Algoa Bay

Algoa Bay is a wide inlet along the South African east coast, 683 kilometres east of the Cape of Good Hope. It is bounded in the west by Cape Recife and in the east by Cape Padrone. The bay is up to 436 metres deep. The harbour city of Port Elizabeth is situated adjacent to the bay, as is the new Coega deep water port facility.

Port Elizabeth
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, which includes Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch is located on the western shore of Algoa Bay.

Portuguese
The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Diaz was the first European to reach Algoa Bay in 1488, where he planted what i spresumed to be a seven foot high limestone cross on a small island now called Saint Croix or Santa Cruz island. He christened the bay Bahia de Lagoa or Bay of the Lagoon, and which eventually became Algoa Bay.

Dutch
Almost a century after Diaz, the Dutch Galleon, Noord, arrived under the command of Piet Timmerman who had been sent especially from Holland to negotiate fo rthe purchase of this desireable spot from the inhabitants who appeared to own it.

Unfortunately for Timmerman a stiff South Easter wqas blowing and the vista of conical windswept dunes and bushland he sailed away without attempting to drop anchor.

1725 Expedition
An overland expedition of discovery under the command of Ensign Beutler left Cape Town in 1725 destined for Algoa Bay. It comprised thirty-seven (37) ofiicers and soldiers, twenty-five (25) wagon drivers and leaders, a superintendent of the train, a botanist, a blacksmith and a wagonmaker. The clerk Carel Albrecht Haupt went as jouranlist, the marine officer Pieter Clement went to determine latitude and distances, the surveyor Carel David Wentzel to make a map and the surgeon Jan van Elleve to attend to the sick. The expedition consisted of eleven (11) wagons and a boat to convey them across flooded rivers.

On 13 May 1725 the expedition reached the mouth of the Zwartkops River. The expedition visited and plotted the salt pans and the Bay itself. A beacon is said to have been set up at the mouth of the Zwartkops River with the letters VOC (Verenigde Oost Indiese Companje) upon it, to denote possession on behalf of the company. Another beacon was set up by them on a Humewood Sandhill along the Shark River, described as a; "small obelisk of Robben Island blue slate on which the company's cipher is engraven". Ensign Beutler regarded the roadstead as too exposed to the South East winds to be of any use as a harbour for shipping.

Doddington
The Doddington was an East Indiaman of the British East India Company that was wrecked at Bird Island in Algoa Bay near present day Port Elizabeth on 17 July 1755.

Of the original crew and passengers of 270, only 23 initially survived. The castaways subsisted for seven months on fish, birds and eggs on a nearby island, which they named Bird Island. One of their number, a carpenter, was able to help them make them a sloop, the Happy Deliverance on which they were finally able to get off the island on 16 February 1756.

Star and Hope
The vessels Star and Hope landed in Algoa Bay during November 1798. Sent by Major-General Dundas to help quell a rebellion in Graaff Reinet the ships crew and officers met expedition leader General Vandeleur - who had traveled overland - and camped on a farm called Papenkuilsfontein belonging to Thomas Ignatius Ferreira. Papenkuilsfontein was later to become Cradock Place.

The first military defensive work and headquarters in the Eastern Part of the colony was established on the farm Papenkuilsfontein in the form of a star-shaped redoubt and named, "Star Fort". Star Fort was attacked by a band of marauding Xhosa in July of 1799 who carried off a number of sheep and cattle with them to their hideout in thick bush where the present Kleinskool is to be found. General Vandeleur and his troops recovered all the cattle minus fifty (50) sheep.

Following the raid and the Graaff Reinet troubles it was decided that it would be advantageous to establish Algoa Bay as a landing place and port for the eastern part of the colony and General Vandeleur decided to maintain a permanent military post in this location. A blockhouse was erected on the low ground near the ford across the Baakens River on the east bank whilst the building of a stronger fort, Fort Frederick, on a better site was undertaken. Fort Frederick, erected in 1799, was named for His Royal Highness the Duke of York.

The garrison numbered some 300 men and soon barracks were built for them nearby, as well as magazines for military stores, a bakehouse, a hospital, blacksmith's, carpenter's shops and others - the modest beginnings of Port Elizabeth that was to come into official existence some 20 years later with the landing of the 1820 British Settlers.

Cape Recife
In 1835 a a buoy was placed to mark Roman Rock (sometimes called Despatch Rock).

