Every town has street-naming themes that give a place a sense of identity and community.
It’s often a simple homogeneity, such as bird or animal species, but in some cases the naming can be quite esoteric.
If you live in Cape St Francis in the Eastern Cape, you have to know local maritime history to draw connection between roads with the names Akbar, Arago, Bender, Haarlem, Jonge Thomas, L’Aigle, Lyngenfjord, Meermin, Panaghia, President Reitz, Stavenisse and Suffolk.
These would have almost everybody scratching their heads but you might be given a hint when Birkenhead, Grosvenor and Waratah are added to the list.
They’re famous shipwrecks on the Southern Cape coast. While the Western Cape is known as the “Cape of Storms”, looking at the roll of vessels wrecked or sunk between Tsitsikamma and Gqeberha from 1690 to 2024 indicates that Eastern Cape waters are anything but plain sailing.
The list is far from exhaustive, says Matt Gennrich, one of the prime movers behind establishment of the recently opened St Francis Shipwreck Museum: more than 60 vessels are known to have foundered over a 110km stretch from Storm’s River Mouth to just beyond Shark Point.
The museum has its genesis in a modest open-air shipwreck display adjacent to Cape St Francis’ Irma Booysen nature reserve.
Members of the Kouga municipality’s finance and economic development section (which includes tourism) championed the creation of a dedicated indoor facility.
They identified a suitable unused building in St Francis Bay and helped secure municipal funding and permissions to bring the project to life.
Few people realised that one of South Africa’s foremost shipwreck experts, author and maritime historian Malcolm Turner, had been living in St Francis for the past six years.
His book Shipwrecks and Salvage in South Africa, published in the ’80s, is still regarded as definitive and is being updated.
There’s a story behind every wreck, of course, but some are more intense than others.
Not all involve loss of human life; some revolve around the travails of survivors, others involve animals and a few concern the histories of ships that went down.
Outside the museum are two bronze cannons from the Nossa Senhora de Atalaia do Pinheiro, while another from the Santissimo Sacramento overlooks the shore at Schoenmakerskop in Gqeberha 70km away.
According to a commemorative plaque in St Francis: “In one of the most dramatic maritime disasters of the 17th century, the Portuguese vessels Sacramento and Atalaia were wrecked along the South African coast during the winter of 1647…
“The two vessels sailed close to each other until the Atalaia sprung a leak, then lost her mast. She eventually beached near the Cefane River mouth
“Survivors made multiple trips to the wreck for supplies before some set off on foot for Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in Mozambique – an arduous journey.
“Many perished along the way.”
Meanwhile, the Sacramento – on its maiden voyage – was torn apart by storms near Schoenmakerskop.
“Only nine survivors joined the Atalaia group and together they reached Lourenço Marques on 5 January 1648 – nearly six months after the wrecks.
“The fate of those who remained at the wreck site is unknown.”
Then there was the SS Suffolk, which left London on August 10 1900, loaded with 900 horses intended as remounts for the British Army in South Africa.
She foundered after striking a submerged reef off Tsitsikamma Point. At dawn, with the ship beyond saving, the crew attempted to save the horses in the hope that some would swim ashore but only a few made the journey.
One reportedly survived… only to pull a cart in Humansdorp, near St Francis, for the rest of its life.
Although there is a depiction of the wreck of the Birkenhead and a small display of artefacts, their presence is almost an anomaly because the steam-powered troopship actually went down near Gansbaai more than 500km away in the Western Cape.
“When we conceptualised this museum, we said we would focus on shipwrecks in the area but include those of national historical relevance on the basis they are reflected in our street names,” said Gennrich.
“Hence we also have the Birkenhead, Grosvenor and Waratah.”
The Birkenhead’s breaching, on an uncharted rock off Danger Point during the night of February 26 1852, gave rise to an amazing act of military chivalrism and sacrifice that is etched into maritime lore.
According to Wikipedia , “There were insufficient serviceable lifeboats for all the passengers, and the soldiers famously stood in ranks on board, allowing the women and children to board the boats safely and escape the sinking.
“Only 193 of the estimated 643 people on board survived, and the soldiers’ chivalry was one of the earliest known instances of the unofficial ‘women and children first’ protocol when abandoning ship.”
Marine Dynamics is a Gansbaai-based company recognised for its commitment to marine conservation, research and preservation of the marine environment.
Together with the local tourism authority, it conducts an annual commemorative pilgrimage.
“It is an emotional and deeply meaningful event.
There is something about this story and place that continues to resonate,” says Marine Dynamics’ Christine Wessels.
-You can also visit the impressive maritime museums in Bredasdorp in the southern Overberg region of the Western Cape as well as Mossel Bay, which concentrates on the local Portuguese seafaring legacy.
