STRANDED AND WRECKED SAILING SHIPS ON THE DURBAN COAST 1850 – 1900

by Michael De Villiers

Sailing ships were the lifeline between Durban and the rest of the world during its early years. Its very survival and growth depended on the import and export of everything and anything. Although the impact lessened with time and technological advancement, each arrival and departure was a momentous occasion. Each shipwreck was a calamitous disaster comparable with a modern commercial jetliner crash. The book is a historically researched account, of the cause and effect of these events as revealed by maritime courts at the time and reported in the press. The weather played a large part. The reports are fascinatingly full of detail about a simple, but difficult and labour intensive life. Imagine rowing out of harbour in a life boat to rescue people from a wrecked ship in a wild and dangerous sea. Transport was slow and housing was basic by the standards prevailing in Europe at the time. There was also the harbour problem, crossing the shifting bar was hazardous. While waiting for suitable winds and tide to enter the harbour, ships at the outer anchorage often dragged their anchors in gales and could be swept ashore with loss of life. Until the problem was solved, passengers and cargo often had to be transhipped to rusty and smelly lighters at the outer anchorage. Landing of passengers and cargo was hazardous and eventful. Communication methods were crude and quaint. Acknowledgement of arrival a ship at the outer anchorage, by the signal station on the Bluff, depended on whether the signaller was awake, asleep, absent, or drunk. Today, it would be unheard of for a ship’s captain to simply lean through the window of the Port Captain’s office and ask if his ship can be brought into harbour.

188 pages, Paperback

Published June 25, 2017