ROBBEN ISLAND SHIPWRECK

Robben Island

Topography

Several names were given to the island. The most enduring proved to be the Dutch Robben ( 'seals' ) Island. 

Lying 9 kilometers off the shore of Table Bay, Robben Island is 574 ha, 3 kilometers long, 1,5 kilometers wide and 35 meters above sea level. The view across to the mainland is superb. Robben Island is noted for its arum lilies. It also serves as a breeding ground for approximately 28 species of birds. The island is surrounded by dense kelp beds. The water is cold due to the Benguela current which flows northwards.

Short History

The author Lawrence Green described Robben Island as "The island of Exiles", and this is the role it has played for centuries - a remote and inaccessible place, as one old book put it, for 'law breakers', lunatics and lepers'.

The Portuguese were said to have put prisoners here as early as 1525. In 1614, ten criminals were sent from England to establish a settlement on the island in order to provide fresh supplies for passing ships. In 1657, five years after Jan van Riebeeck's arrival, the island became the site of the country's very first lighthouse. It consisted of a platform on which a fire was kept burning at night to warn ships of the Dutch East India Company.

When the Department of Correctional Services took over the island in 1961, it became a maximum security prison for political prisoners. The most famous political prisoner on the island was Nelson Mandela. The last political prisoners were released in 1991.

Shipwrecks

From 1652 Table Bay became a regular anchorage. It is therefore no surprise that the largest concentration of shipwrecks along the South African coast is found in Table Bay and the shores of Robben Island. Due to uncertain winds and fog, the island has been the graveyard of dozens of ships down through the centuries. A survey carried out by navel divers identified at least 22 wreck sites, mostly on the western side.

The Dageraad

Commanded by Jan Tak, the 140-ton Cape packet-boat built in 1692 at the Zeeland Yard wrecked on the west point of Robben Island on 20 January 1694 in misty conditions. Sixteen lives were lost. The Dageraad was returning from St Helena to Cape Town with chests of specie salvaged from the Gouden Buis, which ran aground north of St Helena in 1693. She carried 17 chests of specie of which 3 were recovered at the time. During 1728, John Lethbridge with the assistance of two English divers attempted to salvage the wreck with little success.

Since the Dageraad lies on the seabed within the restricted prison security area of Robben Island (1961 -1991), it is not known if any salvage attempts were made in those years or in more recent years.

Reverse of 1692 Silver Rider 

Obverse of 1692 Silver Rider

THE GROSVENOR AND THE PEACOCK THRONE

Port Grosvenor, Pondoland, commemorates the sea disaster of August 4^th 1782 when the 729–ton Grosvenor, belonging to the East India Company ran aground here. She left Trincomalee in Ceylon on June 13^th for Portsmouth. The passengers included about a hundred and fifty businessmen, colonial office representatives, 3 women and 6 children.  The Grosvenor had already crossed the Indian Ocean when she ran into a storm. According to Captain Coxon’s calculations, the ship must have been more than a hundred miles from land. It was realized too late that she was much closer to the shore than calculations had indicated. The officer of the watch refused to believe the lookouts when they told him they could see breakers ahead. The only charts on board were old and inaccurate. One of the look-outs also informed Captain John Coxton of the danger, and he at once ordered the helmsman to alter course – but it was too late, the ship had crashed between the reefs only thirty yards from the rocky shores of a deep bay known as Lwambazi. Though the masts had been swept overboard, she started taking in vast quantities of water. The passengers stood huddled together on the high poop. Some had been washed overboard in the heavy seas. Two Italians managed to swim ashore and tie a rope round a spur of rocks. By clinging to it several people reached the shore, but some, their strength failing, fell into the sea and were drowned. Soon after this the ship broke in two. The women and children were loaded on a hastily constructed raft and were deposited safely on shore. A huge crowd of Pondos had by this time gathered on the shore to witness the event. The next day was spent collecting whatever useful flotsam could be found. The Pondos carried away what they liked. The survivors realized that they would have to walk to the Cape.  The captain had estimated that it would take 15 days to reach the nearest Dutch settlement. What he had not allowed for in his calculations were the many rivers which lay in their path. Four days after the Grosvenor was wrecked, the survivors set off. From the very first day they were menaced by aggressive, bloodthirsty natives.  The natives, far superior in number seized all their belongings and slipped away. The sailors started complaining about the delays caused by traveling with the indisposed.  At last the captain decided that the women, children and wounded, should remain behind. Only 17 of the survivors managed to reach the Cape. A search party was sent out from the Cape who took the same route as the survivors. They found some human skeletons but no survivors. Little remains of Port Grosvenor today but the name.

