Waenhuiskrans Favorites

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Favorite thing: The coastline in the Agulhas - Waenhuiskrans area is famous for its shipwrecks. One of the more well known wrecks is the HMS Birkenhead, a British troop carrier under command of Captain Robert Salmond that hit an uncharted rock near Danger Point at 2am on 26 February 1852.
At the time she was carrying about 643 men, women and children and in the ensuing chaos the order "stand fast - women and children first" was given for the first time.
The troops on board stood firm as the 20 or so women and children took to the lifeboats but due to poor maintenance there were problems getting some of these away and the Birkenhead slid to her watery grave, taking with her all but the 193 that were eventually saved.
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The Arniston was a British East Indiaman of 1498 tons, built on the Thames in 1794. Between November 1794 and June 1813, she made eight successful voyages to India and China. Sometime during 1813-1814, however, she was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use as a troop transport between England, India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

On her last voyage from Pont de Galle, Ceylon in April 1815, she was carrying wounded troops from the Kandian and Ghurka campaigns. Her total complement on that voyage was 378, which included 14 women and 25 children. On around 26 May, the vessel was separated from the rest of the fleet after most of her sails had been blown out in bad weather. Due to a navigational error and adverse winds the Arniston was wrecked east of Cape Agulhas on 30 April with huge loss of life. Only six survived the disaster.