1845: Suffren, this wooden sailing French barque of 293 tons commanded by Captain Weisbrood was parted from its cables during a north-easterly gale in the outer anchorage of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal and wrecked. Suffren had voyaged from Reunion in ballast to load a cargo of cattle, No lives were lost.
1902: Hiddeskel, this 4-masted sailing barque struck a reef between Hout Bay and Camps Bay in the Western Cape and after manning the pumps for two hours, had to be abandoned before reaching Green Point in the hopes of being beached, as the water had gained on the pumps too much.
The Hiddeskel was one of the largest sailing ships to have been lost on the South African coast.
When 51 days out of Newport, bound for Table Bay, the vessel struck a sunken reef between Hout and Camps Bay. She managed to free herself from the reef and for two hours the crew manned the pumps, hoping to beach the vessel at Greenpoint.
With the water gaining in the holds however, they were forced to abandon the ship, and landed at Cape Town docks. Captain Ooudray had been master of the vessel since he obtained his masters ticket in 1892.
Holland Olifantsbos Olifantsbos Vessel was trying to enter False Bay with a fleet of warships when she struck a reef on the evening of 11 May, and became a total wreck. Lost at the same place as the Napoleon.
Eight lives lost.
1937: Stuart Star, this two screw steam powered refrigerator steamer of 11 926 tons ran aground at 09h00 and wrecked after encountering dense fog at Hood Point in East London in the Eastern Cape. At the time of wrecking, it was the largest refrigerated cargo ship in the world. Other than the dense fog, the enquiry found that there was an absence of sounding equipment on board to determine depth accurately. Most of the cargo and some of the equipment was salvaged before the bottom opened up and it eventually broke up. Stuart Star was built in 1926 by Palmers, Newcastle and was under the command of Captain Sinclair. She was on a voyage from Algoa Bay with 15 passengers and a crew of 93.
