SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
February 28:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1892: Alcestis, this British steel steam-powered ship foundered after striking a sunken wreck about 2.5 km off Cape Agulhas/L'Agulhas in the Western Cape. The SS Guernsey picked the crew and the Customs Department labelled it a massive danger to navigation at the time.
1966: Glenwilliam, this South African fishing vessel was abandoned due to a severe leak on this day in Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape. Some unknown time later, it washed ashore and became a wreck.
1971: Wafra, this Liberian steam-powered (50 000 ton) oil tanker’s seawater intake pipes failed on the 27th of February, which resulted in it losing control of its buoyancy and the engine room flooding. It was towed by the Gdynia at first but handed over to the Pongola after struggling. Then, on the 28th of February, the tow cables snapped, and it ran aground near Cape Agulhas/L'Agulhas in the Western Cape.
The refloated portion of the Wafra (1971) burning after the first attempt was made to scuttle it in deeper waters
Approximately 200,000 barrels of crude oil were leaked into the ocean, resulting in approximately 26,000 tons of oil leaking around the site, of which 6,000 tonnes washed up around the shore. A 32x5 km oil spill resulted which affected a colony of 1,200 African penguins on Dyer Island. On the 8th of March, to contain the oil spill’s damage, the larger part of the ship was refloated and towed out to sea. On the 10th of March, an attempt was made to sink it by the South African Air Force, but this only started a fire which raged for two days. The South African Air Force then used depth charges which finally laid it to rest in 1800 m deep water.
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