GLENTANA NEWS - The British steamer, Baralong, with a floating dock in tow, was passing Mossel Bay for Durban in 1902.
It would have been the first floating dock in South Africa. The freight alone cost R8 000. Its length was 380feet, its width 80ft and it would have been able to take a vessel of 4 500 ton.
A north-west gale was encountered on October 30, 1902. Near Cape St Blaize, the port bridle was carried away and the pontoon lay at the mercy of the wind and waves. The wind was then blowing from the south-west and a heavy sea was running.
An attempt was made to connect again, and this the crew succeeded in doing with a flexible wire hawser, but the speed with which the vessels were drifting in the high seas brought them in close proximity to the land.
The fresh gear gave way and it was decided to abandon the dock, which was then beached in a natural creek - the only sandy spot here. It settled down with rocks at stern and bow.
Source: The Adelaide Advertiser, December 1902
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