SS: Arniston Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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I placed this easy cache slightly away from the main muggle area. It forms part of the Shipwreck Series. For the series methodology and more info visit SS: Shipwreck Series via the related web page link.
The Arniston was an English East Indiaman. She was wrecked here on May 30 1815. During 1813 she was requisitioned by the British Admiralty for service as a government troop transport. She was 53.8 metres in length, displaced 1500 tons, carried 58 guns and was commanded by Captain George Simpson. She was on her homeward passage from Ceylon to England. She carried 378 passengers including fourteen women and twenty-five children, Lord and Lady Molesworth and many invalid soldiers and sailors returning from India.
The Arniston sailed at the beginning of April in company with six other Indiamen and an escort of H.M.S. Africaine. On the 26th of May she parted company with the convoy because most of her sails had been blown away due to bad weather. She happened to be the only vessel in the convoy not to carry a marine chronometer. According to Basil Hall, a naval hydrographer travelling on HMS Victor, Captain Simpson confided in him that he had not been able to afford a chronometer and that the vessel's owners considered the expense needless. Chronometers were used to calculate longitude with a great degree of accuracy.
Three days later land was sighted a very long way off, and Captain Simpson unfortunately mistook it for Table Bay. The course was set to N by W. The following day the Arniston attempted to beat up against the wind in an effort to weather the land.
The vessel tried in vain to fight the strong south easterly wind and currents which were pushing her towards land. All attempts to get further out to sea proved fruitless. By 16h00 the position was so perilous that three anchors were dropped, but two of the cables parted and Captain Simpson decided the only chance of saving lives was to run the vessel ashore before nightfall.
Unfortunately she hit Agulhas Reef off to the west and during the night broke up. By midnight she was a total wreck. Only six men survived by clinging to planks of wood which washed ashore in the high surf. Some 350 souls perished, their bodies being thrown upon the beach with wreckage from the ship.
The majority of the wreck is underwater but a wooden section of the port side drifted across the bay and is now buried beneath the sand. These timbers are exposed after a very strong south-east storm. Stand at the memorial (S34 40.092 E20 13.981) and look directly across the bay to the sand dunes for the rough location.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Hc uvtu va fyvtug zvav pnir pbirerq ol ebpx
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