Cape Town, South Africa:
RMS Athens wreck GPS coordinates: -33.898642, 18.408561
Wreck and reef dive. Shore or boat access. Maximum depth is around 7 m. Some of the wreckage is very shallow and in the surf zone.
YouTube aerial video of RMS Athens shipwreck remains:
Union Company iron steam screw barque of 739 tons, built in 1856. Wrecked between Mouille Point and Green Point on 17 May 1865 during a north-west gale while trying to steam out of Table Bay. The site can be identified by the remains of the engine-block, which is visible above the water.
The site is not in a Marine Protected Area. A permit is not required.
Name
The "Royal Mail Ship Athens" was an iron steam screw barque of 739 tons, built in 1856 by Alexander Denny of Dumbarton, Scotland in yard no 42 and operated by the Union shipping company. She was 739 gross and 502 net tonnages. Her dimensions were 68.45 m x 9.17 m x 5.02 m. She had simple two-cylinder engines by Tulloch and Denny with 130 horsepower and could make eight to 11 knots. She was originally built for the Liverpool to Constantinople service for J.P. Schilizzi, and spent the first years of her career trading between the UK and the Mediterranean. In May 1858, she was bought by the Union Line for the South African Service. She spent the next six years as a mail steamer on the western route and then started the Mauritius Mail Service on 18 November 1864. She only completed a few voyages in this new service before her untimely end in 1865.
It was wrecked between Mouille Point and Green Point on 17 May, 1865 at night after the boiler fires were extinguished by heavy seas during a north-west gale while trying to steam out of Table Bay. The ship had been lying at anchor while preparing for a voyage to Mauritius. The site can be identified by the remains of the engine-block, which is visible above the water. The Piscataqua was wrecked at the same place.
The Athens represents the first wave of successful screw-driven steamers as opposed to the till-then prevalent paddle steamers. As a steamship, her voyages were also more predictable than sail-driven vessels. However, her engines were still quite basic compared to the later norm, the compound engine, which was incidentally successfully used for the first time by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company in 1856 – the year Athens was built. It was a sign of the times that the 1850s abounded with different engine designs, as engineers attempted to come up with solutions to the myriad of problems raised not only by the technical requirements of steamships, but also by the economic constraints. This period was characterised by unprecedented industrial development in Britain with the inevitable rise and fall of companies. As part of the Schilizzi Company, the Athens represented the up-and coming Greek business community in Liverpool. Later the ship was, with her sister ships, also partly responsible for the early success of the Union Line in South Africa. This embedded her not only in the general history of South Africa, but also in the economic history and development of our country. Therefore, the Athens was a fairly typical steamship of her time with a successful career up to the disaster in 1865. She also had her fair share of captains, as it was a custom to rotate captains among the ships. Her last captain was David Smith.
Visibility
In conditions when the site is diveable, the visibility will generally be quite good, and the site is very shallow, so there will usually be good light, but the site is also largely in the surf zone, so if there is anything of a break, the visibility may be reduced by wave action picking up any sand and shell particles that may be among the rocks.
Topography
Rocks form ridges and gullies, aligned in general perpendicular to the shoreline. The major landmark of the site is a low pressure piston and part of the cylinder from the ship's engine, standing on top of the reef and exposed above the water.
Geology: Precambrian sedimentary rocks, probably of the Tygerberg formation of the Malmesbury series. Strike appears to be north-south, Dip is nearly vertical. The rock appears to be very resistant to wear and fractures in nearly rectangular blocks. The natural colour is probably a dark grey.
Conditions
The surge can be quite strong. The site is very exposed to westerly seas, and moderately exposed to south westerly swell, so should be dived in relatively flat seas, and is most likely to be good in summer. The site is completely protected from waves from the south east and can be dived during south easterly winds with little risk.
