SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
June 28:
“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”
1847: Le Paquetbot Bordelais, this wooden French barque wrecked on the bar at Durban in KwaZulu-Natal while attempting to exit the harbour. It had just loaded over 100 heads of cattle destined for Reunion Island, but when the wind died after it struck the bar, it bilged and became a wreck.
1872: South Easter, this British iron barque wrecked near East London in the Eastern Cape with the loss of five lives.
1882: Bridgetown, this wooden British barque wrecked on Back Beach in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal after its cables parted in a north-easterly gale.
The erected crosses in memory of those lost, which are made from Jarrah wood endemic to Western Australia. The timber was on board the Gustav Adolph (1902) which was sailing from Australia with mainly railway sleepers destined for Cape Town
1902: Gustav Adolph, this wooden Norwegian barque wrecked just west of the Palmiet River mouth in the Western Cape.
A commemorative plaque honoring those lost during the wrecking of the Gustav Adolph (1902)
Four people drowned during the wrecking event and crosses were erected on the beach in their memory.
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