SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
Suiderkus shipwreck in Namibia
July 24:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1635: Nossa Senhora da Belem, this wooden Portuguese East Indiaman wrecked near Port St. John's in the Eastern Cape just north of the Mzimvubu river mouth (or as the Portuguese called it, Rio da Praia). The vessel was in dire need of repairs and most of the sailors were suffering with scurvy. With its holds filling with water and the cargo bashing against the ship, the decision was made to run it ashore. This was done without a loss of life, and it has often been speculated that no lives were lost in the wrecking as it was not overloaded like other Portuguese vessels at the time. The captain refused to let anyone attempt to walk overland as he knew about the dangers of doing so from previous survivors from wrecks along the South African coastline. Instead, they manufactured two vessels out of the wreckage. The first, the Senhora da Natividade headed towards Algoa Bay where provisions were obtained, and then continued onwards to Angola. Thereafter, it crossed the Atlantic to Brazil where passage home to Portugal was later found. The other vessel, the Boa Viagem is believed to have foundered shortly after being launched.
1851: Nimrod, this wooden British ship was driven ashore and wrecked after its cables parted at night in a north-westerly gale, near the Salt River mouth in Table Bay in the Western Cape.
1868: A south-easterly gale in East London in the Eastern Cape claimed two vessels after their cables parted:
• Constantia, a wooden British barque, was driven onto Esplanade Rocks,
• Shantung, a wooden British barque, was lost just east of the Buffalo River.
1883: Bina Campbell, this British barque was abandoned at sea in a sinking condition in heavy weather near Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape. It is assumed to have foundered shortly after.
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