Cargo of the Grosvenor

Her bills of landing showed that the vessel carried a cargo of bullion – jewels, coins, plate, ivory and many other precious goods. There were also rumors that the ship carried a king’s ransom in loot being taken to Britain by adventurers said to have been concerned with the disappearance of the celebrated peacock throne of Persia. The throne, said to be worth £6000 000 disappeared without a trace since the sailing ship had begun its voyage in 1782, and according to reliable information had been on board.

 Peacock Throne of the Grand Mogul

This famous couch was supported by tall golden legs encrusted with thousands of precious stones of exceptional size and beauty. It included emeralds, pearls, rubies and sapphires. The back of the throne was composed of pure gold with fanned tails, the feathers made up entirely of gleaming jewels, pearls and diamonds.

Twelve pillars supported the baldachin, whose gold ground was barely visible beneath the thick incrustation of precious stones.

Salvage

Many attempts have been made to salvage the cargo of the Grosvenor. As early as 1842 the British Admiralty evolved a plan to recover the treasure with the aid of Malayan deep-sea divers. The Grosvenor was located easily as it was trapped between two reefs on hard rock and could not be moved by the tide. With the primitive methods of the skin divers it was not possible to get to the ships cargo and all efforts abandoned. In 1905 the international Grosvernor Recovery Syndicate began with salvage operations. She was found quite by chance still lying where she had gone down. Broken plate of Chinese origin and 250 gold coins were discovered. These included some Venetian ducats and gold star-pagodas. The Syndicate gave up the work after a diver was killed. One company planned to build a great dyke around the bay, pump out the water and salvage the treasure. Two dyke's were built and destroyed by heavy seas. Another company attempted to reach the wreck by digging a tunnel underneath the bed of the sea. It ran level for some hundred yards, sloped down underneath the wreck, and then came up again. Cranes, divers, cables scraping the bed of the sea – all have been used.

At Lwambazi and all along the wild coast there is always a change of finding coins, beads and shards of pottery. On the lonely shore rusty machinery and relics of salvage companies are the only evidence of a once desire to solve a historical mystery.

THE STORY OF THE ST JOHN - A YEAR IN UNTAMED COUNTRY

One of the classic shipwreck stories of the Indian Ocean’s history is that of the St. John, commanded by the inept captain Don Manuel de Sousa Sepŭlveda.  On 3 February 1552 she left Katsjin on the Malabar coast of India bound for Portugal. The ship carried an overload of pepper and other merchandise. On 12 May after a journey of two months they reached the coast of Natal. A violent gale sprang up from the north. The rudder, mast and sails were lost. Beginning to drift as she was battered by wave after wave, she was buffeted slowly towards the Umzimvubu mouth near Port St. Johns. A lifeboat was launched to find a suitable landing place. The captain, his wife, children and 30 protegee embarked the only large lifeboat. He also ordered for provisions, weapons, gunpowder and linen to be loaded on the life boat. Sepūlveda wanted to build a small caravel from the lumber in an attempt to reach Sofala in the north. After Sepūlveda and his crew landed safely they managed to land the lifeboat twice before it went down with the crew and provisions. Many people perished when they were washed off the lifeboat. In the meantime the cable of the St. John snapped. The remaining Portuguese and slaves suffered all the tortures that living people could endure. More than a hundred souls perished. The lowered a small boat which was crushed against the side of the ship. Forty men later reached shore in it, however. A few minutes later the St. John snapped in two. Approximately 500 persons survived, many maimed by the debris.It was the richest Portuguese merchandise ship that left the East since the discovery of India.The first thoughts of the castaways were to prepare some sort of shelter with the debris. They wanted to stay a while in order for the injured to recuperate.Three days later eight natives arrived with a cow indicating that they want iron. The captain offered them six nails. Five other natives arrived and told them not to trade the cow for iron. After twelve days the 500 survivors set off on their journey to Mozambique. Due to compulsory detours and in order to prevent estuaries they could only manage to travel 300 miles in the first month. A slave carrying Sepūlvedas eleven year old child abandoned him. An offer of 500 cruzados to assist the weak was declined.Many were killed by hostile natives, succumbed of hunger and first and became the prey of wild animal. A cup of water was sold for 10 crusados. They soaked a buckskin in water and ate it. After 3 months only 200 castaways reached the southern bank of the Lourenço Marques river. A friendly native chief assisted them in crossing the river and warned them about a hostile chief further north. Sepùlveda not in his right mind wanted to kill the oarsmen with his sword. His bold wife Donna Leonora however, convinced them to row further.Further north they met another chief who promised them food and lodging if they lay down their arms and disperse in small groups. Despite Dona Leonaras protests, Sepùlveda agreed. They were robbed of all their posessions and scattered in all directions when another disaster struck. This time they were robbed of all their clothes. The aristocratic Dona Leonora dug a hole with her hands to cover her naked body. She refused to leave this shelter. Leonara requested André Vas the helmsman to proceed with the journey. She also told  him should he one day reaches Portugal or India he must admit that he had deserted her and her family. While  Sepùlvedas was looking for food both his children and wife died. The bereaved man walked into the bushes, never to be seen or heard of again.On 25 May 1553  only 25 of the castaways reached Mozambique safely, including Pantaleao de Sa a family member of Dona Leonora. 

