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famous skippers of the time arrived in Kalk Bay as “strollers” or “hobo’s” but soon rose
through the ranks to gain the respect of many around our coastal waters.

Over the years more and more fishing families would move from Kalk Bay to Heathfield,

Retreat, Steenberg and other areas.

There was great rivalry in the past between Leon Klein and old man Mr. Ferreira, who

between them owned several fishing boats. I recall a story told to me by Mr Klein: he
would tease the old man when the boats could be seen far off, making their way back to the

harbour. Klein would say: “Here comes My Boat”, and Ferreira, who happened to be my
great-grandfather, would say: “No, it’s not your boat, it’s my boat”. This would last several

minutes when Klein would stop the teasing and say: “OK, it’s your boat”. The actual name

of Ferreira’s boat was My Boat.

The Morning Call used to be: “Polly! Polly! Polly! are you going to sea?” –

“Yes Didda, I’m going to quick pull me on”.

This is the type of English some of the fishing families spoke - direct translation, or
“kombuis engels”.

This call was repeated to fishermen on a daily basis usually round about 2am or 3am in the

morning, come rain or shine. You would only know of this call if you were a fisherman, or

if you had a fisherman as a neighbour in the past. Sadly, because of modern technology in
the form of telephones and cell-phones, this call is almost extinct today. It is a great pity we

have not got the sound effects to go with it.

During the war years a shark industry was based in the harbour. The Blesbok, designed on
the American concept with her wheelhouse forward, was one of the first steel fishing boats

built in South Africa by Mr Blain, who also built several other boats in Kalk Bay. (Fig.