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So I had a little time yesterday afternoon and decided to take myself on an adventure. There is a stretch of deserted beach near my house, that holds a shipwreck that I've been wanting to explore. I've known about the shipwreck since I moved here, but it's a bit of a walk to get to and it never seemed convenient before yesterday, but since I was overdue to see it... off I went!
It's no surprise that due to the winds and rains that we get around these parts, that this little bit of South Africa is called the Cape of Storms. Home to thousands of shipwrecks, our treacherous shoreline is fraught with peril for passing trade ships, and even more so a hundred years ago before GPS.
The shipwreck that I went to see was that of the Kakapo steamship, grounded on Noordhoek beach in May 1900 on its maiden voyage from Britain to Australia.
The story goes that it was of course a dark and stormy night, and massive waves were crashing up over the deck. There was no lighthouse along the Noordhoek stretch of coast to help guide the way to Cape Point and every land marker looked just like the last one in the stormy weather. When Captain Nicholayson mistook Chapman’s Peak for Cape Point, he turned his ship left, and headed straight for Noordhoek Beach.
It is estimated that the ship ran aground at a speedy 9 knots per hour, and wedged itself into the sand so hard, that all twenty crewmen were able to walk onto the beach without even getting their feet wet. Thankfully no one was hurt, but legend has it that Capt. Nicholayson was so embarrassed at having beached his brand new steamship, that he refused to get off of the ship, maintaining that he had NOT made a wrong turn and actually WAS in False Bay as he intended to be.
I'm not sure that there is proof of this or not, but rumour has it that the Captain never left the ship at all and proceeded to live aboard the ship for the next three years, using the water and food that was aboard for the twenty crew members. He was only forced to leave when the sand started to claim more and more of the ship making it unlivable. How about that for stubborn pride?
Here's what it looked like in 1900 right after the wreck:
And today? All that is really left of the great ship is the boiler, parts of the propeller and the skeleton of the hull. But it's enough to let your imagination run wild and think of just how long that ship has been sitting in the sand... before the Titanic, before both World Wars. It was fun to explore the past and think of the time, money and labor that was spent to build a ship like this one. It makes you ponder a lot about what we contribute the world and what is left behind when we are gone. Or maybe that's just what history does to me.
The day that I went most of the ship was covered in Portuguese man of war jellyfish that had washed up on shore, so I didn't do too much poking around, but I did get a few pictures. Hope you enjoy.
So I had a little time yesterday afternoon and decided to take myself on an adventure. There is a stretch of deserted beach near my house, that holds a shipwreck that I've been wanting to explore. I've known about the shipwreck since I moved here, but it's a bit of a walk to get to and it never seemed convenient before yesterday, but since I was overdue to see it... off I went!
It's no surprise that due to the winds and rains that we get around these parts, that this little bit of South Africa is called the Cape of Storms. Home to thousands of shipwrecks, our treacherous shoreline is fraught with peril for passing trade ships, and even more so a hundred years ago before GPS.
The shipwreck that I went to see was that of the Kakapo steamship, grounded on Noordhoek beach in May 1900 on its maiden voyage from Britain to Australia.
The story goes that it was of course a dark and stormy night, and massive waves were crashing up over the deck. There was no lighthouse along the Noordhoek stretch of coast to help guide the way to Cape Point and every land marker looked just like the last one in the stormy weather. When Captain Nicholayson mistook Chapman’s Peak for Cape Point, he turned his ship left, and headed straight for Noordhoek Beach.
It is estimated that the ship ran aground at a speedy 9 knots per hour, and wedged itself into the sand so hard, that all twenty crewmen were able to walk onto the beach without even getting their feet wet. Thankfully no one was hurt, but legend has it that Capt. Nicholayson was so embarrassed at having beached his brand new steamship, that he refused to get off of the ship, maintaining that he had NOT made a wrong turn and actually WAS in False Bay as he intended to be.
I'm not sure that there is proof of this or not, but rumour has it that the Captain never left the ship at all and proceeded to live aboard the ship for the next three years, using the water and food that was aboard for the twenty crew members. He was only forced to leave when the sand started to claim more and more of the ship making it unlivable. How about that for stubborn pride?
Here's what it looked like in 1900 right after the wreck:
And today? All that is really left of the great ship is the boiler, parts of the propeller and the skeleton of the hull. But it's enough to let your imagination run wild and think of just how long that ship has been sitting in the sand... before the Titanic, before both World Wars. It was fun to explore the past and think of the time, money and labor that was spent to build a ship like this one. It makes you ponder a lot about what we contribute the world and what is left behind when we are gone. Or maybe that's just what history does to me.
The day that I went most of the ship was covered in Portuguese man of war jellyfish that had washed up on shore, so I didn't do too much poking around, but I did get a few pictures. Hope you enjoy.
Can you see the propeller blades sticking out of the sand in front of the boiler, in the middle of this picture?
It's kind of beautiful for a bunch of rusted pieces of iron, right? Sentimental to be sure.
