They call it the Wild Coast.

It's a stretch of land on the eastern side of Africa, starting around the coastal city

of Durban and ending 900 miles later at Cape Town.

And as for as long as ships have been sailing there, there has been tragedy.

They call it the Wild Coast because of the frequency of shipwrecks that have taken place

over the years, the Santo Alberto in 1593, the good hope in 1685, and the Bonaventura

a year after that.

Even today, ships occasionally fall victim to the rocky coast and stormy waves, like the

Greek cruise liner, the Oceana, which went down in August of 1991.

Thankfully, there were no casualties.

But one ship wasn't so lucky.

The SS Warata was also a passenger liner built and launched in 1908 and measured over 500

feet long with a weight of 10,000 tons.

It was a big ship and as a passenger liner, it was designed to hold a lot of people in

relative luxury.

On its fateful journey, there were over 200 passengers on board, as well as dozens of crew

members who served them and operated the ship.

In July of 1909, the Warata approached the southern tip of Africa after a long journey

from Australia and came within sight of the Wild Coast.

It made a routine stop at Durban and then continued south with a new destination of Cape Town.

But a storm caused ocean swells as high as 60 feet and in conditions like that, few

ships stand a chance.

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