The Wreck of the Kakapo
At Noordhoek beach, you can see the wreck of the Kakapo. This ship was wrecked in 1900. Luckily all on board survived, although there is a legend that tells of Captain Nicolayson, overwhelmed with guilt and shock over the wreck, refused to leave the ship. It is said he lived aboard the grounded vessel for as long as three years.
The steamship weighed in at 665 tons and was built only two years earlier in Scotland by the Grangemouth Dockyard Company. It was on its maiden voyage from Swansea, Wales, to Sydney with a cargo of coal. It was about to round the Cape. The weather was terrible with driving rain and poor visibility, however, the captain called full steam ahead to port. But he had miscalculated, and what he believed was Cape Point was in fact Signal Hill.
The ship was moving so fast that it skidded a few metres up onto the beach. Attempts were made to tow it back into the water to no avail.
The wreck was featured in the background of the movie Ryan’s Daughter which, although set in Ireland, was filmed at Noordhoek.
