Five centuries ago the Portuguese mariners were the first Europeans to reach the southernmost tip of Africa and land in the southern Cape. Yet the Strandveld farms in the area were the last to be colonized in the 18 th century, because they were the most remote from the Caepse Wagenweg. 

The first map to depict the continent of Africa as a whole, drawn by a German cartographer Martellus, in 1489, shows the southern end of Africa as an inverted triangle. The apex of Martello’s triangle, that is, the point he shows lying furthest south is Cabo de boa Esperanza, and Ponta de Sao Brendao lies northwest of it.

The contrary winds and reefs made the Agulhas Bank the most dangerous passage of the whole voyage to India and the greatest threat to the Eastern sea trade of the Europeans. The stormy Cape had proved to be an indication of good hope, but the Agulhas Bank became and has remained a graveyard of mariner’s, the Coast of Shipwrecks. The true outline of the Overberg coast had to await the survey carried out in 1822 by the officers of the H.M.S. Barracouta. The 1822 venture was the first ‘running survey’ of the whole coast. Landmarks and places inland augmented the coastline, and gradually the colonial map came into existence. However, the existence of more detailed and trustworthy maps, unfortunately, did not bring an end to the tradition of shipwrecks along the treacherous southern shores. (Laubscher, 2007)

The story of shipwrecks along the Cape Agulhas coast is displayed in the Shipwreck Museum in Bredasdorp.

Although it might not have been the first ship to founder on Africa’s most southern coastline, the Zoetendaal is nevertheless the first ship recorded to have been lost there. The 40 odd that made it to shore were also the first recorded unwilling explorers to the Overberg and can be accredited with the finding and naming of the most southern fresh-water lake in Africa, Zoetendaals Valley.

The 448-ton flute Zoetendaal was built in 1669. Under the command of Jan Adriaansz Block of Enkhuizen, fully loaded with rice, the Zoetendaal started her last return trip from the East on 26 June 1673. The voyage was uneventful, with calm weather throughout the journey. Like the Schonenberg 49 years later and a number of other afterwards, navigation errors combined with in-setting currents brought the Zoetendaal too close to the coast. On first contact with a prominent reef on the western corner of Struys Bay – today called the Northumberland reef - her rudder was shattered.

Rudderless the ship was propelled further onto the reef and closer to shore by both the southeast following wind and the added force of the southeast pushing spring high tide waves. Thus, in calm weather, a clear sky and three days before full moon, the Zoetendaal was lost on 23 September 1673! 

Of the crew, four were drowned and most others turned to liquor for courage (today called "Dutch courage").

They drank themselves into a stupor. Fortunately for all, the wreck eventually ended up lying within a bay, with her stern fixed on a rock, not a musket-shot distance (200m) from the shore. This enabled the skipper and 40-odd men to wade out to safety.  

Until a few years ago the Zoetendaal’s full complement of anchors treated Overbergers to an experience in an outdoor museum. Scrap merchants robbed us of this by removing and selling the steel. Interestingly, the Schonenberg some 49 years later hit the reef some 700m out to sea from the Zoetendaal. Fortunately, her remains are still lying relatively untouched since 1722.

At the time, the Zoetendaal’s keel was wrenched loose by the force of the waves and washed up, along with planks and woodwork that had been sent from Batavia. A drowned horse also washed ashore. This welcome meat and other provisions picked up on the beach were to provide the survivors with some hunger relief en route to civilisation. With very little water provisions imagine the joy of the thirsty survivors when, after having walked for only five hours, they came across a large fresh-water lake. Later the Dutch were to name this, Africa's most southern fresh water lake "Zoetendaals Vlei" after the ship.

From there to the Cape, their suffering was immense, as not only was one of the sailors killed by an elephant, but they were also forced to keep themselves alive by eating the grass of the fields and the flesh of the previously mentioned dead horse. Thanks to the eventual help of the local Khoekhoe most made it to the Cape.

Approximately 23 shipwrecks have been recorded along the coastline between L’Agulhas and Die Damme.

JUNO

(Dutch barque, 631 tons), (en route from Madagascar to Holland?), en route from Batavia to Rotterdam; cargo: coffee, sugar, rattans and tin blocks; wrecked on the point of Cape Agulhas, directly under the lighthouse, 2/03/1852; 5 passengers drowned. (Shipping Register, Cape Archives, C.C. 2/17)

MENTOR

Dutch hoeker, 1150 tons, built in 1774: en route from Batavia to Holland; wrecked on a reef off Cape Agulhas, 5/01/1780; 2 survivors. (Cape Archives, V.C. 33; Dutch Asiatic Shipping Homeward Voyages, 1597-1795, The Hague, 1979)

GEOTRYDER 

Wrecked off Agulhas Point, 1849.

ELISE

German schooner, 122 tons: en route to Table Bay; cargo: 400 bags of grain, wrecked at Agulhas Point,

12 June 1879, no lives were lost.

STAR OF THE ISLES 

Wrecked east of Rasperpunt, 1908.

SS CAMPHILL

British steel screw steamship, 3988 tons, built in 1906; en route from Rangoon to Buenos Aires; cargo: rice; wrecked west of Cape Agulhas opposite Meishu Maru, 27/03/1913; three men died when the main steam-pipe burst. (Cape Argus, 27.28/03/1913; Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1911-12)

MEISHU MARU

Taiwanese trawler; route unknown; cargo: tuna, diesel-oil; wrecked east of Rasperpunt, 1982; 17 survivors.

