MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Rubber "bundles" washed up along the Garden Route coastline in late October and more have washed up recently. 

A concerned citizen took to social media, seeking answers regarding these strange objects and where they might come from. 

Following the storm surge on the Garden Route coastline in September, Mossel Bay Municipality shared information about these objects, which was sent to them by members of a conservancy. 

According to the information it then shared, these objects are apparently bales of rubber from a British freighter called the Helmspey, which was torpedoed 11 miles south of Cape St Francis by a German submarine (U-516) on 11 February 1943. 

"The ship was allegedly transporting around 1 457 tons of these rubber bales from Ceylon to the UK. They sunk along with the Helmspey near East London in the Eastern Cape. 

"More of these bales were discovered by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) in Paternoster last month [September], with reports saying that they could have come from another ship, the Boringia which, after being torpedoed by a U-boat (U-159), sank with its cargo of rubber bales somewhere off the coast of South Africa. 

"Many ships were transporting rubber to aid in the World War II effort during this time, and so the bales could have come from any one of their cargo." 

Members of the public are requested to report any sightings of these bales to SAHRA Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (rbrand@sahra.org.za). 

"These bales of rubber have been decaying in the ocean for the past 60 years and therefore pose a significant threat to our marine life. Please do not touch them or attempt to pick them up as we are unsure what chemicals might be leaking from them," the then post concluded.  

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