South Africa: La Rozette, Feejee, Palmer, Hawthorn, Roma, Espero & Stormgans shipwrecks

SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage

Montrose wreck in Namibia

August 19:

“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”

1786: La Rozette, this wooden-hulled sailing brig was found wrecked and abandoned near Platboom beach close to Cape Point in the Western Cape. A few days later, six suspicious seamen were found in Cape Town and arrested. As it turned out, six members of the crew mutinied and murdered everyone else on board. They had left the vessel in a slowly foundering condition and expected it to sink, but instead it was driven ashore. A few days after the vessel was found, and after some enquiries six suspicious men were arrested and the Court of Justice found them guilty. Narratives seem to indicate that they were all executed in brutal ways.

1837: Feejee, this wooden-hulled schooner wrecked during a south-easterly gale in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The wreck was purchased by a Mr John Thornhill who erected piles around the hulk and by 1840 had used it to construct Port Elizabeth’s first jetty. Unfortunately, three years later, in 1843 in a gale on the 25th of August the vessel Seagull struck the jetty. All 11 on board jumped onto the jetty but shortly thereafter the Laura struck the jetty and it collapsed, killing the 11 who had jumped onto it.

1840: Palmer, this wooden-hulled brig wrecked near Mouille Point whilst entering Table Bay in the Western Cape at night.

1889: Hawthorn, this wooden-hulled barquentine wrecked during a strong north-easterly wind on Back Beach in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.

1892: Roma,  this iron-hulled sailing barque wrecked late at night on Groot Vlei Beach at Cape Padrone in the Eastern Cape. All lives on board were lost with much of the wreckage, its cargo of ground nuts, and seven bodies washing ashore over the coming days.

1902: Espero, this wooden-hulled barque wrecked near the Mzumbe River Mouth in KwaZulu-Natal. The seas around the wreck were so littered with floating railway sleepers that the general area had to be declared a danger to navigation.

1987: Stormgans, this fishing trawler wrecked at Laaiplek in St. Helena Bay in the Western Cape.

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South Africa: Chanticleer, Rondebosch, Borella & Stormgans shipwrecks

SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage

Unknown shipwreck in Luderitz, Namibia

March 1:

“This day in our shipwreck and aeronautical wreck history”

1848: Chanticleer, this South African iron schooner struck a rock on the east bank of the Kowie River in Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape and foundered. 

1956 (possibly 1959): Rondebosch, this motor-powered fishing boat wrecked at night on the northern sandbank of the Mvoti/Hlimbitwa River Mouth in KwaZulu-Natal. It is reported that the man on watch thought that the lights from KwaDukuza (formerly Stanger), which is 4km from the shore, was coming from a village directly on the shore. The vessel ran aground with such force that it proved impossible to be refloated. The following day the vessel was smashed to pieces at high tide. The captain gave his ship’s lanterns to the Jex family to thank them for the assistance that they rendered during the event.

1971: Borella, this South African fishing vessel was scuttled by the SA Navy in Simon’s Bay in False Bay in the Western Cape.

1975: Stormgans, this South African fishing vessel foundered off Danger Point in the Western Cape.

1988: Embraer 110P1 Bandeirante (registration no. ZS-LGP), this passenger plane wrecked near Germiston in Gauteng. The plane was en route from Phalaborwa to Johannesburg when witnesses reported hearing an explosion overhead. The plane plummeted from the sky with the passenger deck and the fuselage separating complete after striking the ground. All 17 that were on board on lost their lives.