A Parliamentary inspection was scheduled for 17 May on the progress of the breakwater works in Table Bay harbour that started in 1860. This had to be cancelled, because on that day one of the most violent gales ever known swept over Table Bay. It was a true test for the partially completed construction and for the ships in the roadstead. One of these was the Athens with its brand new master David Smith. Of the officers, only Smith and Mr Ricketts, the Chief Officer, were on board as the second and third officers were ashore on leave. In the afternoon, Ricketts left the Athens to help the crew of a swamped boat and was eventually picked up by the Dane, Smith’s old ship. The sea was too rough for him to return to the Athens. David Smith was now the only officer aboard the Athens. Smith had only a day or so before been transferred to the Athens – she was a promotion as she was a larger vessel than his previous command on the Dane. He probably did not know what the vessel’s capabilities were or at least overestimated the ship. This could be the reason that, when the last anchor cable snapped at 18:00, he decided to steam out to sea instead of beaching the valuable ship in the safer area close to the Castle. Something obviously went wrong – the ship made little headway and at some point lost her engine power running aground close to Green Point. No help was forthcoming from the shore, as there were no Manby Rocket Apparatus available to shoot a line out to the ship. The sea was too rough to launch boats. A bonfire was lit, so the hapless sailors aboard the Athens knew that they were not forgotten by those ashore. The newspaper reports of the time mention that a “…continued wail of anguish and appeals of help came from the Steamer”. At 22:00, it went ominously quiet. Smith and his crew of 28 were no more. One can’t help but wonder that if the Athens had the newer, more powerful compound engines, she might have been able to steam out to sea. Smith’s actions were true to his character in trying to save the valuable vessel for its owners, but maybe rash in that he did not know her or her crew well. The tragedy also underlined the need for more substantial harbour works to protect shipping in the event of heavy weather. This was evident in 1878, when a gale with “seas being even more continuously heavy and the force of the wind greater than on the occasion of the gale in 1865” lashed the Cape. Only five lives were lost compared to the sixty of 1865; a true testimony of the effectiveness of the then still incomplete breakwater.
This site can be accessed from a boat or from shore. The site is about 1 km from the Oceana Power Boat Club slipway at Granger Bay.
Follow Beach Road from Sea Point to Mouille Point past the Green Point lighthouse. Pass Fritz Sonnenberg Road on the right and look for the car park on the left. The wreck lies a little further west. Part of the engine block can be seen approximately 75 m out from the high water mark. It is easiest to approach by way of the parallel gullies leading to the site.
Features
Iron wreck of historical interest. Other wrecks in the vicinity include the Piscataqua, an American ship of 890 tons, wrecked here on 19 July 1865. The wreckage of the Athens is very broken up, and what remains is mostly structural iron sections heavy enough to have survived this long and which have been wedged into the reef and concreted there by the combination of rust and encrustations of marine life. In most cases the wreckage requires close inspection to distinguish it from the reef.
Photography
There will usually be plenty of light, adequate for wide angle shots, but a flash may still be necessary for macro work. The subjects are somewhat limited. Most of the wreckage will look very much like the reef in a photo, and the marine life is not particularly diverse. Avoid big cameras with long strobe arms, they will snag when you are washed through the kelp by the surge.
Hazards
The surge and breaking waves in the shallower areas could be a problem in rough weather and to the weaker or less experienced diver.
Skills
No special skills recommended. Fitness should be sufficient to deal with the wave conditions of the day.
Equipment
No special equipment recommended. Avoid all dangling equipment that can hook on the kelp. Stay streamlined.
Athens
Built in 1856, the Athens, a vessel of 739 tons was later purchased by the Union Steam Ship Company from the Liverpool firm of Schillizzi in 1858. For six years she led an uneventful life running a regular Mail service from Southampton to the Cape.
The Athens.
On May 16th 1865 the Athens was lying in Table Bay. The weather was atrocious, and out of the twenty eight vessels anchored in the Bay that day seventeen were to be lost in the storm that followed. As night fell the gale increased, and the Athens’s anchor cable parted. Her Captain, David Smith, however did not panic but managed to get the ship underway and tried to get her out to the open sea.
The vessel managed to round Mouille Point but was continually deluged by mountainous sea’s which eventually smashed through the skylight of her engine room and drowned the boiler fires.
Captain David Smith.
Now helpless the Athens was driven onto the rocks between Mouille Point and Green Point. Although she was only a short distance from those would be rescuers that now lined the shore, it was not possible for them to give any aid, except to light flares to guide any one who tried to get ashore, or any one who tried to effect a rescue. None did.
The remains still show at low water.
By morning it was apparent that all twenty nine souls on board had perished. The only survivor was a pig, which much to its surprise was washed up safe and sound on the beach. It was later found that the lighthouse had no rescue gear at all, not even some rope or lanterns. Today the last remains of the Athens can still be seen sticking out of the water at Mouille Point.
Directions to the Wreck.
Stroll along the sea front through Sea Point, and you will see in front of you the Mouille Point Lighthouse. Carry on about a hundred yards towards the Victoria and Alfred complex and you will see the remains of the Athens sticking out of the water. The Island that you see in the distance is Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. You can visit the jail now by boat from the V&A and be shown around by ex inmates.
Aerial photo/video service/inquiries: info@traveltonamibia.com
Sd TW.
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