SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
March 4:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1844: Mary, this wooden sailing schooner wrecked in Port Elizabeth in Algoa Bay in the Eastern Cape after its cables parted in a south-easterly gale. It was driven onto the jetty, so the crew managed to simply jump off without a loss of life.
1852: Espiegle, this sailing schooner wrecked in a south-westerly gale on the eponymous Espiegle Rock at Hondeklip Bay in the Northern Cape.
1943: U-160 terrorised South African waters by attacking transport convoys that were delivering supplies for the war effort, claiming in total six ships and causing damage to two more over the course of nine days.
Image of U-160 captured from U-177 in April 1943. U-160 was sunk in June 1943 off the Azores Islands in the North Atlantic by American aircrafts
On this day, U-160 continued its attack on convoy DN21 at about 01:10 and at 03:46, striking a further three and claiming two more vessels now about 100 km northeast of Port St Johns off the Eastern Cape coast.
The Sheaf Crown (1960) in Table Bay Harbour, date unknow
The British cargo ship Sheaf Crown was abandoned but remained afloat after being attacked with the loss of one life. It was later towed to East London where it was repaired and continued serving until 1960 when it was scrapped in Italy. The other two vessels involved in the attack were not as fortunate:
• Empire Mahseer, this British steam-powered cargo ship was struck by two torpedoes at 01:10 and sank within two minutes. Of the 54 that were on board, 18 lives were lost. The survivors were picked up by the Norwich City and landed at Durban.
• Marietta E, this British steam-powered cargo ship was struck by one of two torpedoes at 03:46. The other torpedo struck the Sheaf Crown. Of the 45 that were on board, five lives were lost. The survivors were picked up by SAAF crash launch R-8. The Marietta E sunk with eight British landing crafts on board.
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