Kolmanskop runs aground at Swakopmund

The Skeleton Coast Goes South

Stranded vessel still high and dry
ELMA ROBBERTS

VERY little progress was made yesterday in dislodging the stranded fishing vessel Kolmanskop from the rocky perch on which it came to rest early Wednesday morning.

Strong winds ripped the fishing vessel from its mooring buoy inside the Walvis Bay port limits on Tuesday night, after which it drifted about 40 kilometres northwards before running aground at Vierkantklip, just south of Swakopmund.

According to Willie Prosser of Novaship Namibia, the agents for the MFV Kolmanskop, the salvage process is now focused on removing any potential pollutants from the vessel.

By yesterday afternoon there was still no sign of leaking fuel.

Since the ship has been decommissioned and out of operation for about a year and a half, the threat of pollution is considered to be minimal.

Prosser said inclement weather made it difficult for salvage workers to reach the vessel from the ocean side.

However, divers managed to get on board from the beach side yesterday and succeeded in connecting the ship to cranes on the beach with cables.

The next step will be to pump all remaining diesel from the vessel into fuel tankers on the beach to lighten the load enough for the Kolmanskop to be towed back into deeper waters.

The Kolmanskop belongs to Glomar Fisheries. Source

I think this is one of the coolest thing about the Namibian coast. It is known for many famous shipwrecks. Most of the shipwrecks on the northern coast have long since eroded to nothing but scrap metal. Here however we have a fresh shipwreck which is a really cool site to see while driving between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.

The ship itself is wrecked very close to shore providing an optimal view.

It was a dark and dreary day at the coast which added to the mytery.

While I was visiting workers were in the process of salvaging equipment from the ship. Because the surf is so rough getting to the ship by boat is nearly impossible. The workers used this wire to transport goods from the ship to shore.

More about the Skeleton Coast
The world famous Skeleton Coast is an area of remarkable contrasts, and is named because of the skeletons of numerous ships that were wrecked here. This beautiful area is one of the main drawing cards for tourists to Namibia.

It is difficult to visualise a greater contrast than a desert alongside an ocean. Such a meeting of opposites occurs at Namibia’s northern seaboard where the edge of the Namib Desert pushes a sea of hot sand into the frigid waters of the South Atlantic.

Portuguese seafarers called this wilderness of white sand ‘the coast of hell’. Later it became better known as the Skeleton Coast, because of the dismal fate of castaways from ships that were wrecked here through the centuries, doomed to endure searing heat, clammy mists, total solitude and little drinking water or shelter. Source