Editing Table Bay (section)

==History==
[[Bartolomeu Dias]] was the first European to explore this region in 1486. The bay, although famous for centuries as a haven for ships, is actually a rather poor natural harbour and is exposed to storm waves from the northwest. Many sailing ships seeking refuge in the bay during the 17th and 18th centuries were driven ashore by winter storms.

The Dutch colonists nevertheless persisted with their efforts on the shores of Table Bay, because good natural harbours along this coastline are almost non-existent. The best of them, [[Saldanha Bay]], lacked fresh water. [[Simon's Bay]] was well protected from westerly winter storms and swells, but more exposed to summer southeasterly storms and difficult to access overland from Cape Town. [[Hout Bay]] was small and exposed to the prevailing southwesterly swell. Eventually a harbour was built in Table Bay by a process of [[land reclamation]] and was protected from storm waves by [[breakwater (structure)|breakwaters]]. The older part of this development is called the [[Victoria & Alfred Waterfront|Victoria Dock]]; the newer part, the [[Duncan Dock]]. [[Robben Island]], where [[Nelson Mandela]] was imprisoned for decades, is in this bay.

The bay's beaches were oiled following an accident involving the Dutch tanker Sliedrecht in November 1953. The vessel moved {{cvt|96|km}} offshore to pump out 1,000 tonnes of oil that had been fouled with seawater after the initial impact.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161508121 |title=Ship Oil Kills Fish, Penguins |date=1953-11-03 |work=Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954) |pages=8 |access-date=2020-04-22 |archive-date=2021-03-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321101447/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/161508121 |url-status=live }}</ref>