Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is notorious for its rough seas, rocky reefs, sandbanks and treacherous fog. Countless ships have been wrecked along this perilous coastline over the last century. Many of them remain unknown, their flotsam and jetsam adding to the bones of whales and seals strewn along the beaches that have given this coast its unforgiving name, Skeleton Coast.
Rough seas and salty air quickly corrode and break down any wreckage leaving no clues of the dramatic events that may have taken place at sea and across the barren desert landscape. Among the shipwrecks still visible are the fishing trawler Zeila, south of Henties Bay, wrecked on 24 August 2008 on its way to the Mumbai scrapyard when its towing line came loose near Walvis Bay and strong seas swept it northwards; the South African fishing vessel SW Seal, north of the Ugab Gate, wrecked in June 1976 when a fire broke out on board; and the cargo ship Eduard Bohlen that ran aground near Conception Bay, south of Sandwich Harbour, in thick mist in 1909.
The more well-known shipwrecks include the Erycina, wrecked in 1896 north of Cape Cross when it sprang a leak in rough weather. Its load of guano was destined for the United Kingdom. Old photos show the Erycina sinking into the sea with its stern below the water and its masts jutting into the sky.
Near Torra Bay, the fishing trawler Montrose ran aground in 1973 presumably due to poor weather conditions. It was gradually covered by sand with only its mast poking out to mark the spot. The Natal Coast, a 3000-tonnes cargo ship on its way from the DRC to Cape Town with a large load of coconuts ran aground north of Swakopmund in thick fog in 1955. The ship was dismantled and sold as scrap although the nameboard and some portholes made their way to the holiday houses at Wlotzkasbaken.
Passenger and cargo ship, Gertrud Woermann II, ran aground fifteen kilometres north of Swakopmund in 1904. It had about 400 passengers and 300 horses for the Schutztruppe on board. A piano player
played throughout the night, keeping the passengers calm. All passengers, crew and horses survived. The German gunboat Vineta assisted with the salvage operation. (A suburb of Swakopmund was later named after the gunboat).
Three crew members from the Viente E. Oito de Maio drowned when on 12 November 1966, three kilometres north of the Toscanini mine, the ship went off course and ran aground. She was travelling from Cabinda in Angola en route to Cape Town, carrying 200 cubic metres of timber logs and 700 tonnes of railway sleepers. Twelve men climbed into a lifeboat, but one of its davits broke as it neared the water and the men were thrown into the sea. A helicopter from Windhoek came to the rescue and airlifted the crew members from the vessel to the mine.
More recently, in 2018, the Japanese fishing trawler Fukuseki Maru No.7 ran onto the rocks in poor visibility south of the Ugab River with its tuna catch on board. It is believed that a navigational error caused the accident. A helicopter rescued the 24 crew members. The ship was still visible in the waves until 2021 when it was destroyed using explosives. It was on its way to Walvis Bay because of a medical emergency.
The most famous of all the wrecks and rescue stories, however, is the Dunedin Star, which was carrying ammunition and supplies for the British army in North Africa, travelling from Liverpool to Egypt via Cape Town. The drama began on 29 November 1942 when the British cargo and passenger liner struck a reef and ran aground south of the Kunene River Mouth with 85 crew members and 21 passengers on board. The rescue would continue until Christmas eve in a complex operation by sea, air and land.
Sixty-three people (including eight women and three babies) were brought to the beach by motorboat before the boat was hit by huge swell, leaving 43 people still aboard the ship. The tug Sir Charles Elliot and the converted minesweeper Nerine proceeded north from Walvis Bay to assist with the rescue operation, while a land convoy with eleven trucks set out from Windhoek and on the 3rd December a Ventura bomber aircraft was sent from Cape Town to drop supplies for the people on the beach. (Most of the supplies were destroyed on impact with the ground.)
Attempts were made to float supplies on rafts to the Dunedin Star survivors by the Manchester Division, Nerine and then the Natalia, which replaced the Nerine when it had to refuel, but most were unsuccessful in the large waves and strong current.
The rescue operation became more dramatic when the Ventura landed on a salt pan and broke through the crust of the surface. Repairs were needed and vigorous digging before it could take off. Forty-three minutes in the air, it developed engine trouble and ditched into the sea. The pilot and the two crew members were able to swim ashore. Three other South African airforce planes continued to drop emergency supplies to the people on the beach: food, water, medical supplies and eventually some blankets and a tent.
Responding to the distress call, the British ship, Manchester Division, arrived with the Norwegian ship, Temeraire, on the third day. Over a few hours Temeraire’s motorboat managed to manoeuvre its way in the huge swell close enough to the stricken ship for the men to jump aboard. They were then transferred to the Manchester Division.
The domino effect continued when on the way back to Walvis Bay for more coal, the Sir Charles Elliot ran aground near Rocky Point, about 100 kilometres south of the Dunedin Star. One member of the crew drowned when the hooks lowering the dinghy broke, tipping its occupants into the water, and another crew member died after an exhausting swim to shore through the current.
The convoy of trucks and a water trailer was having its own epic journey as the trucks became bogged down repeatedly in the dry riverbeds that had to be crossed to reach the coast, and as they negotiated the Hoanib River where ramps had to be built and a salt pan where they bogged down to their axles.
When the Nerine returned, it attempted to rescue some of the people on the beach by anchoring its lifeboat and sending a strong swimmer ashore to secure a line. Several women and children managed to climb into the lifeboat only to be capsized when a huge wave hit them. Two women and their babies were assisted aboard while the others were helped back to the shore.
Two trucks eventually made it to the survivors on the beach and drove back to the convoy three kilometres away with some of the women, a baby and the men who weren’t able to walk. Rescuers and rescued spent the night next to the bogged trucks. The return journey was just as difficult as the first as the convoy made its way to Rocky Point, finally reaching it on 17 December when the first survivors, including a pregnant woman, were airlifted to Walvis Bay. Another load of survivors was airlifted later in the day, while the rest of the shipwrecked crew continued to Windhoek with the convoy. It would be another week before they finally trundled into the city in time to celebrate Christmas eve.
All the Dunedin Star passengers and crew survived due to the courageous and mammoth efforts of many in one of the most dramatic and labour-intensive rescue operations ever seen along the coast, one that will be remembered when all the shipwrecks of old have disintegrated into the sands of the Skeleton Coast.
(References: ‘About valleys and shipwrecks’, Hartmut O. Fahrbach, Scientific Society Swakopmund, 2022; ‘Gateway to adventure’, Pat Honeyborne, Namibia Publishing House, 2022)