1825: John, this wooden sailing vessel wrecked at the mouth of the Great Fish River in the Eastern Cape. Very little is known about it.
1844: Flamingo, this American wooden sailing vessel wrecked at Struisbaai/Struis Bay in the Western Cape. It is possible that it was just grounded and refloated.
1856: Zaltbommel, this 642 tons Dutch wooden sailing barque, under Captain CJ Juta, was wrecked between Mouille Point and Chavonnes Battery in Table Bay in the Western Cape. She had left Table Bay and was on a journey from Rotterdam to Batavia with a cargo including gin, wine and furniture most of which was saved. No lives were lost. She lies benath reclaimed land.
1858: Madagascar, this steam-powered coaster wrecked at the Bira River mouth in the Eastern Cape after striking the eponymous Madagascar reef and being run aground to prevent the coaster from foundering.
1886: Ispahan, this fully-rigged iron sailing vessel wrecked at Holbaai Point near Cape Hangklip in the Western Cape. The 28 lives that were on board were presumed lost until they miraculously popped up at Fishhoek, having rowed across False Bay in the lifeboat.
1895: Carmen, this steel sailing barque left Durban in KwaZulu-Natal on this day for Calcutta in India and was never heard from again.
1899: Ismore, this 7 744 ton four masted steam-powered troop ship built in 1899 by Barclay, Curle & Co, Glasgow was wrecked opposite near where today the Cape Columbine lighthouse is, in the eponymous “Soldiers Bay” on the West Coast in the Western Cape. She was on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Table Bay with 500 people on board, including the 10th Hussar Regiment and 63rd Royal Artillery as well as 350 horses. All the troops and crew managed to reach the shore, but only about 20 horses survived. The bay was named Soldiers Bay because of all the soldiers that were in the water after the wrecking. The wreck now lies at about 10-15m around the blinder which it struck. It is rare to get good visibility on this dive though.
