Early charts of the South African east coast were devoid of much information regarding important dangers of rocks and reefs and other dangers to shipping. The coast in the early 1900s was poorly surveyed and a lot of the information presented on them came mainly from commercial shipping that forwarded information onwards to the Admiralty responsible for the publication of charts. It was not until 1924 when Lieutenant Commander A.F.B. Woodhouse a Royal Navy Hydrographer took command of the HMSAS Protea and undertook surveys of the coast from 1924 to 1927 that the charts began to be updated. Up to this time many vessels had come to grief on uncharted obstructions taking a heavy toll on ship losses along with many lives. One such victim of the poorly surveyed charts was captain Edward Lawson of the s.s. Palatina 2,332ton ship belonging to the Manchester and Salford Shipping Company. On the 7th of March 1911 he was coasting north close inshore taking an advantage of the weak north bound current that varied from one knot to one and a half knots with a south east wind. After obtaining a good fix of his position from the Great Fish River Lighthouse at 11am he meandered along the coast until about noon, uncertain of his position he altered course slightly out until he struck an obstruction at 12.50pm damaging his hull which started to take water. Captain Lawson managed to make it as far as East London but due to his draught being to deep to enter the harbour with the water he had taken in he managed to beach the ship near the entrance. At the subsequent inquiry he told the court that he had struck what he thought was a submerged hulk. The court dismissed this saying that he was sailing to close to the shore in an unsafe manner. Consequently he had his masters certificate suspended for three months but was issued with a first mates certificate. By claiming he hit a submerged hull of a ship he was hoping to be exonerated as he could not be held liable. If the reef he struck was not on the chart he could claim that he struck an uncharted rock and hold the publishers of the chart liable for a defective chart. This would not work because his claim would be dismissed on the grounds that the publishers of the chart could not be held liable for hazards un-known at the time of the publication of the chart. It would appear that the obstruction was on the chart and by coincidence a ship the s.s. Cariboo of the Ellerman Line struck a reef in the same area and foundered this was near Keiskamma south of East London. In 1992, 182 tonnes of copper ingots were salavaged from the Cariboo, on November 6th 2014 an application was made for a permit with SAHRA (heritage authority) to salvage further copper ingots from the Cariboo. It would appear that both these ship had been set in towards the reef.
s.s. Cariboo.
Another ship that fell foul of the onshore set of the current was the German ship s.s. Itzehoe 4,467 tons. On the 24th May 1911 when near Cape Recife she ran aground on to Thunderbolt reef which was clearly marked on the chart. Thunderbolt reef is a patch of rocks with depths of less than 6 feet and lies 8cables (0.8 mile) SSW of the Recife Lighthouse. The sea generally breaks on this reef, which also extends up to 6cables (0.6mile) south east of Cape Recife. Vessels are warned not to attempt to approach Cape Recife or Thunderbolt reef within a distance of two miles because of a strong set towards them. The cargo was salvaged from the Itzehoe and one of the vessels assisting was the former dredger from East London the Kate which had been converted to a coastal steamer. Coasting is a very intense form of navigation particularly close inshore with the sets towards the shore. I have coasted many times up the east coast as far as the northern tip of Mozambique and you have to be constantly on the alert taking every opportunity to fix your position and depth but at night I would steer well off shore and even then keep a constant check on soundings to make sure the vessel was not being set in.
East London dredger Kate later converted to a coastal steamer, that helped take cargo from the Itzehoe.
s.s Itzehoe hard and fast, note the Cape Recife Lighthouse on the left of picture.
s.s. Itzehoe.
s.s. Kiel sister ship gives a clearer look, Kiel was captured by the Americans during the first world
War.
Another ship that fell foul of the onshore set of the current was the German ship s.s. Itzehoe 4,467 tons. On the 24th May 1911 when near Cape Recife she ran aground on to Thunderbolt reef which was clearly marked on the chart. Thunderbolt reef is a patch of rocks with depths of less than 6 feet and lies 8cables (0.8 mile) SSW of the Recife Lighthouse. The sea generally breaks on this reef, which also extends up to 6cables (0.6mile) south east of Cape Recife. Vessels are warned not to attempt to approach Cape Recife or Thunderbolt reef within a distance of two miles because of a strong set towards them. The cargo was salvaged from the Itzehoe and one of the vessels assisting was the former dredger from East London the Kate which had been converted to a coastal steamer. Coasting is a very intense form of navigation particularly close inshore with the sets towards the shore. I have coasted many times up the east coast as far as the northern tip of Mozambique and you have to be constantly on the alert taking every opportunity to fix your position and depth but at night I would steer well off shore and even then keep a constant check on soundings to make sure the vessel was not being set in.
War.
