~ Hermanus ~ Western Cape ~ South Africa ~

Birkenhead House is named after the Royal Navy vessel HMS Birkenhead. She was the largest iron ship of the navy in 1852, carrying one hundred and thirty crew members and four hundred and eighty seven soldiers on their way to the Frontier war, then in progress.

Her glory was short lived. On the 25th of February 1852, just before 2 a.m., the Birkenhead struck a rock off Danger Point, bringing her to a shuddering halt.

With the first shock, the rock tore through the bow plates of the vessel and the water poured into the forward troop deck, trapping the sleeping soldiers in their hammocks.

With the water inside the ship rising at the rate of a meter a minute, the end was in sight. Within half an hour of striking, the Birkenhead broke up and sank. Four hundred and fifty four people died on that fateful day.

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