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Wolraad Woltemade and Vonk
Created 4 months ago · 20 comments· 0 likes
GPT1 Medium
On 1 June 1773 the Dutch trading ship De Jonge Thomas was driven onto a sand-bar at the mouth of the Salt River estuary in Table Bay, Cape Town. Cold water and strong currents made swimming to shore very difficult for most sailors.
Wolraad Woltemade and his horse Vonk made seven successful trips to the wreck, rescuing two sailors each time. He and Vonk both drowned during their eighth attempt when sailors jumped from the ship as it was breaking up, and too many tried to cling to the exhausted Vonk.
18th Century Shipwreck Rescue in Cape Town Storm
This impressionist watercolor depicts a dramatic 18th-century shipwreck rescue. A farmer on horseback bravely enters the stormy sea to save sailors from a grounded Dutch trading ship amidst gale winds and heavy rain.
Created by Charlie on Sep 28, 2025 using the GPT1 Medium AI image generator model.
20 Comments
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Fantastic Creation well done. We had this time 224 entries and one winner . I hope to see you again in the next challenge
winner @Em93
I had to look up and read more about this, Charlie. I felt outraged by how he was viewed in this quote from Wikipedia "The general opinion at the Castle seems to have been that he was an officious fool who had lost his life unnecessarily" though it wasn't how most felt. If not for the Swedish surgeon who worked for VOC and saw what happened, he might've faded into obscurity. He wasn't a young man either (64-65) so I'm sure it was harder on him too.
A lot was made of the 18 boxes of money (gold?) that was saved but not about him. There was mention of the "Castle" twice but no explanation of what this castle is. Do you know?
Aw. Such bravery and the ultimate sacrifice
Excellent ... Having been educated outside SA, I had no idea ... THANK YOU!
Hey Charlie, very nicely portrayed and also an interesting bit of our history you are educating the NC public with. GOOD WORK 🌟
Creation Settings
- Text Prompts
- 18th century Dutch trading ship is grounded on a deep-water sand-bar in the middle of Table Bay, Cape Town, South Africa; storm with gale winds and heavy rain; ship leans over on its side with tattered sails; a farmer on horseback rides his horse into the sea to rescue sailors; helpless spectators and ...Weight: 1
- Model
CKPT- Initial Resolution
Medium
- Aspect Ratio
1:1
Wonderful illustration