SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
March 30:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1847: Montagu, this sailing schooner capsized and washed ashore near Slangkop Farm in Kommetjie in the Western Cape. No survivors were found.
1863: Willem de Zwyger, this wooden sailing barque wrecked at Ryspunt near Arniston/Waenhuiskrans in the Western Cape. It was salvaged in the 1970s and some of the artefacts are on display at the Bredasdorp Shipwreck museum.
1879: Lola, this Swedish sailing barque wrecked in a north-easterly gale in Durban between West Street and Back Beach in KwaZulu-Natal.
1916: Rangatira, this steam-powered cargo ship wrecked off Robben Island in the Western Cape. It ran onto the rocks near the west coast of the Island in dense fog just before high tide. At the time of foundering the ship was going dead slow and the sea appeared calm. When the news reached Cape Town the tugs J W Sauer and Sir Charles Elliot were sent to assist.
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| The Rangatira (1916) after becoming stranded and being battered by the waves |
However, because it was heavily laden, and the tide was falling it was too risky to try and pull it off the rocks. The hull seemed to be intact, and at high tide the following morning attempts were made again to tow it off without success. Shortly hereafter a strong south-easter sprang up, causing a heavy swell which made salvage efforts more difficult. Between the 2nd and the 6th of April, the cargo was salved but the ship’s hull had started leaking badly and it was considered lost. A portion of the hull is still visible today.
1986: Daeyang Family, this Korean motor-powered bulk ore carrier was on a voyage from Brazil to Korea when it dragged its anchors during a storm and wrecked near Robben Island in Table Bay in the Western Cape. It struck Whale Rock, just off Robben Island, which left a massive hole in its side. It is believed to have been one of the biggest ships ever to have wrecked in South African waters with a gross tonnage of 96 760 tons, and a deadweight tonnage of 183 583 tons.
Although some salvage work was undertaken on it shortly after wrecking, it remained relatively intact for a long time. After a massive gale in 1994, it started breaking up. Today, the wreck makes for a lovely dive when conditions are good. There is lots of structure lying on the seabed at around 15-20m, and the engine block sits high on the site, with the top only about 5m from the surface.
1973: A Cessna 182 crashed on this day into the Karkloof mountain range, near Seven Oaks in KwaZulu-Natal after encountering adverse weather conditions and flying more than 60km off course. Two of the four on board survived the initial crash, but with an open-ended flight plan having been logged, the plane was not recorded as being overdue, so no search and rescue operation was ever initiated. Three days later, one of the two surviving passengers succumbed to her injuries and her son, the final survivor, ploughed through the forest, eventually finding forestry workers who took him to a nearby road where he was picked up by veterinary surgeon who took him to a hospital.
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