SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
June 25:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1662: An unknown wooden sailing vessel supposedly wrecked on this day on Robben Island in Table Bay in the Western Cape. This is according to Zacharias Wagenaer’s journal, who was the only German Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony from 1662-1666.
1850: Royal Albert, this wooden British barque wrecked near the Military Hospital in Table Bay in the Western Cape. Its cables parted during a north-westerly gale on the night of the 24th and it wrecked in the early hours of the morning.
An illustration of the wrecking of the Royal Albert (1850) from the Cape Archives
1859: Rosebud, this wooden schooner wrecked near Lamberts Bay in the Western Cape.
1868: Ellen Maria, this wooden British cutter wrecked on the rocks at Green Point in Table Bay in the Western Cape.
1869: Rosalind, this wooden British brigantine wrecked at night near Port Nolloth in the Northern Cape.
1943: An RAF Consolidated Catalina (registration no. FP265) crashed into Lake St. Lucia near Charters Creek Camp in KwaZulu-Natal with the loss of eight of the nine lives that were on board. Only the flight engineer survived with the rest of the crew having been buried at the Stellawood Cemetery in Durban. It is currently believed that the wreck lies buried underneath the silt.
1946: A SAAF Douglas C-47B crashed at the Swartkop Air Base in Gauteng. Very little is known about it.
Aerial photo/video service/inquiries: info@traveltonamibia.com
