Page 25 - Bulletin 9 2005

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The role of privateers in maritime history makes for interesting study. The blurred line
between piracy and national interest, as most famously recorded in the exploits of Sir

Francis Drake, makes these vessels and their crews unique examples of policies and
politics. The allowances afforded someone like Drake, compared to the fate that would

have awaited the crew of Le Napoleon, should they have been captured, shows a stark

contrast in the application of law and ethics. The shipwreck sites that contain evidence of
the day-to-day lives of privateers and pirates are an important archaeological resource

because they enable us to examine the day to day lives of the people living in this moral
grey area.

The joy of safe deliverance and the tragedy of loss of life are well reflected in the Cape’s

shipwreck heritage. Often the two were played out side by side, as was the case in August

1842 when, on the same night, the ships HMS Waterloo and Abercrombie Robinson were
lost in Table Bay. (Fig. 1.8) The former was a convict hulk, the latter a troop transport ship.

Even before the north-west gale of the early morning of 28 August, the odds were stacked
against the survival of the convicts. The Waterloo had been condemned and was later re-
instated as a convict ship. The timbers were rotten and weak and, being almost 30 years

old, the ship was unfit for a sea voyage. It is also likely that the convicts, bound for
Tasmania, were in low spirits, unruly and unable to help themselves in the event of disaster.

By comparison, the Abercrombie Robinson was in excellent shape, her crew were efficient
and experienced, and the troops on board were well-disciplined. When the two ships broke

free of their anchors and were grounded near to each other close to the Salt River mouth,

their fates were immediately clear. The Waterloo broke up quickly and was offered little
assistance from the shore, while the Abercrombie Robinson held together long enough for

assistance to be rendered. The discipline of the soldiers on board the Abercrombie Robinson
th
also played a role in their survival and by dawn on the 28 all of the nearly 700 souls on
board had reached safety. On the Waterloo, however, disaster loomed: 157 of the 271
people on board perished, the worst loss of life in Table Bay in almost 50 years.