Page 36 - Bulletin 9 2005
P. 36

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                                                                                                                  largely covered by sand. When wrecked, the vessel was
                                                                                                                  on her maiden/delivery voyage. Was built by the
                                                                                                                  Grangemouth Dockyard Co. After World War I much of the
                                                                                                                  plating of the vessel was removed under contract, and
                                                                                                                  subsequently used by the SAR & H as a barricade on Fish
                                                                                                                  Hoek beach to stop the sand being blown onto the road
                                                                                                                  and railway lines.
                                          Katsu Maru 25            Hout Bay            Outside Harbour /          Beached after a collision. Then sunk at given position.                       1978/08/07
                                                                                       mouth of bay               Lies on her starboard side on sand with a maximum depth
                                                                                                                  of about 30m.
                                          Ker-Yar-Vor              Duiker Point /  Off                            On 31 December 1978 the vessel was berthed along the                          1979/08/10
                                                                   Maori Bay                                      North Quay at Hout Bay harbour, awaiting refuelling by the
                                                                                                                  Mobil Oil Company. Whilst connecting the diesel fuel lines
                                                                                                                  to the vessel, the Mobil truck driver lit a cigarette in the
                                                                                                                  vicinity of a gas installation aboard the vessel. This set off
                                                                                                                  a massive dry explosion which killed the ship's engineers
                                                                                                                  and the truck driver. The force of the blast was such that
                                                                                                                  parts of the ship's superstructure were blown hundreds of
                                                                                                                  metres seawards. The vessel, which had been scheduled
                                                                                                                  to sail the following day for the south coast deep sea
                                                                                                                  lobster grounds off Port Elizabeth, was declared a total
                                                                                                                  constructive loss by her insurers and condemned by the
                                                                                                                  Department of Transport's marine surveyors. Over the
                                                                                                                  course of the following months she was stripped of
                                                                                                                  anything of use of value, and then during August 1979
                                                                                                                  was towed around the Sentinel and scuttled to form an
                                                                                                                  artificial reef. She ended up lying atop the Jo May. The
                                                                                                                  vessel was built in 1963 in the Belgian yards of Belliard
                                                                                                                  Murdoch SA in Ostend. She had a registered gross
                                                                                                                  tonnage of 291.83 tons, and was 42.25 metres long.
                                                                                                                  Explosion. Towed to Cape Town where she was scuttled
                                                                                                                  on 10-08-1979 in 22 metres of water. 22m long.
                                          Koumoundouros            Cape                Cape Peninsula             Sunk by U-68.                                                                 1942/10/08
                                                                   Peninsula           (off)
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