Page 11 - KBHA BULLETIN 6

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This first lighthouse at Cape Point (Figs. 1.1 & 1.2) operated till 1919 when the new

lighthouse came into commission. The remains of the old lighthouse still stand today

although the tower and lantern have long since been dismantled.

In those days conditions for the staff were extremely difficult because the remoteness and
difficult terrain made the transport of supplies and provisions an arduous task. Mr.

McKellar who owned the farms in the area was employed to supply transport, but it seems
that a delivery trip was probably made only once every three months. In 1876 the then

transport contractor Mr. Albertain had great difficulty delivering the oil for the lighthouse

and eventually a new road from Simon's Town was completed in January 1882. This,
however, did not seem to have solved the problem because in 1898 a light-keeper by the

name of C. C. Hanson complained of nearly starving to death because of the unreliability of

the delivery of supplies.

The assurances of Maclear and Captain Hoets about the cloud and fog were incorrect and
proved to be a serious problem. The light was regularly obscured for up to 900 hours a

year, which is similar to the notorious fog banks off the Newfoundland coast. In 1890 a
commission reported that because of the increasing flow of traffic past the Cape another

lighthouse should be provided at Cape Point, but positioned so as to overcome the fog and

cloud problem. Despite two ships, the Maori and the Umhlali, being wrecked in the vicinity
of Cape Point, no action was taken because of a lack of money.

On 18 April 1911 the Portuguese liner Lusitania struck Bellows Rock with 774 passengers

and crew on board. Fortunately, the sea was flat calm and no lives were lost until one of the
boats tried to land at Maclear's beach and was capsized, despite light-keeper Alan’s efforts

to wave them off with a lantern. Mr. Alan was rewarded with a medal and a £50 cheque

from the Portuguese government for his efforts.

This incident had shown the potential for a major disaster and the authorities were

galvanized into action. An eminent engineer Harry C. Cooper, who later became known as
“Cooper of the lights”, was instructed to design a new lighthouse. He chose a site close to

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