The shoreline that’s bone dry
QUESTION Do ships still founder on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast?
THE Skeleton Coast is the name given to the northern part of the coast of Namibia. It gained its macabre nickname in the 19th century when British and American whalers left the bones of whales and seals on the beaches to be bleached by the sun.
It has also been dubbed the Coast of Skulls, because it is the graveyard of more than 1,000 shipwrecks that cling hauntingly to the coastline.
Before the age of steam, the coast was particularly dangerous to shipping. The upwelling of the cold Benguela current gives rise to dense ocean fogs for much of the year. The winds blow from land to sea, so there is a constant heavy surf on the beaches. There are also vicious currents and rocky offshore outcrops where ships can founder.
Early sailors who survived the waves became stranded on a desolate shoreline hemmed in by high dunes known as the Gates of Hell. It is an inhospitable environment, where the annual rainfall rarely exceeds ten millimetres.
Modern navigation methods have meant that the number of shipwrecks has sharply declined in recent times, with only a handful since the Second World War.
The last two major wrecks occurred in 1976 and 2008.
In 1976, the Suiderkus, a modern trawler on her maiden voyage, ran aground near Mowe Bay in the heart of the Skeleton Coast, despite having a sophisticated navigational system. A large portion of the hull can still be seen on the shoreline.
A trawler called The Zeila was stranded on August 25, 2008, near Die Walle. The ship had been sold as scrap to an Indian company, but shortly after it left Walvis Bay on its way to Mumbai, it came loose from its towing line.
Alan Dirks, London W4.
QUESTION Where is the most unusual place that birds have built their nests?
IN 2012, a family of thrushes made headlines when they built a nest inside a traffic light in Leeds city centre. This led to a hunt by bird enthusiasts for pictures of unusual nesting spots.
Photographs were sent in of a coot that had established its nest in the middle of a floating lifebelt in London’s Kensington Gardens, a collared dove on top of a security camera, a pair of great tits in a wall-mounted bin for cigarette ends, and a robin bedded down on a bookshelf at St Aldate’s Church in Gloucester. Florence Graham, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. WORKING in a large car components factory, my job as an electrician required me to clamber up a ladder to work on the maze of pipes, cables, control boxes, isolators, switches, steam pipes and electrical conduits – all six metres above dozens of noisy, hot machines, with everything covered in dirt and grime. One control box was only a short distance from the side of the building and opposite a roller shutter door.
I started my work and was suddenly startled by a mother robin. Her beak full of insects, she fluttered down just by me. Looking behind the control box, I saw a nest, containing four baby robins, built on the high voltage cables feeding the welders.
Mam, totally unfazed by my presence, fed her chicks and flew out of the building, to return minutes later with more food. This went on continuously while I carried on working. Tony Levy, Wednesfield.
QUESTION What is the story of the colony in Pennsylvania established by the Norwegian violinist Ole Bull?
BORN in Bergen, Norway, in 1810, Ole Bull was a violin prodigy – he was a soloist with the Bergen philharmonic orchestra at the age of just eight.
The tall, blond virtuoso was friendly with Franz Liszt, and, like the composer, drove audiences wild with his performances, especially the ladies. In 1845, he made an extensive tour of the US, attracting large crowds.
In 1848, the patriotic Bull established the Norwegian Theatre in Bergen as a symbol of national pride. When the venture failed because of the parliament’s refusal to provide funding, he decided to leave the country and found a colony for Norwegians in the New World.
He paid $103,888 for 11,144 acres of land in the Kettle Creek Valley in Potter County, Pennsylvania, because the scenery reminded him of the mountains of Norway.
On September 5, 1852, Bull arrived by coach with a contingent of 30 ‘fine-looking, robust and determined-appearing sons of Norway’. Hundreds more followed and got to work building a hotel, homes and a school for the anticipated arrivals.
However, the colony was doomed to failure. That winter, deep snow blocked the road, cutting off supply lines. Poor farming conditions the following year led to hardship. To try to bolster his venture, Bull embarked on an extended concert tour, but to no avail.
On September 22, 1853, he deeded the land back to the Pennsylvanian businessman John F. Cowan for the amount he’d paid for it. That winter, the settlers moved to the more hospitable Midwest, where there were a number of successful Norwegian communities.
Despite the colony’s failure, Bull continued to be revered by Norwegian settlers until his death in 1880.
Following the First World War, the state of Pennsylvania bought 132 acres along Kettle Creek and in 1925 opened Ole Bull state park. In 2002, on the 150th anniversary of the colony’s founding, the citizens of Norway paid for a statue of Bull to be erected in the park. Edward Petoskey, Cardiff.
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