Page 176 - KBHA Bulletin 10

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in their skipper that they were only too keen to get there without delay. By this time
there would be a pot of steaming coffee and a slice of bread ready before he would lay

the plan of action before them. By the time the opposition crews came to see whether
there would be any chance of fishing, they would be met by heaps of fish netted by the

wide awake man and his crew.

The Governor of the Cape became very friendly with the Auret family and he and his

wife would frequently come to visit. She would often be found on the beach with her
sketch pad while the Governor himself would be pulling on the ropes to bring yet

another shoal of fish to land. He loved this participation in the trek, and arrived again
one day and asked Abraham what about a trek. The skipper was not keen as the sea was

full of elf (shad). The Governor urged and suggested that they go a bit further out.

Abraham finally gave in. When the purse neared the beach it was obvious that they had
enclosed a vast amount of elf that they could not handle. The decision was made to

rather cut the net to release the fish than see them go to waste.

Abraham must have shown his disappointment not only for the torn net but, more than

that, the elf is the only fish netted that actually bite the net and such a shoal could wreck
a net.

On a day a message came that Auret should have his boat meet a whaler at sea coming

from Simon’s Town. When the boats met what was Abraham’s surprise when the

whaler crew handed them a bale of cotton net - the Governor’s “Thank you” for the
pleasure received from participating in the many treks at Muizenberg.

Sea rescues

Abraham has been mentioned in a number of sea rescue operations. One such was when

the Johanna Wagenaar ran aground off Muizenberg. The family inherited a “trek saag”,

lumberman’s saw that was salvaged from the wreck. I well remember the hours spent at