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For the Newcomers to Richards Bay…
on the Shipwreck in the Harbour Approach Channel
Her name is the ‘SS
Newark Castle’,
a Union Castle Line, extra steamer, of 6,224(5,093?)
tons. She was built in 1902 by Barclay Curle in Glasgow, and was under command of a
Captain Neilson when abandoned.
According to one
source she was on a voyage from London to Mauritius with draftees for the garrison
at Mauritius
and a general cargo that included a large amount of paper money. Another
source has it that she was bound for Lourenco Marques from Durban… She
ran aground between Richards
Bay and Port
Durnford, a stone marker demolished long ago by the sea, on 12 March
1908. She was abandoned and three people lost their lives during the
evacuation.
Thereafter she came
free again and drifted 11 km before getting stuck again, almost opposite
the Mhlatuze
River. Here she
swung broadside to the breakers and soon broke up. Fragments reappeared
decades later during dredging of the present harbour approach
channel. A buoy in the channel permanently marks the site.
HARBOUR MAP
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Location
