SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage
September 17:
“This day in our shipwreck History”
1840: Bengal, this British wooden sailing barque wrecked on Blaauwbergstrand in Table Bay in the Western Cape after missing its stays while entering the bay at night.
1889: South American, this sailing vessel was an American ship of 1694 tons built in 1876 in Boston. The ship was wrecked on 17 September 1889 in Struisbaai in thick fog with the loss of one life. The vessel was travelling from Manilla to Boston with a cargo of sugar which was reportedly strewn along the beach after the wrecking.
In 2020 SAHRA was called to the beach at De Mond, Struisbaai after a large piece of wreckage was exposed lying in the vicinity of the known wreck of the Mackay. During the site visit the wreckage was surveyed, the visible structure was at least 45 m in length and 5.7 m wide but it was difficult to determine the exact dimensions as it was buried under the sand.
The pieces of timber had large iron nails protruding from them, the size of the nails together with the wood indicates that this would have been a large vessel. During a previous survey of the area undertaken as part of a master’s degree project in 2006 by Jaco Boshoff, a large keelson was partially excavated at the same location as the above wreckage, due to its size and location the wreck was tentatively identified as that of the South American as it is the only one of its size that wrecked in the area.
The wreckage continues to be exposed during strong tides and spring lows, the most recent images were taken at the beginning of September 2024.
Aerial photo/video service/inquiries: info@traveltonamibia.com
