More than 150 years ago a ship in distress bound for the Argentine coast was forced to dock in Cape Town, an event that led directly to the establishment of one of the oldest and longest surviving liquor businesses in South Africa On board that ship was a young Edward Snell who, after disembarking, joined the Cape Town shipping firm of Thompson Walter and Co At the time, Kwa-Zulu Natal was governed from the Cape, the main transport between colonies being small coasting vessels which carried mainly cargoes of ivory and hides Opportunities beckoned for Edward Snell, and it was not long before he moved east from the Cape, settling in the Natal province, and establishing Edward Snell & Co in Durban in 1848.