Cape Town - A maritime mystery is unfolding along the Cape coast. A 40m floating wreck has disappeared, just as suddenly as it appeared.
The South African Airforce has been asked by the SA Maritime Authority (Sama) to assist in locating the wreck, first noticed by a local fishing crew on Thursday, nine nautical miles off Cape Point.
They reported their sighting to the NSRI in Simon’s Town.
NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said its volunteers attached a life jacket fitted with strobe lights to the wreck, to serve as a warning to approaching vessels.
He described the wreck as a navigational hazard – a large, capsized vessel floating semi-submerged off Cape Point.
Mark Steed, of Sama’s Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Plattekloof, said officials were alerted to the wreck by the NSRI on Friday, but upon investigation they realised it had disappeared.
Steed said the lookout was for a capsized 40m fishing vessel. “Its propeller was visible. It was upside down. We are trying to get an air force plane to help us look for it, and we’ve broadcast to other vessels to report any sighting of it.”
Telkom Maritime Radio Services posted a navigational hazard alert for vessels in the vicinity of Cape Point.
A marine biologist and NSRI Hout Bay volunteer, who accompanied the NSRI Simon’s Town to the wreck, suspected that, judging by barnacle growth on the wreck, she may have been in the sea for about two months.
Lambinon, said: “Our greatest concern is (the safety of) fishermen departing to go to normal fishing grounds deep-sea south of Cape Point before sunrise, and returning after sunset as the floating wreck is barely visible. It appears that sightings of the floating wreck have been made before. It is unknown what vessel this is.”
The NSRI had received no prior indications that a ship had sunk, but would monitor future sightings to track the progress of the floating wreck.
Cape Times