SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
Unknown ship in Walvis Bay, Namibia
September 19:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1840: Catherine Jamieson, this wooden sailing barque wrecked at Mouille Point in Table Bay in the Western Cape.
1869: Amersham, this sailing barque wrecked in a south-easterly gale off Struis Point in the Western Cape.
1869: The strong south-easterly gale that had struck Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape the evening of the 18th raged on, now with wind speeds over 120 kmph being recorded. The following vessels were lost along with the, Sarah Birch (1869), which had wrecked on the night of the 18th, as well several lighters and other small vessels:
• Duke of Buccleuch, deliberately beached in the hopes of refloating the vessel but it was lost;
• England, a barque which was driven ashore and wrecked;
• Fingoe, a barque which was driven ashore and wrecked;
• Flash, a brigantine which was driven ashore and wrecked;
• Forres, a barque which was driven ashore and wrecked;
• Gustav, a Swedish brig, deliberately beached in the hopes of refloating the vessel but was also lost;
• Jeanna, a French barque which was driven ashore and wrecked;
• Major von Safft, a German barque which was driven ashore and wrecked;
• Meg Merrilies, a vessel which was anchored in the bay and had already been condemned was driven ashore and wrecked;
• Sea Snake, a Swedish barque which was driven ashore and wrecked. Only 8 of the crew of seventeen made it safely to shore, with one member succumbing to his injuries in hospital. One of the rescuers also perished, and when his body was later recovered, the surviving crew carried him to his grave as a mark of honour;
• St Croix, the only steam-powered tug in the port was deliberately beached in the hopes that it could be refloated, but this was not the case and it was also lost;
1972: SAS Natal, this frigate (converted to a Navy survey vessel) was scuttled south of Cape Point on the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape.
2007: Amul, this Indian bulk carrier foundered over 100 km offshore after springing a leak in heavy weather off the Eastern Cape.
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