Arguin sandbank
| Arguin sandbank | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Waters | Atlantic Ocean | |
| Geographical location | 20 ° 36 '12 " N , 16 ° 27' 41" W | |
|
||
The Arguin Sandbank is an area of sandbanks and shallow reefs off the West African coast . It extends more than thirty nautical miles into the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of present-day Mauritania . There is constant onshore wind here, as the Sahara extends to the sea coast and the heat of the mainland constantly sucks in the cooler air masses over the sea.
The Arguin sandbank was considered to be one of the most dangerous places on the West African coast. Ships generally keep a long distance from this dangerous stretch of coast. In the 19th century, a considerable detour was sailed in order not to get near this stretch of coast. A route that initially led from Cape Finisterre on the northwestern coast of Spain in a westerly direction was considered safe . Not until far in the Atlantic did you take a course in a southerly direction and passed Madeira and the Canary Islands on their western coast. Only when you reached a position abeam of Saint-Louis did you sail east again, thus avoiding proximity to this sandbar. The main landmark for identifying this sandbar is Cap Blanc .
Serious ship accidents occurred several times on this stretch of coast. At least 30 ships ran aground here between 1791 and 1816. In 1815 the American brig Commerce had an accident . The sailors who were able to save themselves on land were captured by one of the tribes that settled on this stretch of coast. In 1816, a misinterpretation of Cap Blanc led to the French frigate Méduse running aground on the sandbanks of Arguin. Since there were not enough lifeboats available, 157 of the 400 people on board the Méduse saved themselves on a makeshift raft. The raft was insufficiently stocked with food and water and floated rudderless in the Atlantic for several days. Cannibalism and brutal clashes broke out on the raft. Only 15 people were saved. The shipwreck is one of the most famous of the 19th century and was immortalized by Théodore Géricault in the painting The Raft of Medusa .
Surroundings
In the area of the sandbank is the island of the same name, Arguin , which, despite the dangerous nature of the area, has an eventful history as a base for several European powers.
The Arguin Sandbank is part of the Ḥauḍ Ārkīn National Park .
literature
- Jean-Baptiste H. Savigny, Alexandre Corréard: The shipwreck of the frigate Medusa . Matthes & Seitz, Berlin, 2005, ISBN 3-88221-857-6
- Jonathan Miles: The wreck of the Medusa , Grove Press, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-8021-4392-1
- Franzobel: The raft of Medusa, Zsolnay-Verlag, 2017 , ISBN 3-552-05816-8