Whether it’s the lure of finding sunken treasure, or the simple desire to explore an ancient relic, or even the craving to meet beautiful marine species in their own
natural environment, there is no doubt that shipwrecks have a magnetic attraction to both commercial and recreational divers.
More than 2 500 vessels have run aground off the South African coast since the 1500s, and while the resting places of most are well documented, some – reportedly carrying cargoes of great wealth, including gold and diamonds – have never been found.
South Africa’s coastline is notorious as the graveyard for an assortment of vessels, ranging from huge steel passenger liners to wooden ships, barges, yachts and even skiboats, and the history of how they came to meet their final resting place is stirring.
Shipwrecks are a fascinating study, more especially those from the age when seafarers sailed by the stars, without navigational aids such as GPS or radio.
Maps were also rather vague: In fact, many explorers were pioneer cartographers, plotting their courses as best as the rudimentary equipment of the day allowed.
Before the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869, seafarers – mainly Portuguese – rounded the tip of Africa seeking new trade routes. While their wooden boats were sturdily built, they were no match for the fury of the ocean storms off our coastal regions, whose very names instil fear and foreboding: ‘Wild Coast’, ‘Cape of Storms’, and ‘Skeleton Coast’.
Indeed, the bones of many a mariner and ship’s passenger lie buried in the sands of the shoreline from Delagoa Bay to Namibia.
Historical records in Cape archives tell of wooden ships that spilled their cargoes and their crews after hitting hidden reefs; how survivors walked from Mozambique to Simonstown, crossing croc- and hippoinfested rivers, and fighting off lions, hippos and malaria-bearing mosquitoes. The journeys took months and even years, with some deciding the trek was too daunting, and deciding to make their permanent homes along the route.
And while the story of human tragedy and endurance is filled with suspense, so too are the undiscovered treasures that were dumped overboard as ships capsized off the Zululand, Transkei or Cape coastline.
Many a man has combed the beaches along these shores, in modern times equipped with metal detectors, hoping to find a piece of history worth millions. Stories
of ‘jackpots’ abound, such as the Richards Bay man who found a long copper nail while scavenging on a beach north of the town – then he found another… and another.
He realised these were nails used to hold together the wooden ships that plied the coast – copper being a non-rusting material. Over a few visits, he collected
enough nails to buy himself a skiboat!
Casualties of war
Few might know that the coastline north of Durban was the scene of numerous skirmishes between the British navy and enemy warships during World War II.
According to local historian Dr JC van der Walt, only after the war was it discovered that, as a result of submarine attacks by the Japanese, Italians and Germans, 163 Allied ships were sunk, captured or damaged off the South African coast.
Every shipwreck has its own story. In modern times, the Zululand coast witnessed the running aground of the cargo vessel Jolly Rubino close to St Lucia, in 2002; and the MV Smart in 2013, while exiting the Port of Richards Bay in prohibitive sea conditions.
Divers inspecting the many shipwrecks off the SA coast will find that experience all the more rewarding by first doing some homework on the historical circumstances.
Details of the various wreck sites are easily found online.
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