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Home General News DOROTHEA: THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLD TREASURE SHIP AT CAPE VIDAL (1898) DOROTHEA: THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLD TREASURE SHIP AT CAPE VIDAL (1898) Who smuggled the gold to Switzerland? By Dr. JC van der Walt The Chief Metallurgist of Bayside Aluminium Smelter in Richards Bay created a sensation on 1 June 1980 when he released a laboratory report on the metal recovered from the wreck The Alugold diving expedition of Bayside consisted of the leader, Springbok spear-fisherman, Jannie Smit, and veteran divers Malcolm Weise, Duke Visser and Jay Cee van der Walt. Weise and Visser recovered the first gold from the treasure ship Dorothea. During 1897 Dr. R. Kelly, a metallurgist from Johannesburg, bought the coastal vessel “Ernestein” in Lourenco Marques harbour and he smuggled 120 000 ounces of gold out of South Africa in her. The gold smuggling syndicate packed the gold in 12 boxes and three leather bags, placed it all at the foot of the foremast and covered the loot under 6 inches of concrete. The barque was renamed “Dorothea” so beginning one of the world’s greatest legends about looted gold.. Disaster struck the Dorothea during the night of 31 January 1898. Near Cape Vidal on the Zululand coast, Captain H. Mathisson discovered a severe leak. He decided to abandon ship and he and the crew escaped in two life-boats. The story of fantastic wealth lying so close to shore at Cape Vidal, attracted several serious salvage operators. The legend also seriously interested the Natal Government. The hunt for the gold was on. During April 1889, Captain Charles Gardiner, commander of the ship Alfred Noble, sailed to Cape Vidal to investigate the wreck of the Dorothea on behalf of the Natal Government. Bad weather hampered the expedition. During June 1889, Captain Wakeford led an expedition in a small steam fishing boat, the “Nidaros”. The original owners of the Dorothea financed the voyage. They wanted to retrieve their treasure first. They had a surf-boat and two divers on board. They found the wreck and retrieved a few ingots of metal. Unfortunately it was not gold but copper. During their second expedition heavy seas struck their surf-boat. The boat capsized and Captain Wakeford and three divers drowned. On 25 July 1899 the tug Hansa under Captain George Vibert sailed to Cape Vidal. They lost their surf-boat in heavy seas and returned to Durban. In December 1899 a syndicate headed by A. Hall chartered the 29-ton vessel “Countess of Carnavon” under Captain J. P. Nansson. Good divers were employed but the results were disappointing. On 22 July 1901 Captain George Vibert sailed up again in the salvage steamer “Fenela”. The Natal Government insisted that a policeman accompany the expedition to protect the Government’s share of the gold. Nothing was found. In 1903 the Honourable Thomas Hassall chartered the steam tug “Ulundi”. With Government support and an expert diver, they searched for gold but without success. C Smith and Co. the owners of the 247-ton “Penguin”, headed for Cape Vidal on 13 August 1904 under Captain Jorgenson. The expedition leader was the Scandinavian adventurer C. E. Frees. They ran into heavy seas off Richards Bay and had to abandon ship. Eleven men drowned. The survivors had a 40-hour struggle in a lifeboat without food or water before they reached Richards Bay safely. The promoters of the “Penguin” tried again in October 1904, sending a second ship “Good Hope”. A land party went as well and erected two large marquees and several bell tents on the beach at Cape Vidal. Two divers worked from surf-boats. Nothing was found. Sir Edward Murry founded the Dorothea Treasure Trove Syndicate in 1904. They found nothing. Another attempt to retrieve the treasure was made by SA Salvage Company in 1908 under Captain Gardiner of the “Alfred Noble”. They went bankrupt. During November 1908, S. E. Hall and a seasoned diver S. Abramson of the Dorothea Barque Treasure Syndicate found the Dorothea’s anchor, some chains and a few relics, but sadly no gold. The Bayside scuba divers members of the Alugold club were the first to strike gold on the Dorothea. Doc Jay Cee van der Walt provided the club with the diving equipment and a compressor. He was the first scuba diver to surface with a piece of the galley stove of the Dorothea. He also removed some brass plates from the hull. Malcolm Weise and Duke Visser fought off a shark and surfaced with interesting loot. The divers refuse to this very day to divulge what they had retrieved from the treasure ship Dorothea. During August 1980 all hell broke loose. The Department of Customs and the South African Police arrived at Bayside. The Law was not amused: “What had happened to the GOLD?   Where is the permit for the relics? Why did all the divers resign from Bayside so soon after the items were found? Who smuggled the gold to Switzerland? Who have Swiss bank accounts?   What was Doc Jaycee van der Walt doing in Switzerland? Is it really true that he now owns a mansion in Zurich, Switzerland?” WELL. WHO KNOWS? PHOTOGRAPH: Bayside scuba divers, Duke Visser and Malcolm Weise inspecting some loot recovered from the sunken gold treasure ship “Dorothea” at Cape Vidal in 1980. SOURCE: van der Walt JC, “Zululand true Stories 1780-1978” Third Edition 2007   < Prev   Next > [ Back ]

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