TREVELYAN 

Wrecked west of Cape Agulhas, 1888.

EUROPEAN 

Wrecked at Bloubaai, 1877.

YUNG TAI 2 T

Taiwanese trawler; route unknown; cargo: fish; wrecked in Bloubaai, 1982.

LE CENTAURE 

French ship; en route from Mauritius to France; cargo unknown; 400 survivors; wrecked a little west of Cape Agulhas opposite Die Walle, 19/01/1750 (Hoek se Baai); 400 passengers and crew reached Cape Town safely. (Cape Archives, V.C. 26)

SS ALCESTIS

British steel screw ship, 1850 tons, built in 1890; en route from Glasgow to Mauritius; cargo: government stores, explosives and railway material; struck a sunken wreck and sank 2,5 km off Brandfontein, 28/02/1895. (Eastern Province Herald, 2/03/1892; Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1891-92)

QUEEN ANNE

British Motor merchant, 4,937 tons, built in 1937; en route Manchester – Cape Town - Aden - Alexandria – Beirut; cargo: 6126 tons of government stores and 698 tons of general cargo, including explosives; sunk during World War 2 by a German submarine, U-509; off Brandfontein, 10 February 1943; 45 passengers (5 dead and 40 survivors).

BARBARA GORDON

British wooden barque, 338 tons, built in 1836; en route from Adelaide to Swansea and London; cargo: 338 tons of copper ore and 181 bales of wool; wrecked on a reef east of Ratel River, 5/05/1853; six survivors and a few crew members, five passengers and one crew member survived. (Cape Town Mail, 14, 17/05/1853; Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1853-54; Shipping Register, Cape Archives, C.C. 2/18)

GRACE 

British vessel, 250 tons, built in 1811; en route from Port Jackson to London; cargo: wool and grain oil; wrecked near Ratel River after catching fire and abandoned on 4/6/1822; no lives were lost. (Cape Archives, C.O. 2640 No 53)

DONCASTER 

British barque, 235 tons, built 1825; en route from Mauritius to London; cargo: troops and passengers; wrecked about 21 km west of Cape Agulhas and about 1 km in extent near the Ratel River (mouth of Ratel River), 17/07/1836; no survivors; 38 bodies of men, women and children were buried after being found on the beach. (Cape of Good Hope Govern. Gazette, 5/08, 2/09/1836; Grahamstown Journal, 18/08/1836; Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1836-37; SA Commercial Advertiser, 27/08/1836)

DUCHESS OF BUCCLEUGH

British wooden barque, 404 tons, built 1843; en route from Calcutta to London; cargo: indigo, rice, sugar and silk; run ashore on a sandy beach close to the Ratel River mouth, 13/06/1850. (Cape Town Mail, 15/06/1850; Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1850-51; Shipping Register, Cape Archives, C.C. 2/17)

GLORIA DEO

Italian barque, 977 tons; en route from Singapore to Falmouth; cargo: rice and rattans; wrecked on a reef in front of the Ratel River, 19/06/1882; 15 survivors. (Cape Argus, 3, 5/07/1882; Shipping Register, Cape Archives, C.C. 3/7/2/3)

SS EASTERN PROVINCE

British iron screw steamer, 784 tons, built in 1864: en route from Port Elizabeth to Falmouth; wrecked on the rocks near Mr Van Breda’s farm Visch Vlei near Quion Point on 26/06/1865 (Ratel River); sailed in 1864 a record time of 32,5 days between Falmouth and Port Elizabeth; all survived, but part of cargo was lost. (Lloyds Register of Shipping 1865- 66, Shipping register Cape archives CC 3/7/2/1) 

JOHANNA

English East-Indiaman, 550 tons; en route from Batavia to Amsterdam; cargo: sugar, tobacco and rubber, 70 chests of pieces-of-eight and silver bullion; Olof Bergh recovered some pieces at the time, but after that the wreck then lay untouched until 1982; wrecked on the outside reef at “Die Dam” a little east of Quoin Point, 8/06/1682; all on board survive, total unknown. (Cape Archive, V.C. 9)

NORTH-EAST 

British iron barque, 1022 tons, built 1863; en route from Manilla to New York; cargo: 17 424 bags of sugar, 355 000 cigars, 43 cases of pearl shells, 128 bales of hides, 5070 bales of hemp or jute; wrecked in vicinity of the Ratel River, 13/12/1872, (Rietfontein strand); all on board survived, total unknown. (Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1872-73; Shipping Register, Cape Archives, C.C. 3/7//2/2)

R.P. BUCK

American barque, 926 tons; en route Robalingo to Falmouth; cargo: sugar; wrecked 24 km west of Cape Agulhas near the Ratel River, 4/04/1877; no lives were lost. (Shipping Register, Cape Archives, C.C. 3/7/2/2)

RACER 

British wooden brigantine, 249 tons, built in 1874; en route from Mosselbay to West-Indian Islands; wrecked 14,5 km east of Quoin Point (Marthaspunt), 27/01/1879; all on board survived, total unknown. (Lloyds Register of Shipping, 1878-79; Shipping Register, Cape Archives, C.C. 3/7/2/3)