The Wreck of the Kakapo
At Noordhoek beach, you can see the wreck of the Kakapo. This ship was wrecked in 1900. Luckily all on board survived, although there is a legend that tells of the captain refusing to leave the ship where he could have stayed for some time.
The steamship that weighed in at 665 tons, was heading for Sydney with a cargo of coal. It was about to round the Cape. The weather was terrible with driving rain and poor and the captain called full steam ahead to port. However, he had miscalculated and what he believed was Cape Point was in fact Signal Hill.
The ship was moving so fast that it skidded a few metres up onto the beach. Attempts were made to tow it back into the water to no avail.
The wreck was featured in the background of the movie Ryan’s Daughter which although set in Ireland was filmed at Noordhoek.
