Page 55 - Bulletin 13 2009

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For the first 90 years of settlement the Peninsula south of the fertile Constantia Valley
held little interest for the DEIC because it had no minerals, rich soils or thick forests.

They had explored it in 1687 and named parts of it: Simon’s Bay and Kalk-Baai appear
on van der Stel’s map of that year. Then in 1742, because of the continuing loss of ships

and life during the winter gales in Table Bay, it was decided that there would be two

anchorages on the Peninsula: Table Bay during the summer months when the winds
blew off-shore and flattened the seas there, and Simon’s Bay for the winter months

(March to August) when the off-shore winter winds had a similar effect there.

Once that decision had been made some sort of road connection between the two
anchorages became essential, as did some attempt at protection of Cape Town from

military attack from the south. Four small batteries were established at Glencairn, Kalk

Bay (The Trappies), St James (Pentrich Ridge), and Muizenberg (Bailey’s Corner). At
Muizenberg a barracks and guard post were established under the command of Sgt.

Wynand Muys after whom the place was named officially in 1744. The name was

modified to Muizenberg in 1788. (Botha, 1926). Along this rough track trundled the
occasional ox-drawn wagon from Cape Town carrying necessities for the Company’s

ships at Simon’s Bay, and in return fish and lime were carried back to the Table Valley.

The road was never much more than a track and its condition gave rise to numerous
complaints from free-burghers. The section south of Kalk Bay was so poor that the

wagons were off-loaded here and the materials ferried across to Simon’s Bay in small

boats.

By the late 1700s the DEIC was in financial straits and nearly bankrupt. There was little
money for road construction or maintenance and the Governor, van Plettenberg, in 1784

forbade any further construction of dwellings at Simon’s Bay. In the 1780s Colonel
Gordon, commander at the Cape, introduced tolls as a means of paying for road

maintenance. There were three tolls – at the Castle, Kalk Bay, and Simon’s Town.

Gordon, an educated and talented man, also produced one of the earliest maps of the
Peninsula. (Fig. 2.1).