SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
June 20:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1897: Aberystroith, this British barque struck unmarked rocks just off Cape Recife in the Eastern Cape and wrecked.
1984: Nan Yung, this motor-powered Taiwanese fishing vessel foundered near Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape.
1991: Pioneer, this South African fishing vessel was scuttled by the South African Navy off Cape Point in the Western Cape.
1994: Apollo Sea, this Chinese ore-carrier was on its way from Saldanha Bay to China when it foundered in heavy seas about 20 km west of Dassen Island in the Western Cape. Four hours after leaving Saldanha, two distress signals were sent to China. South African authorities were informed 5 days later of the sinking.
The Apollo Sea (1994) under its previous name as the EW Beatty, date and location unknown
Meanwhile, 2 days after the sinking, oil-soaked penguins started arriving at Dassen Island, which is a breeding ground for African penguins. Massive efforts went into the rescue of the seabirds and endangered penguins and despite months of efforts, thousands of birds were lost and beaches along the west coast were polluted with oil. Parts of the ore carrier were found washed up as far south as Noordhoek beach. The location of the oil spill was found as it was bubbling to the surface, at a spot which was 180 m in depth. As the Apollo Sea had just left Saldanha Bay, it was fully fuelled with 2470 tons of fuel on board. It is presumed that the 36 lives that were on board the Apollo Sea went down with the ship.
A newspaper clipping in Afrikaans from Die Burger at the time indicating with the red dots, where equipment/parts of the Apollo Sea (1994) washed up and its path with the red lines. The black dot in the dark area shows where the centre of the bubbling oil spill was and the other black dot indicates the spot where the last emergency signal location was logged from
2007: St Michael, this motor-powered fishing vessel foundered off Mossel Bay in the Western Cape.
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