Arniston is a picturesque village with thatched lime-washed fisherman's cottages. It is the only town in South Africa with two official names - long known to the locals and holidaying Afrikaans-speaking folk as Waehuiskran, because of a huge cavern nearby which is reputedly big enough for a wagon and a span of oxen to turn around in; and also called Arniston, of course.
Arniston derived its name from an English East Indiaman ‘Arniston’, which was wrecked at sea and survivors, dead bodies and wreckages were found just in front of Arniston Spa Hotel in 1815. Only 6 of the 378 passengers on board survived the wreck on this jagged coastline, which is famous for its position as a sea route to the East. This morning, I ran past Arniston Seaside Cottages and along the coastline. I could see the rough waves pounding against the rocky coast. With countless shipwrecks here in the southern coast of Africa, this region must be a chilling tribute to many seafarers of yesteryear! I returned to the hotel after a short run.
Arniston Spa Hotel has a handsome collection of paintings displayed along the corridors to its rooms. These paintings reflected the Kaissiesbaai (the local fishing village) charm of Arniston’s fishing heritage.
I had a whole day meeting at Denel OTB (Overburg Toetsbaan) before returning to the hotel for dinner.
The Wreck Of Arniston
Arniston was an English East Indiaman built on the river Thames in 1794. She was 54m long and 13m wide, a fairly large size 3 decked and 3 masted vessel with a measured tonnage of 1498 tons. She made 8 successful voyages to India and China between Nov 1794 and Jun 1813. Sometime between 1813 and 1814, she was requisitioned by the British Admiralty for service in India and Ceylon as a government troop transport. In Mar 1815, Arniston was in the Colombo roadstead awaiting the arrival of wounded soldiers in order to evacuate them home to Britain. Two campaigns were being waged – one against the Gurkha’s of Nepal and the other the Second Kandia War in Ceylon. On 4 Apr 1815, Arniston sailed from Ponte de Galle under convoy of His Majesty Ship Africaine and Big Victon together with six other Indiamen. One of the six survivors, Charles Stewart Scott, wrote:
“After seven weeks at sea, the Arniston parted company from the convoy on 26 May owing to heavy seas and strong winds which had ripped away most of her sails. After more than four days of battling against gale-force winds, a grave error in judgment was made aboard the Arniston. Thinking they had reached Table Bay, the crew changed course to supposedly sail for St Helena. At four o’clock in the afternoon of 30 May, breakers were sighted and, unable to alter course, the decision was taken to cut away three anchors and run the ship on shore. Disaster stuck as the ship began to break up on the needle sharp rocks of Agulhas Reef. By eight o’clock that evening, it was over with 372 passengers, many whom were wounded soldiers, perishing at sea. Only six survivors made it to shore, about one and a half mile distant. At daylight the next morning, only the stern post was visible. The beach was littered with dead bodies, wreckages and stores.”
Believing that they were westward of Cape Point, the six survivors traveled eastward along the coast for four and an half days. Realising that they were at the wrong place when they arrived at Breede River at Cape Infanta, they returned to the wreck site. Help finally came from John Swarts, a local farmer’s son, who discovered this tragedy while shooting. The bodies were finally buried nearly one and a half month later after the shipwreck on 11 Jul. The wreckage and salvaged goods were auctioned off on 7, 8 and 9 Aug 1815. A tablet was erected on the dunes where the wreck lay on the beach at Waenhuiskrans. Mrs Andrew Geils, who lost her son to the wreck, came from England and traveled from Cape Town to Bredasdorp by ox-wagon.
In 1982, the shipwreck was finally located, after a long search, 4km to the south west of Arniston. The remains of the ship lie underwater at a depth of 5-6 metres, approximately 900 metres off the shore. A selection of these can be viewed in the Bredasdorp Museum.
