Page 13 - Bulletin 22 2019

10

Bellows Reef and Whittle Rock

The Bellows lies some distance off Cape Point and on 18 January 1880 the Paralos – a
French barque – struck it and then drifted loose for two hours, whilst taking water, before she

sank. She was carrying a cargo of guano from Borneo on her way to Falmouth. The crew
took to lifeboats and reached Table Bay approximately ten hours later. (Fig. 1.9.)

Whittle Rock is a reef rising from the seabed to a pinnacle between three and four metres
below the surface. It breaks only when there is a strong swell running into the bay. In 1796

HMS Trident struck it while doing excursions in the bay, at the time of the arrival of Admiral
Lucas and his Dutch fleet. After the surrender of the Dutch fleet Rear Admiral Thomas

Pringle ordered his majesty’s brig Euphrosyne to chart the bay and find this dangerous rock.

In January 1797 Lt. Daniel Whittle, commander of the Euphrosyne, discovered the rock, after
which it was charted and named after him. A buoy was placed near it, but this did not last.

In 1810 the English East Indiaman Euphrates struck the pinnacle and sank. All that remains
of her today are the two anchors and random pieces of copper plating. (Figs. 1.10 & 1.11.)

Buffels Bay

On 7 August 1897 at night Nukteris – (Greek for bat mother) – a schooner of 152 feet (46m),

owned by Mr Auret was wrecked on the north side of Buffels Bay. She was trying to sail out
of the bay to Cape Town with a cargo of lime from Cape Point. Four of her crew drowned.

(Figs. 1.12 & 1.13.)

Seaforth

The Phoenix was a British merchant ship of 500 tons which was launched in 1810. (Fig.
1.14.) On 19 July 1829 she was blown on to what is today called Phoenix Shoal, a stretch of

reefs extending seaward from Seaforth. Her anchor is all that is visible on the seabed, whilst
her stern section is buried in the sand.

She was on a voyage from Ceylon with passengers and a cargo of sundries and had come into

False Bay for supplies. All of the passengers were saved, along with some of her cargo. She