As a child growing up, one of the iconic characters in Southern African history for me was a man named Wolraad Woltemade. In part, this would also have been because his story appeared on some striking postage stamps in the early 1970’s and additionally because of the story itself, makes a somewhat incredible read.
For the most part, the story of Woltemade himself is unremarkable but a certain unselfish, perhaps reckless act, one fateful stormy June 1 in 1773 would change how the family name Woltemade would go down in Southern African history forever and in fact immortalise him.
leading the horse to the water
I think perhaps the bigger story is the fact that although I was learning to ride a horse at the time, contributed to the story. What I had been unaware of at the time, was that horses can in fact swim and some absolutely love swimming. In some respects, it seems strange, horses swimming? They seem so… so un-designed for swimming. Yet, as anyone who knows horses well will tell you, horses are in fact quite good swimmers, they simply don’t necessarily like swimming, or rather are cautious about deep water. Perhaps naturally so, because who knows what lurks beneath?
Woltemade basically rescued 14 of the occupants of the sailing ship, the De Jonge Thomas, of the Dutch East India Company as she foundered on the Cape coast near the Salt River in Table Bay. He did this by driving his horse, affectionately named “Sparkle” (Vonk in Dutch) into the rough sea to rescue pairs of people. He attempted rescues eight times. On the eighth occasion, unfortunately, he perished.
The failure on the eighth mission was attributed to the horse’s exhaustion and an overwhelming number of people trying to grab a hold onto the horse simultaneously.
A couple of themes come out of this particular story for me. Bravery, Selflessness, foolhardiness, a failure to see potential consequences, how one handles risk and of course teamwork.
There can be little doubt that the elder Woltemade who was in his sixties, saw people standing on the shore looking helplessly at the people clinging to the shipwreck and felt there must be something he should do. His decision to ride into the waves with a rescue rope was undoubtedly a brave act, especially since so many people likely weren’t even able to swim.
His second decision, to then turn back into the surf eight times to rescue people was clearly a selfless act. It is hard to know what drove him to make this decision so many times but when you watch a film like Hacksaw Ridge and see the dramatised circumstances that sometimes people find themselves in, you can understand the desperate need to make a difference, if you can. A strong desire to accomplish something and come out with a positive end result, all spurred on by the adrenaline high of the moment.
Commentary of the day claims that those on the shore cautioned him against making an eighth rescue attempt. His horse was exhausted and the shipwreck was collapsing but he insisted and drove into the sea again. When he called for two more people to come to him, no doubt most of those still clinging to the wreck probably thought, “this is my last chance” and struck out for the horse and rider. It was reported that six attempted to grab a hold of Woltemade and his steed and the two were overwhelmed and sank beneath the waves.
the importance of team
There can be little doubt that Woltemade likely would not have rescued the 14 that he did, without the assistance of his horse. His horse was an unwitting accomplice in it all. Had his horse engaged in conversation with him, they might not have made that eighth fateful attempt. In fact, they may not have made any attempts!
As human beings, we have the ability to assess risk – perhaps not always rationally or with precision, but we can have a sense of when something is risky or when we are getting out of our own depth in matters. If you tend to let risk surprise you, then risk identification and mitigation is something you should probably work on as a skill to develop and improve.
As team members, we have the responsibility to one another, to inform our colleagues of the risks that we perceive in certain actions or failures to act. Often times our perception of risk is based on years of experiences and these should be considered within the team as a whole. Look to your colleagues and share your thoughts your concerns and expectations, don’t be afraid that incomplete information is holding you back from a better decision. Collectively you may have all the pieces to the puzzle.
We are not horses, and should not behave like horses. Blindly assuming that the rider of the horse is omniscient can lead to failures and undesirable end results. Never assume that anyone has all the facts or that they definitely know the right course of action, they may be trying to still work all this stuff out themselves but too ashamed to actually admit it.
In a similar fashion, having blind faith in leaders can lead ultimately to undesirable outcomes – you again only have to look at history to see how some leaders have driven whole nations down a path of ruin. We do need to follow with an element of faith that the best interests of everyone are at the forefront. Sometimes though, we need to check ourselves and validate that the common good is actually what is being pursued.
Of the 191 souls on board the De Jonge Thomas, only 53 survived and of these 14 were saved by Woltemade. Learn more by doing a Google Search.
“The uncertainties in life are so uncertain for us to determine the kind woe we shall be entangled in in the next future. When you stay dormant, your life is at risk; when you dare to take a step, you take a step to take a risk. We have a choice. Yes! a choice to choose to dare to get to our real reasons on earth or to choose to live in mediocrity and conformity, but, we ought to note that, it is riskier to risk nothing when the life we live is always at risk.” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
The original post of this article was on LinkedIn