NAMIBIAN ANCIENT SHIPWRECK

When Kapaandu Shitake from Namdeb discovered two damaged bronze "pipes" at Mining Area 1 at Oranjemund he never would have guessed the importance of the find. The two bronze pipes were later identified  as cannon originated from a sixteenth century Portuguese shipwreck sunk off Oranjemund.
Soon afterwards other artifacts including copper ingots, elephant teeth, pieces of wood and gold coins were discovered.
Dr Dieter Noli an archaeologist and his colleague Dr Bruno Werz a marine archaeologist assisted in identifying the artifacts.
The cannon and majority of the coins were from Spanish origin. The view was rejected due to reliable historic and other archaeological reasons.
The notion that the wreck was Bartholomew Dias caravel, one of the ships in Pedro Allvares Cabrals fleet witch had gone astray in 1500 from Brazil to India was also rejected when a Portuguese coin was found which was struck during the reign of king Joao 111.
During the first phase of the archaeological recovery of the wreck 5438 artifacts  of priceless cultural and scientific value have been found. This include 2159 gold coins, 1845 copper ingots (with stamp of the German Fugger family), 109 silver coins, 67 elephant teeth, 14 cannon balls, 8 bronze cannon, 5 anchors, 3 quadrants, chains, 3 navigational compasses, part of a compass, tableware of tin and copper cooking utensils.
The copper weighed approximately twenty ton and the tin ingots 3,5 ton. Other items included various cast iron cannon, swords, rifles and a chest with sword blades.
Paulo Montero was credited with the possible date and identity of the wreck due to his research on the Portuguese 10 cruzado piece, a rare coin of pure gold struck between the reigns of king Manuel 1 and king Joao 111.

The Portuguese coins were struck in 1526 and were out of circulation by 1536 contributing to its rarity.The Spanish coins dated back to the reign of king Ferdinand and queen Isabella.

LOST TREASURE ALONG THE SOUTH AFRICAN COAST

Table Mountain Cape Town

Some of the wrecks on the coast of South Africa are known to have been carrying valuable merchandise. Over the last 5 centuries, more than a thousand ships have been lost around the coast. The sailors of the past were a fearless fraternity. Journeys by sea were measured in months or years. Ten percent of all ships that embarked on long voyages were lost. These wrecks will be found only by chance since  most of them are buried under deep sand or lie in restricted areas. Most of the fascinating wrecks lay beyond our reach. There exists no or very little evidence regarding the cargo it carried. The following wrecks may be located after painstaking archival research and laborious underwater exploration:

HNMS Amsterdam: Wrecked in Algoa Bay in 1817. It probably carried  a valuable consignment of treasure from Java for the king of the Netherlands. It lies in deep sand.

Brederode: Wrecked in Cape Agulhas in 1785. Carried a cargo of tin and Chinese Porcelain. Lies in deep water.

Dageraad: Lies within a restricted area on the west point of Robben Island. Wrecked in 1694 and was carrying chests of specie salvaged from the Gouden Buis.

New Haarlem: Wrecked in Table Bay in 1647. It also carried a large cargo of Chinese porcelain. Shards have been found on the beach near the Milnerton lighthouse.

RMS Kafir: Wrecked south of Olifantsbos Point in 1878. Carried a box of specie belonging to the Portuguese government.

Nossa Senhora dos Milagros: Was carrying a large amount of jewellery. Lies in deep sand.

Sao Goncalo Wrecked in Plettenberg Bay in 1630. Carried a large amount of Chinese porcelain. Lies buried beneath deep sand.

Timor: Lies within a restricted area. Wrecked on the southern tip of Robben island in 1856. Some was salvaged.

SS Waldensian: Wrecked on Struis Point in 1862. Mr Joe Brown a member of the Christy Minstrels lost a silver belt encrusted with precious stones.

Silver Rider dated 1662