SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
Unknown shipwreck, Skeleton Coast, Namibia
April 16:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1686: Nossa Senhora dos Milagros, this Portuguese East Indiaman wrecked near Cape Agulhas in the Western Cape at night. The exact number of people that were on board is unknown, but it is believed that there were approximately 131 survivors that made it back to Cape Town. It is also believed that less than 10 people drowned during the wrecking, but several people died from exhaustion on the journey overland to Cape Town. The Portuguese realised the state of the loss and sold the wreck and its contents at a loss to the VOC. One person died during the salvage operations that ensued. It is because of the salvage of this wreck that Olof Bergh was imprisoned for three and a half years on Robben Island and thereafter sent to Ceylon in ‘semi-exile’ as he pleaded guilty to having sold off valuable cargo from the wreck for personal gain when it belonged to the VOC.
1809: Penelope, this wooden sailing schooner was caught smuggling, and the HMS Olympia forced it into Table Bay in the Western Cape, where it wrecked on Milnerton Beach.
1823: Apollo, this wooden sailing ship wrecked late at night, below the Mouille Point Battery in Table Bay in the Western Cape. A signal gun was fired when it ran aground which killed one man. Several boats were sent to render assistance and after discharging the cargo attempts were made to refloat it. At 4pm it was decided that the vessel would be lost, so the masts were cut, and the vessel was left to become a wreck.
1829: Walsingham, this wooden sailing barque wrecked near the Military Hospital on Woodstock Beach in Table Bay in the Western Cape. Some reports list the wrecking in 1828 and instead have the wrecking occurring in June.
2002: An Airquarius Aviation Hawker Siddeley HS-748 2B (registration no. SZ-OLE), suffered a complete hydraulic failure in the air and whilst landing at the Pilanesberg Airport, it veered off the runway and into ditch causing substantial damage to the airplane. The 47 occupants were however uninjured.
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