Vonk and his hairy tail saved 14 sailors from shipwreck drowning
You might have noticed that some weeks I like to take a break from writing about my depressing existence – and boy is it depressing. For example, last weekend I genuinely got excited by the fact Regina Blitz kitchen roll was on a two-for-one offer in Sainsbury’s.
Anyway, instead of regaling you with more tales of my depressing life I thought I would attempt to educate you, the lucky reader, about something about which you might not be aware.
On which very note, a friend of mine – quite a boring friend who I try not to socialise with too often, though I won’t say that here in case he reads this – told me about a chap called Mr Wolraad Woltemade.
Never heard of him? Me neither, but it turns out that he has to be one of the most heroic fellas of all time.
His story is uplifting and tragic at the same time.
Born at the start of the
18th century, Woltemade was leading an ordinary, slightly mundane existence as a dairy farmer in Cape Town, South Africa.
Then, in June 1773 – so the start of winter in the southern hemisphere, meaning it was pretty cold – a passing ship was driven towards land by a gale. It got stuck on a sandbank, and began to sink.
Some of the crew drowned instantly, while others were left clinging to the hull.
The ship wasn’t too far from dry land and so many sailors attempted to swim ashore.
The strongest made it, but the majority perished because the water was freezing and the current strong.
(I’ve just re-read all I’ve written thus far and must admit it’s not the cheeriest column I’ve ever penned. I’d like to say stick with it, it’s gets better … but I’d be lying).
A group of onlookers had gathered on the beach.
Some had the intention of helping, some hoped to loot any cargo washed ashore.
The latter group were presumably wearing ASBO tags and shell-suits – and so a group of soldiers were sent to keep order.
The troops stood there all night. Quite why they didn’t help any of the stricken sailors I’m not sure – they clearly weren’t the bravest of battalions.
And in the morning our afore-mentioned protagonist Wolraad Woltemade, in his late 60s and not in the best of health, arrived on horseback to bring food and water to his son, who was one of the soldiers.
Now Woltemade must have been the exact opposite to me, for in the same scenario I’d have thrust a flask of tea and a ham butty at my son, wished him well, then rushed back home to catch the latter stages of Home Under The Hammer.
But upon seeing the shipwreck and the crew clinging grimly to the hull, Woltemade was filled with pity.
And in that moment he decided he would mount a oneman/horse rescue operation.
He mounted his animal (called Vonk, though you probably don’t need that level of detail, although you never know when that question will crop up in your next pub quiz) and urged it into the sea.
As they approached the wreck, Woltemade turned his horse around and called for two men to jump into the sea and grab its tail.
After a moment’s hesitation – presumably not because the sailors were scared but because they were thinking, ‘Vonk? What a weird name for a horse’ – two men hurled themselves into the cold choppy water and grabbed the animal’s tail.
Instead of kicking them in the face with his hind legs, as I might have done had anyone had the audacity to grab at my behind, Vonk – urged on by his elderly rider – slowly dragged the sailors to shore and safety.
Woltemade rode out seven more times and brought back 14 men.
By this time he and his horse were exhausted and both fell to the sand to rest.
But at that exact moment the ship began to break up and collapse into the sea.
Hearing the screams of the sailors, Woltemade jumped up and once more urged his horse into the water.
By now the desperation among the sailors was great and seeing this as their last chance to escape, six of them jumped in the sea and grabbed at the horse.
Their weight was too much for poor old Vonk and he, and his owner Woltemade, were pulled underneath the waves and to their deaths.
Of the 191 crew on board the ship, only 53 survived – and 14 of these were saved by Woltemade. His body was discovered the next day but his horse was never found.
Appallingly, though no surprise given the way things were back then (and still are really come to think of it), no one mentioned Woltemade’s heroic rescue effort.
While the captain of the ship was given an official funeral, the general opinion of those in power in Cape Town was that Woltemade was a silly old impulsive fool who had lost his life unnecessarily.
In the first report about the wreck to the authorities, there is no mention of his name or his actions, although considerable space is devoted to the 18 boxes of money saved.
The only thing that prevented Woltemade from being a forgotten, never-known part of history was the fact a prominent writer of the day happened to be on the beach and witnessed the whole thing.
He wrote about what had happened and eventually, after several years of public outcry, the owners of the ship slightly reluctantly compensated Woltemade’s widow and children.
There has since been a railway station named after him and in 1970, so 200 years after the whole thing occurred, the Woltemade Decoration for Bravery became the highest civilian decoration for bravery in South Africa.
What a guy. And what a horse too.
Their weight was too much for poor old Vonk