SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
June 17:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1722: The severe north-westerly gale that claimed the Nightingale the day before claimed nine more vessels on this day in the Western Cape. This event saw one of the highest estimated losses of lives in the history of the Cape in a single event.
• Addison, a British East Indiaman, capsized and broke up near the Salt River mouth with 10 men surviving out of a crew of 80.
• Amy/Amij, a Cape brigantine, was seized in Saldanha on suspicion of piracy in 1693 and was then put to work at the Cape. It came ashore and wrecked near the Castle with the entirety of the crew surviving.
• Chandos/Chandios, this British East Indiaman wrecked near the Castle. Two of the crew of 70 drowned.
• Gouda, a Dutch hoeker, wrecked with no loss of life.
• Lakenman/Lakeman, a Dutch East Indiaman wrecked near the Castle. One crew member drowned.
• Rotterdam, a Dutch East Indiaman, wrecked between the Castle and the Salt River mouth. Its wreckage was smashed up and mixed with that of the Schotsche Lorrendraaier and Standvastigheid. It is estimated that 10 of its crew died but the exact number is unknown.
• Schotsche Lorrendraaier, a wooden Dutch frigate, wrecked next to the Rotterdam and Standvastigheid. Of its crew of 52, 35 lives were lost.
• Standvastigheid, a Dutch sailing ship wrecked near the Rotterdam and the Schotsche Lorrendraaier. Of the 225 that were on board, only six survived.
• Zoetigheid, a Dutch flute, foundered with 126 lives lost of the original 150 on board. Some reports suggest that it may have also wrecked on the Rotterdam, Schotsche Lorrendraaier, and Standvastigheid.
1905: John Paterson, this wooden British steam powered paddle-tug ran out of coal in False Bay in the Western Cape. On the 15th it rammed and sank the Boela and Sea Star as it was adrift on the eastern side of the bay.
The provided image is of the John Paterson (1905) when it worked in Algoa Bay, sometime between 1882 and 1904
On this day, the Umbilo stumbled upon the John Paterson near Danger Point and the crew of the Boela and Sea Star boarded it with the John Paterson in tow. Within an hour the tow cable snapped owing to the rough seas. Its master, D.C. Wilbur, asked the Umbilo to take on the rest of the crew and he remained on board, never to be heard or seen from again. It is assumed that the John Paterson foundered shortly after with its master as the seas were rough.
2014: A SAAF Cessna 208 (registration no. 3006), crashed in the Misty Mountain area near Lydenburg in Mpumalanga with the loss of life of three of the five occupants.
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