SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
August 10:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1853: Sandwich, this wooden-hulled sailing brig wrecked near the Rietvlei lagoon in Table Bay in the Western Cape. One man died of exposure whilst on a lifeboat.
1917: City of Athens, this steel-hulled steam-powered ship sank after it struck two mines laid by the German commerce raider, Wolf, between Dassen Island and the west coast mainland in the Western Cape. Nineteen people lost their lives when a lifeboat capsized.
1979: Ker Yar Vor, this fishing vessel was scuttled on the remains of the Jo May off Duiker Point in the Western Cape. In December 1978, whilst refuelling in Hout Bay harbour, it exploded because of a lit cigarette. The explosion killed the ship’s engineers as well as the refuelling truck driver who had lit the cigarette.
Parts of the vessel’s superstructure were blown hundreds of meters into the sea. Over the following months it was stripped of valuables and then towed and scuttled atop the Jo May to form an artificial reef at 22 m in depth just outside of Maori Bay. Over the time the structure has collapsed, and its max depth is around 28 m now.
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