South African family history, genealogy, heritage and interesting places, past and present. All articles researched and written by Anne Lehmkuhl. COPYRIGHT ANNE LEHMKUHL, no article can be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission. EMAIL ME
Ship's wheel to fund bakery for the poor
A Kirkwood missionary, Attie van Wyk, wants to sell an antique ship’s wheel and use the money to start a baking empowerment scheme near Humansdorp. The SS Lyngenfjord was a Norwegian cargo steamer which ran aground on 14 January 1938 at Huisklip. The ship’s original wheel, made of Burmese teak, was one of only two parts of the ship to be salvaged when it sank. The only other item recovered was a piece of the ship’s rudder. It still has the original copper dome in the middle, and has been in Attie's family since 1967 and he inherited it from his father who was also a missionary. He is hoping to sell it back to the company that owned the ship, Norwegian and American Shipping. The last time he had the wheel valued was in 1995 when the Greenwich Maritime Museum told him it was worth £50 000. If the wheel is sold, Attie hopes to have a handing-over ceremony at Huisklip, which will also serve as the launch of the project. He would like to have members of the Rademeyer family who helped to rescue the survivors as part of the project. He is also hoping that relatives of the only woman who was aboard the ship will also be able to attend. Attie is trying to locate a female relative of the woman, Madame Margueritte Goufon.