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Malherbe. He later allowed them to build a shack, Brightwaters, above the beach and close to

a fresh water stream. The brothers used a truck from the brickfield to transport their families
to Cape Point, which at the time consisted of about eight farms. The Hare brothers bought

Blaawberg Vlei from Malherbe’s estate in 1932 and introduced small game to start a private
game reserve. (Fig. 4.42). They converted and enlarged the beach shack for Will G and built a

separate cottage, Spindrift, for Percy. Convinced that the whole of Cape Point should be
preserved, Will G and Percy were key players in the founding of the Cape of Good Hope Nature

Reserve. In 1939, after considerable pressure from the public, the Divisional Council of the

Cape was persuaded to buy Smith’s Farm, the southernmost pasturage at Cape Point, to
preserve it as a nature reserve for the nation. In 1941, in a magnificent gesture, the Hare

brothers donated the adjoining 1,000 ha. (10 sq km) Blaawberg Vlei, with the proviso that 4.25

ha along the coast would remain owned by the family in perpetuity. (Figs. 4.43 – 4.46). In 1943
Percy decided to go farming in the Karoo and, to finance this, he sold Will G his half share of

the brickfield and property businesses. When Percy died in 1946, Will G bought his rights to
Cape Point from Percy’s estate.

Prior to this South Africa had become deeply involved in the conflict of WW II. The supply of
bricks from the Mowbray quarry was considered crucial to the war effort, so while Desmond

and Vincent remained behind to run the brickfield, Neil Hare, who was a Major in the Cape

Town Rifles Regiment (The Dukes), served in North Africa together with his youngest brother
Teddy. Both Desmond and Percy served in the Kalk Bay section of the Civilian Protection

Services that operated from the SAWAS Hall, Kalk Bay. (Fig. 4.47).

As the Mediterranean Sea was closed to Allied shipping, all supplies for the troops in North

Africa had to be shipped around the Cape. There had been a massive build-up of military
materiel prior to the Allied counter-attack at El Alamein in November 1942. It was crucial that

reinforcements continued as the Allied forces advanced westward across the desert. On 18

December the SS City of Hankow, an Ellerman Line cargo ship, ran aground on an almost
inaccessible part of the coast between Saldanha Bay and Cape Columbine. (Fig. 4.48). She was

carrying vital military supplies from Liverpool, including complete aircraft, aircraft engines,

radio equipment, ten Crusader tanks and £2 500 000 in bank notes to be paid out as salaries for
the front-line troops.

A prominent Mowbray-based builder, Norman Kennedy, was asked to tender on salvaging the
cargo. He put together a syndicate with his building contractor colleagues Desmond and