The Chyko

On 2nd February 1925 the Chyko was on a voyage north from the Rufiji delta to Dar-es-Salaam with a cargo of mangrove poles when she struck the Funga Miza Reef, some 13 miles south of Dar. With water rising quickly in the holds the master put the vessel onto the reef near a headland called Ras Kutani.

While one of the passengers walked to Dar to raise the alarm the rest of the passengers and crew managed to get ashore safely but, with the monsoon running strongly, the ship could not be salvaged so she was declared a total loss. An enquiry later found that the cause of the stranding was poor navigation.*

This is high tide at the beach at Ras Kutani on a relatively calm day, which gives some idea of what the conditions would have been like at the time of the wreck.

Once the tide is out the remains of the Chyko are exposed. In the distance can be seen the breakers on the outer reef so the ship must have been washed over it and then at least half a mile towards land after she grounded.

*Information about the Chyko from Kevin Patience's fascinating

'Shipwrecks & Salvage on the East African Coast'.