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Date	Original Topic
7th February 2002	Ecilpse on 22nd January 1879 By Martin Everett Help! Does anyone know of a contemorary account which mentions the ecilpse at Isandhlwana - i.e. a personal account by someone who was close by. The Isandhlwana is a favourite subject with students, but their professors are saying, quite rightly, where is the evidence for saying the ecilpse was a factor affecting the outcome of the battle.
Date	Replies
7th February 2002	Ian Castle The most famous reference to the partial eclipse over Isandlwana is that quoted in Bertram Mitford's 'Through the Zulu Country'. Mitford travelled over the battlefields in 1882 interviewing a number of Zulu 'veterans' of the war. One, who fought with the uMbonambi ibuthu said, 'The tumult and the firing was wonderful; every warrior shouted "Usutu!" as he killed anyone, and the sun got very dark, like night, with the smoke'. The eclipse was about 65% but combined with the smoke of the battle would have made things seem quite dark. Another reference is given by Trooper Symons of the Natal Carbineers. Symons was out at Mangeni with Dartnell and wrote, 'It must have been about 12 or one o'clock when I went out to relieve the first guard and had not been on long before the low boom of a cannon reached my ear, a second or third followed. I drew my mate's (Harry Stirton) attention to the sounds. About this time an oppressive gloom pervaded the whole atmosphere. This was due to an eclipse of the sun but we never thought of that at the time.' This account is contained in 'The Zulu War 1879 - An Exact Copy of Extracts of Letters and Diary of J.P. & F Symons' held in the Talana Museum, Dundee, KwaZulu/Natal.
7th February 2002	Ian Woodason I do not think the eclipse had a major bearing on the Battle of Isandlwana - compelling as the eye witness accounts are. Having been lucky enough to live in the path of totality for the 1999 eclipse I am basing my comments on what I saw then. At 65% the eclipse was unnoticeable to the naked eye - it was not until totality approached that there was any noticeable difference - and only then it was dramatic. Looking up the 1999 eclipse on the web - 65% would have been what occurred in the extreme south of Spain and southern Med. areas - if anyone was there on August 11th 1999 perhaps they would care to comment on the effect of the eclipse there (Or northern Norway, Mid Finland). If people were in the UK then London had a 97%, Birmingham 95%, Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester 91% and Glasgow 83%. If people recall how dark it got in their area and bear in mind that the Isandlwana eclipse was only 65% (above)it might help in them making up their minds how much visiblility would have been affected - smoke or no. Website used http://www.btinternet.com/~eclipse99europe/path.html By the way it was a great barbeque that day - Alec and Lisa's pine table was never the same again, but that is another story - unless that counts as 'smoke'! Ian
12th February 2002	Mike McCabe I attach a message taken from elsewhere on the website discussion page. There is the risk of taking literal translations of Zulu figurative speech to literally. Also, in the most interesting narrative series, David Rattray - by interpretation of astronomical advice received - quotes an afternoon timing for the peak of the eclipse which does not quite mesh with the small references made to it (or what might have been an eclipse effect) in a few primary sources. Unless, of course Natal Colonial/Military campaign time was set to a different datum to today. The international convention on global time based on Greenwich was not agreed until 1884. There is the other anomaly of no observers recording other sightings from troop deployments at Nyezane, or in the Khambula area - even though active diarists abounded. Reply 23rd July 2001 Diana Blackwell ([email protected]) I emailed a solar eclipse website (http://webhome.idirect.com/~kmalicki) about this issue. The reply follows. "The eclipse of Jan. 22, 1879 did happen, *but* the event was annular, not total. The battle scene was south of the path of annularity and looked like about 75% of the Sun was covered from there. That is not enough to make much of a difference in light level."
14th February 2002	John Young Martin, Attached is a comment I made back in December, 2001 whilst discussing the "Secrets of the Dead" programme:- 'On the subject of the eclipse, I know it occurred but how many of the contemporary witnesses make mention of it? Does John Chard? Do any of the British or colonial survivors of Isandlwana? Does George Smith at Rorke's Drift? Or George Hamilton Browne? Not normally a man to miss out on a good yarn. To my knowledge the answer is no. 'The Natal Almanac' for 1879 records the greatest phase of the eclipse was at 2.29p.m. - Pietermaritzburg time. Just one minute before the time given by Commandant Rupert la Trobe Lonsdale as rode back into the already fallen camp.' Hope that might be of use. John Young, Chairman, Anglo-Zulu War Research Society.