SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
September 12:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1854: Chancellor, this wooden sailing vessel wrecked on Martha’s Strand near Skipskop in the Western Cape. Two of the passengers drowned during the wrecking.
1861: Theresa, this schooner cables parted during a southerly gale and it wrecked on the west bank of the Buffalo River in East London in the Eastern Cape.
1871: Mackay, this British wooden sailing barque wrecked in a south-easterly gale at De Mond, north of Struisbaai in the Western Cape. The wreck occasionally washes open when the tide reaches up high enough to wash out some of the dunes. It is locally known affectionately as the ‘Maggie’.
1873: African Belle (possibly African Queen), this sailing brig wrecked on the west back of the Kowie River in Port Alftred in the Eastern Cape. It was later blown up to clear the shipping channel.
1876: Stella, this sailing barque wrecked after its cables parted in a south-easterly gale in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Another source lists the day of wrecking as the 18th of September instead.
1993: Voortrekker, this oil rig supply tug foundered about 3 km from the Gouritz River mouth in the Western Cape. It had capsized on the 10th of September, about 80 km offshore, trapping the crew of 12 and the ship’s cat inside the upturned hull. Three of the crew managed to escape, although one later died from his injuries. Heroic divers attempted in four different operations to rescue those that were trapped, but the rough seas made this task impossible. It was towed closer to the coast in the hopes that rescue attempts would be easier in calmer coastal waters. Two bodies surfaced during the towing, and then, on this day, two days after being upturned, it sank, claiming the remaining seven men, and the ship’s cat, Lighthouse. It settled, still upside down, hull up, at a depth of 40 m and in a thick mud, which made body recovery attempts futile. There is a memorial in the Port of Mossel Bay commemorating those who lost their lives and the local SPCA has a framed memorial for the cat. In 2012, whilst draining fuel that had started leaking, divers also erected a cross on the wreck.
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