The rock upon which the Cape Recife Lighthouse is built was named D'Urban Rock during 1835 by permission of the visiting Governor, Sir Benjamin D'Urban.

The very first light for the Cape Recife Lighthouse was kindled on 1 April 1851.

Bird Island
In 1852 a wooden tower with two fixed white lights eighteen (18) feet apart with one being higher than the other was placed on Bird Island.

In 1873 the stone Bird Island Lighthouse was erected on the south side of the island which is surrounded by outlying treacherous reefs, one of which is Doddington Rock.

Donkin Reserve
The Donkin Reserve Lighthouse adjoining the memorial was completed in 1861 and the first light displayed on 1 June 1861.

Cape St. Francis
The Cape St. Francis Lighthouse is around 95 kilometres from Port Elizabeth and situated on Seal Point around 35 metres above sea level.

The light was first kindled during July 1878.

Great Fish
The Great Fish Lighthouse was the most expensive lighthouse to be erected around the coast of Algoa Bay on the Great Fish Point around 150 kilometres from Port Elizabeth. A ten (10) second white flashlight was first shown on the evening of 1 July 1898.

The lighthouse is situated just less than a kilometre from shore and around 3.2 kilometres from the mouth of the Great Fish River.

Joshua Slocum talks about Algoa Bay in his book 'Sailing Alone Around the World':

''The early Portuguese navigators, endowed with patience, were more than sixty-nine years struggling to round this cape before they got as far as Algoa Bay, and there the crew mutinied. They landed on a small island, now called Santa Cruz, where they devoutly set up the cross, and swore they would cut the captain's throat if he attempted to sail farther. Beyond this they thought was the edge of the world, which they too believed was flat; and fearing that their ship would sail over the brink of it, they compelled Captain Diaz, their commander, to retrace his course, all being only too glad to get home. A year later, we are told, Vasco da Gama sailed successfully round the "Cape of Storms," as the Cape of Good Hope was then called, and discovered Natal on Christmas or Natal day; hence the name. From this point the way to India was easy.''

Islands
The bay contains six named islands in two groups of three that according to BirdLife International "are of considerable importance as they are the only islands along a 1777 km stretch of coastline between Cape Agulhas and Inhaca Island in Mozambique." The combined surface area of these islands is said to be 40 ha.

Close inshore, near the new Ngqura harbour development at Coega, on the north-eastern outskirts of Port Elizabeth, is the St Croix group, consisting of a main island of that name and two lesser islets, Jahleel Island just off the Ngqura breakwater and Brenton Island on the seaward side. The second group consists of Bird, Seal and Stag Islands. All six islands and their adjacent waters are declared nature reserves and form part of the Addo Elephant National Park. The islands are closed to the public.

Also worthy of mention, if only as an obstacle to navigation, is Despatch Rock, 2.4 km due east of the Port Elizabeth suburb of Summerstrand. The rock, which is submerged at high tide, is marked with a light. Further south, about 1 km southwest of Cape Recife, the western starting point of the bay is Thunderbolt Reef. Though not in the bay, this hazard to navigation has claimed many ships carelessly entering or leaving. Thunderbolt Reef is submerged save for spring low tides and the surf crashing on it can be observed from the mainland.

The St. Croix group
St. Croix Island, Algoa Bay is 3.9 km from the nearest land and rises to 59 m. The BirdLife fact sheet states the 12 ha island is only 58 m above sea level. It adds that the island is rocky and "supports minimal vegetation". The island runs 700 m along a northwest, southeast axis and is about 360 m wide at its broadest – along the west coast. Its highest point is halfway along the north coast.

Brenton Island is equally sparsely vegetated and is less than 20 m in elevation, and is roughly 250x200 m in size with a northwest-southeast orientation. It is 5.75 km to sea from the nearest point on the mainland and 1.75 km south of St. Croix.

Jahleel, at less than 10 m in height, is just over 1 km from the closest beach and less than that from Ngqura's 2.6 km long eastern breakwater. Jahleel is about the same size as Brenton and has a north-south axis. It is 5.75 km west of St. Croix.

The Bird Island group
Vasco da Gama named this group of islands Ilhéus Châos (low or flat islands). In 1755, the East Indiaman Doddington was wrecked here while underway from Dover to India. Most of the passengers and crew perished, but a few managed to make it to the islands where they were marooned for seven months

Bird Island, Seal Island and Stag Island lie in close proximity some 40 km east of the St Croix group or 53 km due east of Port Elizabeth and 7 km from the nearest landfall at Woody Cape – part of the Addo Elephant National Park. Bird Island has a lighthouse, erected in 1898 after a series of shipwrecks in the vicinity of the island. Doddington Rock, West rock and East Reef lie just South-West of the group of islands.

