Ringing the changes

A new tradition is being introduced at the NSRI’s Volunteer Support Centre: one that honours lives lost in the past, and celebrates those yet to be saved.

On World Drowning Prevention Day this year (25 July), NSRI CEO Dr Cleeve Robertson announced a new tradition: for every life saved, a bell – newly installed at the Volunteer Support Centre – would be rung, and the name recorded in a leather-bound ledger.

Not only does this new tradition celebrate successful rescues and the critical work of NSRI volunteers, but it is also a historical tribute to lives lost. The bell itself once belonged to the SS Maori, a British cargo steamship that struck a rock and ran aground between Duiker Point and Oudeschip Point, just South-West of Llandudno, in 1909. Thirty-two of the 53 crew perished: a tragedy that could have been avoided, or at least minimised, had a service like the NSRI existed at the time.

The bell has a fascinating history, as well as personal significance to Dr Robertson, who recovered the bell after it was thought to be lost without a trace.

“The NSRI’s connection with the bell is related to this shipwreck being iconic in a South African context and the fact that so many lives were lost,” says Dr Robertson. “On a personal level, I have done hundreds of dives on the SS Maori wreck, and have permits for many, many artefacts that I have recovered and restored from her. It's a beautiful bell weighing 53 kilograms, and its importance to maritime history and maritime rescue is huge.”

The sinking of the SS Maori

The SS Maori was used to transport frozen meat and produce from Australia and New Zealand to the United Kingdom. The vessel was a three-deck type, specially designed for the frozen meat trade. She could carry 70 000 sheep carcasses.

At around 1am on the 5th of August 1909, in dense fog, the SS Maori ran aground just South-West of Llandudno, a remote and inaccessible area at the time, and open to the north-westerly gales and south-westerly swell.

The vessel quickly took on water, while the crew managed to launch three lifeboats. Her master and fourteen men, however, remained on board. Thirty-two of the crew of fifty-three died, including the master and his navigating officers. Only one lifeboat made it to shore at about 8am the next morning and raised the alarm. Today the wreck lies remarkably intact, the engine block rising within five metres of the surface and the bow lying in about 21 metres of water.

The missing bell

“In 1990 there was an amnesty for divers to declare artefacts they had recovered off many wrecks, and a man named Bill Duminy presented the Maori Bell, which his father had bought in Woodstock in 1918,” says Dr Robertson.

In 1977, the bell was stolen and sold to a scrap dealer, but was recognised and returned to its rightful owner. It was subsequently displayed at the Maritime Museum and on the Nelson, a fishing vessel that had been remodelled to represent a tall mast ship, in Cape Town. When the Nelson was decommissioned, the bell was returned to Bill Duminy. In time, Bill passed away, and the bell ‘disappeared’.

Some 30 years later, Dr Robertson began to wonder what had happened to the bell, and, in a remarkable stroke of luck, managed to recover it.

“Just before the pandemic, I started to enquire as to the whereabouts of the Bell, and a member of NSRI Station 8 (Hout Bay), Bruce Bodmer, a personal friend, said to me that he knew Bill's son, Alister. He immediately called Alister, who confirmed he had the bell. Mystery solved!”

The bell has never been underwater, shows no evidence of marine damage or growth, and the original ringer still remains inside.

So, how did the Maori Bell end up in a shop in Woodstock? The only rational explanation is that the bell was recovered to the lifeboat which landed in Hout Bay, and was subsequently sold.

“Ships’ bells are very sentimental and special items, particularly a bell of this size, which may have been why the crew saved it when they abandoned ship,” says Dr Robertson. “It may be that its value was appreciated and that the crew knew that they could sell it. The purser’s safe was also never recovered and this may also have been on a lifeboat. We plan to do some research to close this story. The South African Heritage Resources Agency has no record of where the bell came from, how it got ashore, who traded it to a store in Woodstock and whatever else was brought ashore.”

A new home

The bell will be rung every time the NSRI saves a life at sea or inland waters, and a moment of silence will be observed for all those who have lost their lives to drowning.

“Next to the bell we have created a small display of SS Moari artefacts so that people can see the variety of general cargo the vessel was carrying,” says Dr Robertson. “We’re in the process of finalising the journal in which these incidents will be recorded: it’s a huge leather-bound ledger, and once it's on site we'll begin the tradition. We're having a competition internally to find the person with the best handwriting to be the one to do the entries!”

On behalf of the NSRI, Dr Robertson would like to thank Alister Duminy and his family for allowing the bell to be displayed at the Volunteer Support Centre, which not only preserves it but makes it accessible to the public and creates awareness around its history and its relevance to maritime history and rescue. “Much of our maritime history is hidden in storage, it's a travesty that Cape Town in particular does not have a maritime museum of substance!”