Shipwreck mystery is solved

The mystery of the Durban shipwreck that was uncovered during dredging operations to widen and deepen the harbour entrance has finally been solved.

"And it is great to put a name and a face to her," said a delighted Vanessa Maitland, the maritime archaeologist known as the Agatha Christie of the deep.

Maitland was called in by the SA Heritage Resources Agency to investigate the mystery last year.

The wreck, now identified as the Steam Ship (SS) Karin, had been buried in 3m of sand and was 1.18km from the north breakwater, lying in the shipping channel.

While it was not considered a threat to navigation, if it was not removed it would certainly have posed a threat to the modern, larger ships calling into the port after Transnet's extensive renovations.

Maitland, of Durban North, had to find out all she could about the wreck and advise on how best it could be removed.

She had to don her diving gear to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Brass

Now, after five underwater trips to check on the chunks of metal, tangled brass pipes and steel plates that lay scattered on the seabed and after spending months searching through archives, the shipwreck sleuth has solved the riddle.

Maitland was able to trace the 470-ton ship's history since the vessel was built in Holland in 1918.

The ship was called the Leksveer then, becoming the Maastad in 1920, the Maggie O'Regan in 1921 and finally Karin in 1923.

Her first port of registration was Rotterdam, then Cork in Ireland, followed by London and lastly Durban.

She had six owners, the last being Smith's Coasters.

Maitland feels that having had so many owners, the ship was "a bit of a tub".

"No one had her more than two years. She was not well founded: the owners possibly did not like her problems," Maitland said.

But how did she come to end up at the bottom of Durban harbour?

It was October 22, 1927, and the ship had set sail from Durban for East London with a cargo of sugar and diesel.

"What I gathered, she was loaded badly and was top-heavy and listing," said Maitland.

"She turned to go down the coast and there was heavy weather. A wave washed over her and she took on 80 tons of water.

"The crew tried to sort out the problem, but Karin turned belly up and went straight down."

One man died and his body washed up on the beach. Everyone else survived.

Maitland will now try to find out the name of the dead crewman.

The ship was blown up to flatten it, thus preventing it becoming a shipping hazard at the time.

Now, more than 80 years later, divers put charges around the wreck to loosen it so that the fragmented pieces could be removed.

"There was no spectacular explosion, just a little boop on the sea. It was so small that no one was able to get pictures," Maitland said.

While tons of corroding metal were brought to the surface and stacked on the quayside ready to be taken to the scrapyard for recycling, some interesting items were also recovered.

A frying pan, forks, spoons, shoes, ceramic shards, tools and the ship's bell, which will eventually end up in a museum, have proved fascinating finds for Maitland.

"It would cost millions to restore her, and who would want to?

"It is not a famous ship from Tudor times. She's just been a wreck for 83 years."

Yesterday was Maitland's last day at the harbour site and she will now turn her attention to finding out the name of the captain and other details.

"There was a court of inquiry and I still need to get those facts from the National Archives in Pretoria before making my final report," she said last night.

• This article was originally published on page 3 of The Daily News on February 09, 2010