Page 22 - Bulletin 9 2005

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Canal more efficient, worked on designs that would provide additional stowage space in the
holds, without increasing deck area unnecessarily. The results of these efforts were the

turret steamers. The fact that this vessel was at the Cape is indicative of the outbreak of war
and the perils to shipping in the Mediterranean and Red Sea. Again, global events are

reflected in shipping at the Cape. It is of interest also, in that the opening of the Suez Canal

in November 1869 resulted in a substantial drop in shipping traffic around South Africa
with severe economic and political consequences. As with the Bato and Brunswick, the

remains present in the artefact assemblage on the Clan Stuart wreck site may not directly
show these global trends, but the wreck site represents an historical landmark in South

Africa’s history and serves as an indicator of events taking place elsewhere in the world.

There are, of course, the wrecks of the ships that did not change the world, whose un-

dramatic wrecking and unremarkable crews were quickly forgotten. These ships plied their
trade locally and were part of everyday life at the Cape. In most cases no lives were lost

and after a brief inquiry, and a small article tucked in the back pages of local newspaper,

interest quickly focused on events elsewhere. An example of this type of vessel is the Rex
stranded in Kalk Bay in 1903, prior to the construction of the harbour. The vessel was en

route from Simon’s Town to the fishing grounds off Cape Agulhas and had anchored to
load ice for packing fish. In strong south-easterly winds her anchors dragged and she went

aground. The enquiry blamed her Master, D. C. Newbury, for bad seamanship and found
that equipment was defective. The vessel was too damaged to salvage and remained visible

for many years as she was gradually broken up by the sea. Some remains can still be seen

inside Kalk Bay Harbour.

The unremarkable nature of this vessel and her crew is, however, interesting in an historical
context. Where history has recorded the events that changed South African society, it is up

to archaeology to examine the backdrop to these events. The examination of the mundane,
as manifested in ships like the Rex and her crew, helps in the understanding of the

background milieu against which history plays out. The everyday occurrences and people