Page 173 - KBHA Bulletin 10

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light amidst the encircling gloom” wafted over the waves the rest of the crew sat with
bowed heads as the hymn of prayer rolled on. “The night is dark and I am far from

home, lead Thou me on.’” The hymn finished, the men took up the oars and started
afresh for home; their prayer was answered, the wind ceased and they rowed back in a

sea that was miraculously calmed.

The survivors had barely reached shore at Kalk Bay when the storm resumed in fury

again. Some years later a visitor in one of the Muizenberg hotels shared with the local
whaling community a story he was reading in an overseas magazine. A whale with a 50

cm white band had been caught off the coast of Greenland. Embedded in its blubber was
a harpoon head with initials stamped on it that the Muizenberg locals soon identified as

the lost harpoon in the aforementioned drama.

That whale-hunt left a life-long mark on Abraham. The third and forth fingers of both

hands were bent inwards, the sinews having been severed on the oars during that ordeal.

Hendrik Auret built a beautiful scale model of a whaler, together with harpoon, lance
and oars, for his nephew Billy. The model is now in the Museum in Cape Town. (Fig.

5.8). It accurately reproduces the whale boats used in False Bay from which the huge
creatures were harpooned. (Figs. 5.9 & 5.10).

Trek fishing

Sometimes, during stormy weather, weeks would go by without a chance to trek. This
meant that there was neither food nor money for the crew. Then on a day he would

wake in the early hours of the morning with just the right smell in the air. Rising

quickly, he would send one of his sons to call the men. These men had such confidence