SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
January 7:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1846: A strong north-westerly gale claimed two ships and 21 lives in Table Bay, in the Western Cape:
• Diana, this Portuguese wooden sailing barque had operated as a slaver when it was captured and taken as a prize by the HMS Mutine. It was lying in Table Bay when the gale drove it ashore, wrecking at Imhoff Battery on Woodstock beach;
• Francis Spaight, this British wooden sailing barque parted from its anchor during the gale and struck the Papendorp Rocks below Craig’s Tower on Woodstock beach, becoming a wreck. A surf boat and a whale boat were launched from the shore to attempt a rescue.
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| A painting by Alexander Turnbull depicting the Francis Spaight (1846) at Hokianga Harbour, New Zealand. |
The whale boat managed to reach the ship, and whilst attempting to run a line after reaching its side, 15 of the 16-man crew of the Francis Spaight jumped on board and swamped the whale boat. The result being the drowning of the four rescuers and all 15 members of the crew that jumped onto the whale boat. Two further surf boats were launched to rescue those in the water, but they also capsized resulting in the drowning of a further two rescuers. The carpenter, who had refused to get on the whale boat and remained on board until the storm had calmed enough, was the only person to have survived the ordeal from the crew of the Francis Spaight.
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| The wrecking of the Francis Spaight (1846) as depicted in the London News at the time |
About ten years before the wrecking, the Francis Spaight, on return from Canada to Ireland with a cargo of timber encountered heavy gales and it became stuck on its beam ends. The crew resorted to cannabilism to survive after two weeks at sea and were finally rescued after three weeks. Although the Francis Spaight was badly damaged, it was repaired in England and returned to service, to wreck 10 years later in Cape Town.
1885: Wigtonshire, this iron sailing barque wrecked on Atlas Reef of Klippestrand at Arniston/Waenhuiskrans in the Western Cape.
