SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
July 28:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1839: Eleanor, this wooden-hulled sailing schooner wrecked on the Annabella bank in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.
1881: Wild Flower, this sailing schooner was condemned on the 6th of July and then beached on this day in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.
1881: Calcutta, this sailing schooner wrecked when it ran ashore near Twine Point in the Eastern Cape and was battered to pieces by the waves. Thirteen lives were lost, with the reports on the number of survivors contradicting one another claiming it to be between three and seven people.
1914: Gnu, this steam-powered tug was driven ashore at Simon’s Town in the Western Cape during a gale on this day. However, three years later, in 1917, it was refloated and after being repaired in Kalk Bay, it sank during its first sea trials. The exact date of this second sinking event is currently unknown.
1934: Winton, this steel-hulled, motor-powered cargo ship wrecked in strong north-westerly winds north of the Milnerton Lighthouse in Table Bay in the Western Cape. Its remains and that of the Hermes are visible in the surf and serve as a landmark for people walking on the beach. The NSRI often receive reports that a whale has beached in that location as the resultant sea-spray from the waves battering the wrecks make it look like a whale.
Winton (1934) (further from the shore) and the Hermes (1901) (closer to shore) on a calm, almost tropical looking day
1977: Romelia, this oil tanker wrecked after its tow cable broke, and it ran aground on Sunset Rocks in Llandudno in the Western Cape. The Kiyo Maru 2 was towing it along with the Antipolis to be scrapped in Asia when a north westerly gale caused the tow cable of the Antipolis to be snagged and the Romelia’s to break. The Antipolis wrecked the next day at Oudekraal. The Romelia was visible above the waterline until 1996, when it finally disappeared beneath the waves. Today, it makes for a cold but rewarding dive, lying at its shallowest around 12 m and deepest 25 m.
The Romelia (1977) before it disappeared beneath the waves, being battered by the surf on the rocks
1983: Shin Huei, this Taiwanese fishing vessel lost its rudder and was abandoned, presuming to have foundered at sea, about 130 km south-east of Mossel Bay in the Western Cape.
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