Capt J R Cole. The ANTELOPE is known to have continued in harbour duties in 1824 and was destroyed in 1848. On the stamp she is shown running before the wind with studding sails set, and with single fore and main topsails.
Although listed in Lloyds Register up to and including 1826, her last survey had been in 1820. It was normal for vessels to be re‑surveyed every year or two if employed in deep sea trade. Presumably when she had been sold at the Cape of Good Hope it was either to be broken up or for use by local owners in the trade around the coast of South Africa as she never returned to England (or so it would seem).
Lloyd’s List of 1822 contains three notices of this ANTELOPE. The first states that the ANTELOPE, Captain Cole, arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on December 4 1821, from Platenburg Bay. The later two notices can be summed up as follows: A vessel called the ANTELOPE, Captain Cole her master, when leaving Cape Town for a voyage to the River Kysna, on July 10 1822, was driven on shore in Table Bay. She was eventually refloated, apparently through discharging her cargo etc., but the operation, and perhaps the cost of repairs, placed Captain Cole in considerable debt and, as a consequence of this, the vessel was ordered to be sold by the Vice Admiralty Court of the Colony, 'for the satisfaction of the debt'.
The information is taken from Log Book April 1986 (E.J.Hogan) and February 1990. (A. Palmhof)
Ciskei SG81