WRECKED

Cape Town did not yet have a harbour in 1865. It was still being built. So when a hellish storm hit in mid-May, with gargantuan waves whipping Table Bay into a maelstrom, the ships anchored in the bay had two choices: stay on anchor and try to weather the storm, with the risk of being dragged onto the beach; or head into the teeth of the howling north-wester to seek refuge in deeper water.

David Smith, captain of the RMS Athens – a mail and passenger ship, running between Cape Town and Southampton in England – took the second option. As evening fell, with the ship’s steam engine fired up and its last anchor busted, he set course to the north-west. The boat puttered along as it went head-to-head with the monster swell and driving winds. It didn’t get far, just managing to make it around the old Mouille Point Lighthouse before