Arniston

Arniston
Arniston
Coordinates	34 ° 40 ′  S , 20 ° 14 ′  E Coordinates: 34 ° 40 ′  S , 20 ° 14 ′  E
Basic data
Country	South Africa
province	Western cape
District	Overberg
local community	Cape Agulhas
Residents	1267 (2011)
Website	www.arniston.co.za (English)
View of Arniston

Caves near Arniston - only accessible at low tide

Arniston , also Waenhuiskrans ( Afrikaans ), is a former fishing village with 1267 inhabitants (as of 2011) in the municipality of Cape Agulhas , Overberg District , Western Cape Province in South Africa . Cape Town is about 200 kilometers away; the nearest town is Bredasdorp , 25 kilometers away.

history

The place was named when a group of Boer hunters discovered a cave in the rocks by the sea that they believed was big enough to offer shelter to several of their ox wagons . It was called "Waenhuiskrans" (German roughly: Wagenhaushöhle, Garagenhöhle) and is only accessible when the water is low .

The name Arniston goes back to a British troop transport of the same name that crashed into a storm on the reefs off the coast on May 30, 1815. There were only six survivors, 372 people lost their lives. The survivors thought they were first north / northwest of Cape Town and therefore headed east, where they suspected the city. It was only after a few days that they realized they had walked the wrong way and turned around. When they got back to the scene of the accident, they found a box of flour washed up from the wreck, on which they could live. They were later discovered by a farmer's son. Most of the remains of the wreck are now in nearby Bredasdorp in the Shipwreck Museum .

The Arniston was 53.8 m long, 13.2 m wide and had three decks and three masts. It was built for the British East India Company in Great Britain in 1794 and made eight successful voyages to India and China between 1795 and 1813. The wreck is located six kilometers east of Arniston at a depth of four to five meters at a distance of 900 meters from the beach. Over time the name of the wreck became synonymous with the place itself.

In the vicinity of the place is also the Overberg Test Range , a test area and rocket launch site.

Attractions

• Waenhuiskrans Nature Reserve , an extensive dune area (266 hectares) on the outskirts with a view of the coast and huge caves

Web links

• Official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2011 census , accessed November 17, 2013
2. ↑ southerndreams.de: Arniston, the city of countless fishermen's houses ... ( Memento from July 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), queried on May 29, 2011
3. ↑ Cape Agulhas Regional Visitors Guide Number 11 - 2006 Edition