Johanna van der Merwe

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Johanna Cornelia van der Merwe (7 March 1825 - 15 January 1888) was a Voortrekker heroine who survived an impi attack on her trekking party at the Boesmans and Bloukrans Rivers on 17 February 1838, despite suffering more than twenty assegai wounds.

She later married Hendrik Frederik Delport with whom she had sevens sons (despite being permanently crippled by the attack) and was buried in Rouxville after living to a ripe old age.

An ox-wagon in the historic 1938 Great Trek Centenary commemoration trek as well as a South African Navy submarine were named in her honour (the later renaming of this boat to the SAS Assegaai was considered to be in somewhat bad taste).