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Xefina
is just a short hop away from Maputo and yet it is totally unknown to most
people. These pictures are part of
several years study of the island’s coastal defence structures, built during
World War II. These were built
away from the shore, but over the years the currents and erosion have plunged
them into the sea. Some are
totally submerged, others live an amphibian life, half in the sea and half
out. One day they will be gone,
eaten away forever . . .
Perhaps the best way to understand Xefina Island and it's fortifications can be shown with the following 2 pictures, taken 50 years apart.
The first photo was taken by a young artillery lieutenant, now retired Lieutenant-Colonel João de Sousa Cruz, while he was stationed on the island in the late 1950's.
The second picture was taken by me 50 years later. Same cannon, but over 400m of beach have gone in those intervening 50 years...
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What is the story of this little sand-bar of an island, in front of a thriving metropolis but almost completely forgotten by it? Well, the island was known to the Rongas who lived in the region before the arrival of the Portuguese, who only discovered it in 1502 with the great voyages of men like Vasco da Gama and other sea captains. By the mid 16th century it was being used as a temporary anchorage and trading post for portuguese trading ships sailing down from Ilha de Moçambique and Beira. When Maputo (then Lourenço Marques) was finally settled on the mainland in the mid 1700's, Xefina lost it's importance, and except for the fishing village on it's landward side, passed from memory. Then World War 2 errupted and although Portugal was neutral it's shipping was affected by the German pocket battleship "Admiral Graf Spee" which operated in the indian ocean in late 1939.
"Admiral Graf Spee" German pocket battleship
Other German battleships replaced her when she sank and together with German u-boats inflicted heavy casualties on allied shipping in the Mozambique Canal. The Portuguese decided that the important port of Lourenço Marques must be fortified in 1942, and in 1943 completed construction of several gun emplacements, with the English supplying the 19cm cannons. These were installed in two locations BAC 1 (Bateria de Artilharia Costeira) on the Catembe side in what is today's FADM artillery school, and BAC 2 on Xefina. The range of these cannons was 20km. Eventually 4 cannons were installed at Xefina although none saw active service as the military escort ships now deterred most of the u-boat attacks and the important sea war eventually shifted to the Atlantic.
More information over the next few days.
