Page 133 - Bulletin 7 2003

130

could not haul their boats far enough out of reach of the sea pounding the beach. It
has been recorded that in earlier years, before the railways were put in place, some of

the boats had been dragged right across the road and placed in the Outspan. A severe
storm during the latter part of 1889, just after the railway had been constructed,

caused considerable damage and wrote-off 18 – 19 boats. So every time a storm

came up, especially at night, the fishermen had to run down to the beach to protect
their boats from damage.

In 1906-07 the local Kalk Bay – Muizenberg Council and the Cape Government

Railways were responsible for setting up the gantries on the beach. These consisted
of a framework of railway lines built to resemble something like a table with high

legs by which the boats could be hauled up above the beach with sets of blocks and

rope fore and aft. (Figs. 3.31 & 3.32). This was of some help but there were not
enough of these gantries to accommodate all the boats, so dissention was still the

order of the day. The fleet in 1908 numbered around 51 boats, but only 20 boats

could be accommodated in this way. The Cape Colonial government could not see
any need for a harbour for ordinary fishing boats. The fishermen were in distress by

then, and, because there were no longer enough fish close by that could be caught
from open row boats with sails, they definitely required bigger decked boats with

motors to go further afield and that could take the stronger weather.

Then finally in 1913 the construction of the harbour began and was completed in

1919. This then opened up False Bay to the fishermen who ventured even beyond
Cape Point and Cape Hangklip where multitudes of fish could be caught. The pelagic

ones – snoek, geelbek, yellowtail – in the summer months, boat loads of them. When
I was a boy going to school I would see that the entire fleet that had left in the late

afternoon, some to catch mackerel for bait, and others, who had small seine nets, to
net some pilchards which the bigger fish followed into False Bay. Thereafter they

would go fishing off Cape Point, as well as inside the Point, all the night. The fish

would only feed when there was moonlight or at early daybreak. These boats would
all be filled with big geelbek, or Cape Salmon as they were called. They would be

lying abreast of each other waiting for the buyers to come onto the harbour to buy