Shipwrecks and the Milnerton Lighthouse

Besides the wrecks of the Nieuwe Haerlem, the Oosterland and De Jonge Thomas (already mentioned in previous blogs), there were two ships wrecked directly off Milnerton beach. A short walk north along Milnerton beach reveals both shipwrecks in the surf zone.

About a kilometre along the beach, you will come across the massive boilers of the Hermes in the surf. The Hermes was a Houston liner of some 3,500 tons, built in 1899. Under the command of Captain Grose, she was en route from Argentina to Cape Town with a large cargo of livestock, forage and some government supplies. In addition to her crew complement, there were 11 passengers bound for South Africa.

When she arrived in Table Bay on 12  May 1901, the harbour was full, and she was forced to drop anchor for the night. A north westerly gale came up, she dragged her anchors, and by 02h00, she was being driven towards the shore. It took a while for the captain to recognise the danger, but when he ordered her engines started, they failed. Ten minutes later, the Hermes broadsided on the beach and waves began breaking over her.

The Hermes lying broadside in the surf

Considering it dangerous to remain on board, the captain decided to evacuate the female passengers and ordered the ship's gig lowered. However, halfway to the shore, the puny craft was capsized by a huge wave and two of the women were thrown into the surf and drowned. The remaining two women clung to the upturned craft and made it safely to shore.

A tugboat and the port lifeboat were dispatched to the scene at first light, but neither was able to approach the stricken vessel. The lifeboat did, however, manage to secure a line from the beach to the ship, enabling the remaining passengers and crew to be brought to safety by a breeches buoy.

The breeches buoy brings another person safely ashore

At the subsequent Court of Enquiry, Captain Grose was found guilty of negligence, although no blame was attached to him for the loss of life. His Master's certificate was suspended.

The NSRI receives calls every year from concerned locals worried that a whale is stranded near the beach; the sea spray sometimes pushes through holes in the top of the wreck, creating an illusion of a whale’s blow.

Seawards and slightly to the north of the Hermes, the engine block of the Winton is visible off the shore. The Winton ran aground in July 1934, carrying a cargo of wheat from Australia to Liverpool. Her captain was unfamiliar with Table Bay and mistook the red lights on top of the radio mast at the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Station near Milnerton for the harbour lights. Attempts were made to pull her off the beach and some of her cargo was salvaged, but the wheat ignited and efforts to refloat her were to no avail. Miraculously, there was no loss of life.


The Winton being pounded by the waves

On a calm day, an aerial view of the site reveals the full outline of both vessels surrounding the parts that protrude from the water.

The wrecks of the Hermes (closer to shore) and the Winton are clearly visible in this spectacular aerial photograph. 

To prevent further tragedies, the lighthouse was built in 1960. This 21-metre cylindrical tower of white concrete has revolving electric optics that cast a beam of white light 25 nautical miles out across the ocean, flashing 9 times a minute, with a candela power of 800 000 CD. It has a focal plane of 28 metres above high water.


Since its erection, there have been no further shipwrecks off Milnerton, although vessels have run aground off Table View and Bloubergstrand. More about them in a future blog.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 5, 2021 at 5:11 PM

    It's really a pleasure to have lived in and around Milnerton since 1970 till present.Pictures like this remind me of what we easily can take for granted.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Racial Divide and Milnerton's Efforts to Bridge It.

Image
As early as 23 January 1907, the Cape Times Weekly carried an advertisement for Milnerton, which stated, inter alia: "MILNERTON The Popular Marine Suburb Reserved for European Residents…" This was long before the promulgation of the Group Areas Act, under which residential areas were racially segregated by law, so this decision to reserve the new township for whites only must have been that of the directors of Milnerton Estates. Significantly, too, sport was racially segregated, with the directors being "startled" in May that year by a request to permit "coloured" rugby teams to use the Milnerton Rugby Football and Athletics Ground. To their credit, they gave their consent, but with the proviso that "the [Western Province] Rugby Union is satisfied that the playing of Coloured matches and Union matches on the same ground at the same time will not be taken exception to." Later in the same year, there was a dispute between a Mr McGregor
Read more

The Ysterplaat Air Force Base

Image
  Census records state that on 31 December 1810, one Willem Caesar and the widow Priem and her two children were resident at d’Yzere Plaat (Ysterplaat), a hay farm belonging to a Mr JP Eksteen. Later, as Cape Town expanded, the area became known as Maitland Common. It is suspected that from as early as 1915 civilian pilots were using this grassy area as an airfield. A manager’s house was erected in 1917 and occupied by Mr FAN Duk, who worked for Aero Services as a pilot and manager of the aerodrome. Next to it was erected the 1920 hangar that was subsequently moved to the museum. The original airport manager's house, built in 1917 The South African Air Force (SAAF) began using the aerodrome when the air force started what was then known as the SAAF Diamond Mail Service between Cape Town and Alexander Bay in 1925.  Union Air Gypsy Moths in 1929 In 1938, the Chief Instructor of the then very young SAAF chose Brooklyn Aerodrome as the most appropriate aerodrome in the Peninsula for
Read more