SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
May 13:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1831: George, this wooden sailing cutter parted its cables in a gale and ran ashore at about 16:00, becoming a total wreck, on Dyer Island in the Western Cape.
1832: Essex, this wooden British whaler wrecked in Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape. An alternative date of wrecking is given as the 22nd of June.
1843: Regular, this wooden sailing vessel sprang a leak and was abandoned before running aground and becoming a wreck in Table Bay in the Western Cape.
1878: River Plate, this sailing schooner was lost while attempting to enter Buffeljagsbaai, west of Quoin Point in the Western Cape.
1947: Thames/SATS General Botha, this steam-powered South African cruiser was scuttled by gunfire in False Bay in the Western Cape. It was laid down in 1884 for the Royal Navy as the HMS Thames and was sold to a South African entrepreneur in 1920, who bought it in memory of his son who had died in the First World War.
The view of a diver at the bow of the SATS General Botha (1947) at about 54 m in depth
He named it General Botha and donated it to a trust with the stipulation that it be used for nautical training for those who would go on to serve on ships of the British Empire. During the Second World War the Royal Navy chartered the vessel and it assumed its previous name of HMS Thames, now serving as an accommodation and prison ship.
The SATS General Botha (1947) docked in Simon's Town, date unknown (pre-1925)
When it was returned to the trust, it was deemed uneconomical to repair and was scuttled in a naval exercise using gunfire, in the middle of False Bay in the Western Cape.
The SATS General Botha (1947) Memorial Plaque in Cape Town honoring those that were lost in the Second World War that were trained on the ship
The wreck site is known as the SATS General Botha and sits in just over 50 m deep water accessible to technical divers, but also tragically known for having claimed the lives of divers. To learn more about this ship, why not visit the South African Naval Museum in Simon’s Town as they have a permanent exhibition on it!
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