South Africa: Mary & Trio-Triomf shipwrecks

SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage

Skeleton Coast, Namibia

July 8:

“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”

1899: Mary, a wooden-hulled British cutter foundered after striking wreckage whilst trying to enter the Storms River Mouth in the Eastern Cape.

1945: A SAAF Douglas DC-3 (registration no. 6847) crashed with the loss of one of the crew of four during a military exercise in Pretoria in Gauteng.

1981: Trio-Triomf, this wooden-hulled fishing trawler was caught in heavy seas and ran aground on a reef near the Gourits River mouth in the Western Cape. The crew was rescued by helicopter.

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South Africa: Barbara Gordon, Brilliant, Cambusnethan, St Ebba, Amsterdam & Seal shipwrecks

SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage

May 5

“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”

1853: Barbara Gordon, this British wooden sailing barque wrecked at midnight after striking a reef near the Ratel River mouth in the Western Cape. Five passengers and one of the crew drowned when a life raft capsized.

1880: Brilliant, this German brigantine (possibly a schooner) wrecked in a south-easterly gale on North End Beach in Port Elizabeth in Algoa Bay the Eastern Cape.

1897: Cambusnethan, this British steel sailing barque was towed out of Algoa Bay on the 4th. In the early hours of the 5th, with a thick fog, the ship lost its way and struck the rocks at Woody Cape in the Eastern Cape. All except the captain abandoned ship. After three days, when it became clear the ship would be a total loss, he finally left.

1916: St Ebba, this British steam-powered whaler was driven ashore near Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape and wrecked with the loss of one life.

St Ebba (1916) shortly after wrecking

1975: Amsterdam, this motor-powered fishing vessel wrecked in the Gourits River in the Western Cape.

1983: Seal, this South African fishing vessel lost its anchor and foundered near Dana Bay in Mossel Bay in the Western Cape.

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South Africa: Brederode, Haliartus & Alexandros T shipwrecks

SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage

May 4:

“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history” 

1785: Brederode, this Dutch East Indiaman lost its rudder after striking an unknown reef four times in quick succession on the 3rd of May, off Cape Agulhas in the Western Cape. Attempts to turn it towards the beach to run it aground were unsuccessful, and with the hold flooding faster than water could be pumped, it was abandoned at sea around 04:30 the morning of the 4th, following which it foundered at sea. When the survivors reached the shore on the boats, a headcount revealed only 80 people were on shore, and with lights from the Brederode signalling, it meant that 12 people were left on board. The waves were too strong to relaunch the boats to rescue these 12 people and they were never seen again.

The Haliartus (1932) steaming onwards, date and location unknown

1932: Haliartus, this steam-powered British freighter struck a rock in dense fog and wrecked near Ystervarkpunt/Bull Point near the Gourits River mouth in the Western Cape.

The Haliartus (1932) after running aground

By the 7th of May the stern had disappeared below water and the SS Chub had managed to salvage some of the cargo.

2006: Alexandros T, this Greek motor-powered bulk carrier foundered in deep waters off the south-eastern coastline of the Eastern Cape.

The Alexandros T (2006), date and location unknown

Seven of the crew were picked up by the Fortune Express after it reacted to a distress call, but 26 lives remained unaccounted for and are presumed to have gone down with the ship.

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March 14: This day in South African shipwreck History

SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage

See also: Namibian shipwrecks

March 14:

“This day in South African shipwreck History”

1838: St Clair, this wooden sailing vessel wrecked in a south easterly gale off Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape with the loss of several lives (the exact number being unknown). 

1843: Conservative, this wooden sailing vessel wrecked north of Yzerfontein, possibly near Vondeling Island in the Western Cape. Its wrecking was under mysterious circumstances as there was no indication of how it wrecked, with six bodies later being washed ashore that confirmed suspicions that it had wrecked. 

1864: Sappho, this wooden sailing barque wrecked in a south easterly gale at Blaauwbergstrand in Table Bay in the Western Cape.

1866: Portsmouth, this sailing brig wrecked after its cables parted in a north westerly gale just east of the Coega River Mouth in Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape. The cook drowned whilst trying to swim to shore. 

1982: Cape Point, this steel-hulled motor-powered fishing trawler wrecked after running onto rocks south of the Gourits River mouth in the Western Cape.

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