At 19 ha, Bird Island is the largest of the Algoa Bay islands – according to BirdLife. It is relatively flat and rises to 9 m. Seal Island is 0.6 ha in size and lies 360 m north of Bird Island. Stag Island is even smaller at 0.1 ha and is 320 m north-west of Bird Island. "Much of the island group is covered by sparse growth of mixed vegetation dominated by the fleshy herb Mesembryanthemum (fig marigold/icicle plants). Tetragonia (Duneweed) and Chenopodium (Goosefoot) form localised thickets that provide cover for some seabirds," the fact sheet says.

Bird and wildlife
The BirdLife fact sheet adds that 14 species of seabirds, several species of shorebirds and 33 species of terrestrial birds have been recorded on the islands. Eight seabird species were known to breed on the islands in 2007. "These are the only islands off southern mainland Africa where Sterna dougallii (Roseate Tern) breeds regularly."

The islands are also home to 43% of the global population of the African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus), the majority of which are on St Croix. St Croix also holds a locally significant breeding population of Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis).

Bird Island is one of only six breeding sites in the world for the Cape Gannet (Morus capensis). "Larus dominicanus (the Kelp Gull) and Haematopus moquini (the African Oystercatcher) are found throughout the Algoa Bay complex. The island group is also known to hold large numbers of Sterna vittata (Antarctic Tern), which in winter roost on the island in their thousands (regularly holding between 10% and 20% of the estimated total Afrotropical non-breeding population)." The island is also home to Cape Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus).

Conservation issues
The St. Croix group and a 300 m maritime zone around each island became South Africa's island marine reserve in 1981 and were administered as part of the then-Woody Cape Nature Reserve. Up to then, the islands had fallen under the control of the Guano Islands section of the Division of Sea Fisheries. The Eastern Cape Nature Conservation service, which subsequently became the Directorate of Nature Conservation of the Eastern Cape Province, managed the islands after April 1992 according to BirdLife. The Woody Cape reserve was subsequently incorporated into the Addo National Elephant Park, which boasts that it is home to Africa's "big seven" – the elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo and the whale and Great White Shark that inhabit the bay.

Conservationists are wary of the Ngqura development which in time, in addition to a deep water port will include a heavy-industry complex. Mooted occupants include an aluminium smelter and an oil refinery. They see the development as posing, according to BirdLife: "..a huge threat to the seabirds of the St. Croix group. The development would result in increased pollution and shipping activity, which would affect all breeding seabirds negatively."

The NGO notes that the population of the African Penguin in the bay has been increasing steadily during the last century. "There are only a few growing colonies in the world, and it is thought that these birds may be relocating here from colonies that are in decline in the Western Cape or farther afield. Certain factors are known to affect seabirds throughout their ranges. Competition with commercial fisheries, especially purse-seining for surface-shoaling fish such as anchovy (Engraulis capensis) and pilchard (Sardinops sagax), has been implicated as one of the most significant factors causing seabird population declines." The organisation has recommended that marine reserves with a radius of 25 km be created around important breeding islands, and that commercial fishing be banned or restricted in these zones.

The fact sheet continues: "An unpredictable threat, which is difficult to control, is chronic pollution by crude oil or other pollutants which spill into the ocean when tankers break open, wash their tanks, dump cargo or pump bilge. The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is particularly susceptible to these events, and a single oil disaster has the ability to severely affect populations. It is believed that the breeding sites in Algoa Bay, at the eastern extremity of the species' range, are at highest risk as they are closest to the major oil-shipping routes."

Hazards
Nautical charts of the bay caution mariners that "projectiles and badly corroded mustard gas containers have been found in the area between Cape St Francis and Bird Island out to depths of 400 m. Trawlers should exercise the greatest caution."

The chemical weapons were dumped in the bay in the aftermath of World War II. During that conflict, Port Elizabeth was used as a research, manufacturing and storage site for Allied poison gas. An official at the South African Navy Hydrographic Office recalls that at least one trawler once snagged a projectile or canister in its nets and that the crew were badly burned. The condition of the canisters and projectiles are not currently known. There is no record of any recent incidents.