A Piece of History. How Wooden Fishing Boats Helped a Post World War 2 Salvage Operation

One of the great South African salvage operations was the refloating of the stranded Ellerman freighter City of Lincoln from a reef off Quoin Point in March 1947. Stout wooden fishing boats from the local fleet were used to land over 3000 tons of cargo in what was a thoroughly scientific operation that, sadly, had a tragic twist.

As the world economy returned to an even keel in the late 1930s after the desiccating years of financial depression, infrastructural and industrial development in the British empire picked up, generating considerable cargo volumes, and shipping began to boom. Companies that had held onto older tonnage during those dark days from 1929 – sometimes laying up ships as cargo dried up – now enjoyed a better inflow of revenue from the resurrection of shipping. Some ventured into the newbuilding market to replace ships that had long passed their scrap-by date, or, gambling on continued economic growth, they bolstered their fleets by ordering new ships.