Title

Wreck of the mail-steamer Athens in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, 1865. Creator: Unknown.

Caption

Wreck of the mail-steamer Athens in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, 1865. A '...tremendous storm...on the 17th of May...[wrecked a ship] belonging to the Union Steam Navigation Company...[She] was carried broadside upon the rocks, at Green Point, between the lighthouses...It was seven o'clock in the evening when she was driven upon the rocks, where she very rapidly broke up. The calls for help of those on board could be distinctly heard upon the shore, amid the roar of the breakers...for two hours a continued wail of anguish and appeals for help came from the steamer, which could occasionally be seen lying on the rocks, broken-backed, but still above water...About ten o'clock the cries ceased, and thick darkness gathered over the scene...Next morning two bodies were recovered, both very much bruised from pounding against the rocks, and both were stripped, with the exception of under-drawers, showing that, before taking their final plunge, the unhappy men had calmly prepared themselves for a last struggle for life...the master, Captain D. Smith, Dr. J. Heath Curtis, the medical officer...engineers, and twenty-five other persons, made up the list of the officers and crew; and there is no doubt that they all perished'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/The Print Collector

Reference

HRM24A26_258

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

License type

Rights managed

Available size

27,4Mb (2,3Mb) / 12,4in x 8,6in / 3711 x 2585 (300dpi)

Keywords

weather storm transport transportation cloud clouds ocean sea waves coast people male man men South Africa boat boats arts coastal bay rocks rock light night stormy dark danger wave art guy dangerous British geography color dead dramatic death drowned lighthouse Atlantic Ocean darkness disaster century shipwreck steam boat Britain wreck drowning catastrophe newspapers helpless press Cape of Good Hope print storm cloud rough seas storm clouds concept navigation time of day B&W steamboat engraved engraving peril Colour 19th century water transport black & white black and white B W white and black nineteenth century shipwrecked The Print Collector geographical feature Illustrated London News steamer boat TGN ILN newspaper Table Bay Unknown drownings mail steamer stormcloud stormclouds 19th-century