SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
July 27:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1619: Jaeger, this wooden-hulled Danish sailing vessel wrecked in a north-westerly gale on Woodstock beach in Table Bay in the Western Cape. It was the first Danish vessel to be wrecked in South African waters and the only Danish vessel to have wrecked in South African waters in the 17th century.
1839: Admiral Cockburn, this wooden-hulled whaler wrecked on Muizenberg beach in False Bay in the Western Cape.
1852: Hector, this wooden-hulled sailing vessel wrecked at the mouth of the Kwamakosi River in KwaZulu-Natal. Six members of the crew died during the wrecking.
1909: Waratah, this passenger and cargo steam-powered ship was en-route from Durban to Cape Town when it vanished without a trace presumably along the Eastern Cape coastline. It had 119 crew and 92 passengers on board, none of whom were ever seen again. It left Durban on the 26th of July and steamed alongside the Clan MacIntyre until it finally disappeared over the horizon at 9:30 the morning of the 27th. The captain of the Clan MacIntyre said that the hurricane that sprang up the following day was the worst weather that he had experienced in his 13 years at sea. The news at the time was rife with possible sightings and theories about the fate of the Waratah with crews from other ships recalling seeing a steamer in difficulty, and there were reports of bodies being seen in the area near to where it was last seen. The Royal Navy deployed ships to search for it and the Blue Anchor Line chartered a ship called the Sabine to search for the Waratah, but despite covering 14,000 miles the search was unsuccessful.
The Waratah (1909) docked at an unknown location
The following year some of the relatives of the passengers raised money for a private search which lasted 3 months but no evidence of its whereabouts could be found. Many searches have been undertaken in recent times to try and locate the wreck using the advantage of modern technology. In 1999 it was announced that a team lead by Emlyn Brown, working with the National Underwater and Marine Agency and author Clive Cussler, had located and surveyed a wreck 11 km off the Xhora River mouth in the Eastern Cape. High resolution side scan sonar had produced images of the wreck and by comparing its size to the known plans of the Waratah they believed that this was the wreck that they had been searching for and that the mystery had finally been solved. However, in 2001 a visual survey of the wreck using a submersible revealed distinct indicators that the ship was more recent in construction than that of the Waratah and closer inspection concluded that it was instead the Nailsea Meadow which was torpedoed by U-196 during the Second World War whilst transporting tanks and machinery. The mystery and search for the Waratah continues to this day…
The Submersible used by the team to visually identify the Nailsea Meadow in 2001 with the search for the Waratah (1909) continuing
1961: Clara, this steel-hulled motor vessel was scuttled off Robben Island in Table Bay in the Western Cape. It started its life as a dredger in Scotland and after running aground in Algoa Bay in 1898, it was converted to a coaster to transport timber. In 1901, a Swedish man by the name of Axel Johansson joined the crew as a cook. By 1906 he had worked his way up to becoming the Mate and by 1916 he became its Master. In 1918 it rescued 14 men from the wreck of the Bia on Albatross Rocks off the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape. During World War II it patrolled the entrance to Table Bay, still with Johansson at the helm. It is estimated that the Clara boarded 2575 incoming ships and challenged 1722. When the Suez Canal was re-opened and traffic at the Cape dropped off, it was used as a ferry for the Navy to Robben Island. At the end of the war, it was bought to be used as a water boat in the whaling industry in Saldanha Bay, and Johansson finally left the vessel. The company however went bankrupt before catching its first whale and Senator Sam Pettersen bought it. It lay in Duncan Docks for years before finally being towed out to Robben Island and scuttled on this day in 1961 after having experienced a varied life in its over 60 years of service.
1961: Uni 1, this motor-powered south African whaler was scuttled near Robben Island in the Western Cape.
The Poseidon Cape (1985) after wrecking at the rocks near Kleinsee
1985: Poseidon Cape, this motor-powered vessel wrecked on the rocks near Kleinsee in the Northern Cape. It was laying moorings for diamond dredging operations at the time and the crew was evacuated by helicopter.
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