Monday 24 June 2013

Happy Margaret Day!

Yes, it's 'Margaret Day' again! Four years since the enormous mother barge carrying twelve barges and two dry docks broke free from her towing tug and ended up on our rocks! And I remember it as though it was yesterday! After a night of gale force wind, heavy seas and rain, and a Spring Tide to add to it all, our neighbour phoned to say that there was a container floating towards the shore. We rushed out to see and were confronted by what looked like a multi-storey car park wallowing close to our bay. In the distance we could see the tug that was supposed to be towing her to Rotterdam, but in the high seas the barge had broken free and was now unstoppable! That is, until she arrived on the rocks and then she sat tight.

'Margaret chooses Jacobsbaai', the headline in our local paper.

By this time our village was filling up with people. How word spreads! In no time our roads were clogged with cars, they were driving over the dunes to get a closer look, and some brave souls were wading into the sea to 'salvage' huge planks of wood that were being washed off, obviously from between the barges for protection. Sadly for them, the Customs Officials were waiting just round the corner to relieve them of their catch, and probably some money!

The view from our house!


Now here was the problem. As exciting as it was to see her arrive, now she was here, how and when would she be removed? She was stuck tight on rocks and the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to remove her. A salvage team had arrived to try and re-float her, but they left without any luck. By August two of the barges on the sea side were damaged and could not be re-floated anyway. By December a decision had to be made and finally a new salvage team (Smit Amandla) arrived like knights on white horses (sea horses maybe?) and finally came up with a plan.

Ready for blasting. Three, two, one.......

They decided to blast the top six barges off the mother barge so they could be towed away. The rest of the barges and the remains of the dry docks would be cut through and left. The sea would finish the job.
Sadly one of the demolition team fell while placing the explosives and died on the scene. We had tuned our radio to their frequency and for several weeks we had followed the conversations and were really impressed with their professionalism, so it was a very sad day for everyone who was involved. The blasting was postponed for a few days and a white cross was painted on the side of the barge.

BOOOOOOOM!

Finally on the morning of the 4 March 2010 at 10.01, we said goodbye to 'Margaret'! The morning was warm and dry and we sat on our upstairs veranda and watched the entire operation. The top six barges did in fact slide off undamaged, and were finally towed to Saldanha where two of them remain. Two of the barges needed to be pulled apart and two tugs spent two days dragging them backwards and forwards until they finally parted.

Tug of War between 'Battle Axe' and 'Smit Amandla'(These photos thanks to Rob)

And that was that! Our village settled down and the remains of 'Margaret' gradually ended up in the sea. For a few months she sounded like a cow in pain as the wind and sea forced its way through her. Then bits fell off and the moaning stopped! We watched and felt sad for her, it was an unhappy end for a noble vessel really.

After the smoke cleared. 

And now, all we have left is this.

Our own geyser, cold water though!

She blows like a geyser when the sea is rough

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