Description
The Sinking of the Eole
Running aground off the Wild Coast. This story is an abridged version of a recently rediscovered book subsequently republished by the Centre for the Book. It is about the adventures of eight French men from the time their ship, the Eole, sank off the Wild Coast, until they reached Cape Town. The hazardous journey on foot, wagon and ship took them five months. Today it is just a short drive by car from where the Eole was wrecked to East London and a quick plane ride to get to Cape Town. You could even go there for lunch and be back to sleep in your own bed that same night! Reading this book will tell you more about this shipwreck and the interactions of the survivors with the amaRharhabe of Kumkani Hintsa.
Singing in their sleep
Before dawn, the survivors were woken by a group of what, from their bangles, appeared to be high ranking individuals. All the sailors wanted to do was sleep, but the noisy group confronting them were having none of it. Through various hand-signals they indicated to the eight tired Frenchmen that they should sing. It was futile to refuse, so they sang. Tonelessly, and tunelessly, but they sang.
After the singing, the warriors indicated they were to go back to where the Eole had sunk. They arrived, to once again be surprised by the amount of debris a ship could produce. The wreckage of the Eole was now spread out over the beach for more than a mile by the tide. It was a jumbled confusion of planks, masts, spars, trunks, chicken’s cages, barrels, boxes, all spread out as far as the eye could see.
The locals, who were far more numerous than the previous day, were making earnest efforts to pile several large pieces of wood into a single heap. They then set a fire to extract all the metal fittings, which they seemed extremely eager to get hold of.
The survivors headed towards the dinghy and found it had been shattered, although nearby there was still a sack of potatoes, which they took and which one of the sailors immediately carried back to the hut.
Several washed up cases of wine fell into the hands of the local people and the sailors were horrified to see how they took the bottles out one by one, smashed off the necks, smelt the liquid and poured the contents into the sand without drinking any. Monsieur Dumarnay, distressed to see the waste of the drink that had been so precious to the survivors, and perhaps wishing to win their friendship, went across and showed them the proper use to which they should be putting the wine. But his example, which they later followed all too well had grave consequences for the survivors the next day.
