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Visit SS Kakapo Shipwreck, Noordhoek Beach, South Africa
The Kakapo was on its maiden voyage without cargo from Southampton to New Zealand when it ran aground on the night of the 25 May 1900 off Noordhoek beach.
In poor visibility during a north-west winter storm, the captain mistook Chapman’s Peak for Cape Point and turned in-shore at full-speed and ran the ship up onto the beach. The crew did not have to lower the lifeboats. They simply climbed overboard onto the sand and walked away. Attempts to pull her off the sand by the tug T.E.Fuller were unsuccessful and were abandoned when the only hawser available at the time snapped.
Some of the metal plates were later used as a barricade to protect the railway line, others were removed during World War II to be recycled into armaments.
The rusting boilers and tiller, all that remain of that fateful night, can still be seen on the beach today.
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