How ancient ships rode out Cape's rough seas

The way we were

IN THE past, Table Bay was notorious for its fierce winter storms, which caused many tragic shipwrecks. Vessels nearing port in bad weather stayed at sea until conditions abated, but there was no shelter for those already anchored in the bay, prior to the construction of the first small harbour in the late 1860s.

In 1862 William Henry Rosser published a weighty manual entitled “Notes on the physical geography and meteorology of the South Atlantic” which included much sage advice. Referring to Table Bay, he noted that there were two or three “inconvenient and insufficient wooden jetties at the town, said to be half devoured by the worm, where goods and passengers land and embark”.

Merchant vessels nearing the anchorage were tracked from signal stations and seldom arrived unexpectedly. The port captain would board each new arrival and point out a proper berth, depending on whether the master intended loading or unloading cargo or merely taking on water and provisions.

Mooring in an open roadstead involved the deployment of anchors, stream anchors, kedges, hawses, cables, buoys and buoy ropes.

A debate over the merits of chains versus hempen cables was raging at the time. Some experts believed that although properly maintained chain cables were to be preferred where the bottom was foul or rocky, hempen or coir cables were best in swells and heavy winds, as they were more elastic.

North-westerly winter gales sent heavy swells into the bay and often blew so violently that no ship could ride them out.

However, Rosser believed that fewer anchor cables would part in bad weather if captains took care to moor their vessels with “good ground tackle, and a good stock of cable”, instead of hurrying ashore as soon as the first anchor was let go.

Masters mooring near the primitive jetties were required to use two bower anchors with an open hawse to the northnorth-east, taking special care not to overlay other ships’ anchors “or in any way to give the vessel near him a foul berth”.

Ships needing water and refreshment were allowed to ride at single anchor in the outer anchorage, but their other bower anchor was to be kept in perfect readiness to be utilised.

Masters were admonished to keep their vessels snug to counteract the effects of possible squalls.

Communications were rudimentary and limited chiefly to signal flags. Messages from shore included precise instructions regarding the deployment of various items of sailing and mooring gear. Ships could use flags to report difficulties and ask for help.

In cases where vessels were known to be in danger, the inhabitants of Cape Town were alerted by the firing of three guns from the Chavonnes Battery at twominute intervals, answered by one gun from the Imhoff Battery.