Page 141 - Bulletin 21

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Apart from all the hardships of a fisherman’s life Nicholas had other crosses to bear – his

wife Elizabeth died in 1917, he married again but his second wife Dorothea died in 1920.
Nicholas himself drowned aged 52 in the tragedy of the sinking of the Columbia in 1922

where the three Fernandez boys also drowned. The family and Kalk Bay had lost a significant
figure. (Fig. 4.26.)

He left an estate based on its land valued at £261 13s 4d. Before anything could be done the

courts required proof of death in the absence of his body. There is a statement from Charles
Henry Petterson on file. He was one of only two survivors on that dreadful day. Even nearly

100 years later the statement is chilling:

th
1. I was well acquainted with Nicholas Menigo and on the 10 May 1922 I was with him
in the same boat fishing off Robben Island when the said boat capsized in heavy seas.

2. There were 11 of us on the boat and only two were saved from drowning by another

fishing boat.
3. I saw Nicholas Menigo sink, and he never rose to the surface again. He was the first

man to drown.

The two survivors were picked up by another boat after 25 minutes in that icy cold water.
Given the circumstances of the family it’s hardly surprising that the Menigo house in Hare

Road came to the attention of the Council for a lack of maintenance. In the attempt to clear
land for future development in 1938 the property was declared a slum so that negotiations

could start for its purchase or expropriation by Council. It is not known what happened next.
Perhaps because it turned out that the land was not needed for development of the Flats

complex, the house is owned to this day by the Menigo family. (Fig. 4.27.)

We have a recollection of the Menigo house from Vincent Cloete which gives a hint of the

community of Die Land in early times:

In the old days an organ used to stand on the stoep and Vincent Cloete remembers the

sound of singing. It was the first wood and iron house Vincent remembers.

Speculators buy up many plots

Very few buildings existed in 1892 and then an astonishing spurt of building took place until
1904. (Figs. 4.28 & 4.29.) It has proved difficult to locate some of the erven geographically