The wrath of the Cape blinders

Blinders are large, often pointed rocks that usually lie in shallow water, below the surface of the ocean.

Blinders such as Bellows Rock, Anvil Rock and Albatross Rock have been responsible for a number of shipwrecks along the Cape coast.

The most famous of these is the Portuguese passenger liner Lusitania, which struck Bellows Rock in 1911, with 600 people aboard. Although the ship sank, few lives were lost.

Around 100 years before the Lusitania, Anvil Rock led to the foundering of the Colebrooke, a three-decked ship built in 1770. At the time, it was windy, but clear, and the ship was heading into False Bay when she struck the blinder.

Anvil Rock is described as “an isolated rocky pinnacle [that] rises like a fang from the surrounding seabed”. The rock was not marked on Dutch sailing charts of the time, and as the Colebrooke was travelling with three other ships, the captain desperately tried to signal his plight, and warn them to steer clear. The Asia, Royal Admiral and Gatton managed to avoid the same fate as the Colebrooke, which eventually beached at Kogel Bay.

The wreck of the Colebrooke was discovered in 1986. She was pristinely preserved and was found to have carried lead and copper ingots, iron cannon, rods and girders, barrels of shot, Madeiran wine and various other small items. Many of the items salvaged are on display at the Iziko Maritime Museum in Cape Town.

Albatross Rock lies about 1.5km off Olifantsbos Point, directly in the path of any ship hugging the Cape shoreline.

Six ships are known to have foundered on Albatross Rock. The first of these was the steam tug Albatross, from which the rock earned its name. The tug, carrying a cargo of cotton, was travelling from Simon’s Town to Table Bay in 1863, when she struck the blinder in heavy seas and sank in minutes.

In 1878 the steamer RMS Kafir, carrying mail and passengers, left Table Bay bound for Mozambique and Zanzibar. The ship met its fate south of Olifantsbos after hitting Albatross Rock.

In 1880 the Star of Africa, an iron barque, left Calcutta for Table Bay, carrying a cargo of rice, wool and grain. She became the blinder’s next casualty, sinking in just ten minutes.

The steamer Umhlali similarly met her fate in September of 1909, en route from Durban to London. The passengers and crew managed to launch boats before the ship sank, and began rowing for Cape Town. They were later rescued by a passing steamer, the Galeka.

Following the Umhlali’s sinking, there was strong motivation to build a lighthouse – to alert ships to give the treacherous section of coastline a wide berth – at Slangkop Point. The lighthouse was finally built in 1919.

However, before the lighthouse was operational, another ship, the Swedish steam freighter, Bia, fell foul of Albatross Rock late at night, in stormy conditions in 1917. A local coaster, the Clara, came to the Bia crew’s rescue, saving the lives of most and earning an award for bravery from the then king of Sweden.

As recently as 1965 another ship felt the rock’s wrath The Dutch coaster, the Nolloth, sank to a watery grave after hitting the blinder in rough seas. A military helicopter ferried the crew to safety; possibly the first time this now-familiar rescue method was used off the South African coast.