Wolraad Woltemade (Hessen-Schaumburg, around 1708 - on the coast at Cape Town, June 1, 1773) was a South African farmer who became famous for his rescue action with which he hit the seamen of the lower end and in the mouth of the Salt River in a hurried ship The Young Thomas managed to save.
Woltemade was born in the German Duchess of Hesse-Schaumburg and emigrated to the Cape Colony under the leadership of the United East Indian Company in Cape Town. He set up a farm where he kept cows.
Wolraad Woltemade was accidentally present when a Dutch ship hit the coast in difficulty and broke on a sandbank in two.
Corporal Christian Ludwig Woltemade, the youngest son of Wolraad, had to guard the order on the beach. The crowd there was especially interested in juts. It was considered unemployed how the sailors of the ship thrown on a sandbank tried to in vain to reach the stream in the beach. Father Wolraad, who sought his son, found a solution: he drove his horse, according to a tradition called "spark", into the sea and called the seamen to grab the tail of the animal. Thus, in seven voyages, fourteen seamen were rescued by the water. During the eighth trip, eight desperate drenches drew the exhausted horse and rider under water.
Of the 191 survivors, 53 survived the shipwreck.
The VOC saw a hero in Wolraad and his widow received a pension. A statue was set up for him. Later, a district in Cape Town and a distinction called the Woltemade Cross became known to him. His portrait was on the backside of the Union of South Africa King's Medal for Bravery set in 1939. Externe link Sources
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