Shipwrecks and near misses!

We have had our fair share of shipwrecks in the 5 years that we have been here. We have huge underwater rocks and large rocky islands close to our shore, one is home to a large number of seals and is called 'Seal Island', not very original, but, hey, it works! So, we expect the odd mishap every now and then. The first wreck happened to a little boat called 'Volante' that bobbed happily in the bay and was our mascot, so to speak. Visitors (and locals) took photos of her and she is in many paintings, keyrings and fridge magnets! Sadly one weekend a few years ago, we had a huge storm, she dragged her anchor onto rocks and ended up in several pieces scattered over the shore. A large bit of her hull remains on the beach, people still take photos of her and children climb in her, but it was a sad end to a noble little craft!

'Volante' in the bay.

Then we had a fishing boat that ended up on Seal Island in the middle of the night! I woke up to see a strange orange light in the room, and being me, I just went back to sleep! The next morning we saw the NSRI boat heading towards the island, and a helicopter hovering overhead. The orange lights that I saw were distress flares! Looking through the binoculars we saw a wreck on the rocks and men in orange suits waiting to be rescued. (A friend of ours looked through his binoculars and commented on how many men were wearing brown suits on the island. They turned out to be seals of course! I often wonder what they thought of the invasion!) Happily everybody was rescued safely. The boat had the unfortunate name of 'Silver Reaper' and quickly became known as the 'Grim Reaper'! Now, a few years on, there is nothing left of the fishing boat, the sea has claimed it all.
Then, oh, how could we ever forget! On the 24th June 2009, our neighbours called us to say that there was a 'container' drifting our way. We rushed to the shore to see what looked like a hotel heading towards our shore! This was 'Margaret', (the same size as 3 Voortrekker Monuments standing side by side, 45 metres high and 150 metres long), consisting of 12 barges and 3 dry docks, being towed from Singapore to Rotterdam. In very rough seas, she broke free from the tug and finally came to rest on the rocks about 400 metres from our house. Our little village quickly gained popularity with visitors and sightseers flocking here, parking everywhere and generally destroying our dunes and our peace! Almost a year later, Smit Amandla finally blew the top 6 barges off, we sat and watched it all, the explosion rocked the village and after the smoke had cleared we saw the tugs dragging the barges away. The rest was cut through and left, and once again the sea did the rest. Today virtually nothing remains of ‘Margaret’, but a simple white cross, mounted on a rock, reminds us of the tragedy that took place when one of the men fell and died.

'Margaret' just after she arrived here.

A few days ago we happened to look towards the horizon to see an enormous bulk carrier fairly close to shore, a lot closer than usual. And, as usual, a little group stood and watched, muttering things like 'that's a bit close isn't it?' and 'wow, that is enormous, keep going!' Well, she turned out to be the ‘Magsenger 2’ on her maiden voyage! However, she had broken down, complete engine failure! Yup, on our coast line, just near Saldanha Bay!

'Magsenger 2' by Ian Shiffman

Fortunately the white knights in the shape of Smit Amandla (who else??) arrived to tow her to Cape Town before we ended up with more tourists and sightseers.................and this time there would have been tons of engine oil on board, an ecological disaster in the making.

Smit Amandla to the rescue.....again!

I think King Neptune was smiling on us this time!