After being separated from the convoy in heavy seas, the captain of Arniston was obliged to rely solely on dead reckoning to navigate.

Consequently, Arniston was wrecked when her captain headed north for St Helena, operating on the incorrect belief the ship had already passed Cape Point, the master steered north for St Helena and ran the ship onto the rocks at Waenhuiskrans.

[3] A memorial, a replica of which can be seen today, was erected on the beach by the wife of Colonel Andrew Geils (here spelled "Giels"), whose four unaccompanied children were lost in the tragedy.

The fishing village, characterized by its lime-washed and thatched houses, remains unspoiled and has been declared a national monument in its entirety.

Fishermen still go to sea in boats of the style that would have been familiar to locals in the early nineteenth century, although now under contract to larger commercial enterprises.