Page 6 - KBHA BULLETIN 6

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“On condition of the owner or occupier of this land permitting His Majesty’s

Commissioner for the Naval Department or the Principal Officer having charge

of that Branch of that Service to erect a Light House on such part of the Cape
Point as may be judged most convenient for that purpose and also permitting all

necessary access to such Light House when built.”

This agreement is still binding today on any person or authority who controls the southern
part of the Cape Peninsula.

Sir Jahleel repeated this request in 1820 but again no action was taken.

In September 1852 a petition organized by H. E. Rutherford, Chairman of the Committee

of the Commercial Exchange, on behalf of the merchants, master mariners and other
interested parties, was submitted to the Lieutenant-Governor, Charles Darling, stressing the

necessity and urgency of a lighthouse at the southern-most tip of the Peninsula. At the same
time Commander W. K. Hall of HMS Styx wrote to the Cape Town Mail and to the

Monitor supporting the lighthouse idea. Captain Harrington also added his weight to the
argument and added that the light should be a revolving type, i.e. flashing, to distinguish it

from Cape Agulhas.

The weight of the support for the lighthouse at last influenced the authorities and George

Pilkington, a civil engineer, was asked to prepare a design and an estimate. This he
managed to do without visiting the site and in October 1852 submitted a price of £5 786 for

a revolving light on a twenty-foot high masonry tower. It also included a separate building
as living quarters.

This scheme seems to have been rejected by the government, but in December of that year
Captain Denham of HMS Herald reported to Commander Charles Talbot that a light

needed to be speedily established at Cape Point. He suggested several sites and

recommended one at an altitude of 800 ft. but at the same time warning:

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