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to get them off. These were hard men, and one only has to think of setting out barefoot in an

open boat on a bitterly cold winters’ morning to realize this.

Although Dirk (junior) never owned fishing boats it was his son Kobie and his brothers, through
years of hard work on the West Coast, who were able to buy the large boats they own today.

Living Conditions

Although piped water had been available on the Main Road since 1903, by 1915 many of the
cottages had not been connected to the mains, probably because of cost and the fact that rentals

collected did not justify the expense involved. In early 1915 two cases of enteric fever (typhoid)

were reported at Van Blerk’s cottages. (Fig. 3.32.) For obvious reasons this was regarded in a
very serious light by the City of Cape Town who sent an inspector out to Kalk Bay. This led to

many of the cottages coming under the spotlight and being condemned. These cottages had been
bought from the Smit family in 1860 by Abraham Auret and passed through the hands of his son

to Joseph Broomberg, William Thomas Wiley and then Harris Schechter, before being bought by
Grienem Markowitz for £1641 in 1928. The reasons varied – they were given partly as lack of

ventilation, poor or old construction, and partly as insufficient sanitation. The buildings

concerned were all of Van Blerk’s buildings down to the Main Road, the cottages owned then by
W. T. Wiley, and Avontuur’s cottage at the top of Rosmead Road. There were many other

buildings involved in this clean up, too, in Windsor Road and what was called the Sand Blocks
(Die Land area). After months of correspondence, repair work, and further inspections the Health

Department declared themselves satisfied.

There is interesting correspondence giving a view of sanitary arrangements in the area from H. F.

Pettersen in 1915. He had been renting one of these cottages for 21 years and had been ordered
to demolish his shed which encroached on what was later to be Quarterdeck Road. He pointed

out that it was where he had always stored his wood, fish and vegetables. He said there was a

furrow taking water through the shed which he regularly dosed with caustic soda. Things would
not be kept sanitary if he kept fish in the house.