Cape Columbine, 18 September 2002
Since the earliest times, humanity has been fascinated with the ocean. The waves that crash against the shore in the teeth of the tempest, or merely lap peacefully when the storms tire, conceal an awesome and frequently terrifying power. Lurking beneath the soft embrace of the ocean are reefs and rocks, sandbars and swift currents that frequently pose great danger to the unwary or the foolhardy sailor. Ocean travel demands an ability to sail in the depth of the night.
Those who sail the seas often speak in their poetry of the ink-black density of the darkness that is punctuated only by the stars on cloudless nights or the brilliant sheen of phosphorescence that marks the curl of the wave, the rocky outcrop, or the line of breakers as they roll towards the beach. It is at night or under the cloak of fog and mist that dangers loom greater, threatening the sailor and the vessel with disaster and tragedy. To counter these threats as best they could, people lit bonfires on beaches and outcrops, or would beat drums deep into the night in an effort to penetrate the darkness to warn mariners of the dangers that threatened if they sailed too close. But lighthouses have also served to guide shipping, not only to warn them of hazards. So, many lights are used to identify harbour approaches, channels and thus act in a more benign fashion. Our modern lighthouses boast a long and interesting architectural history from the lighthouse of Pharos in Egypt to the modern constructions of today. Jan Van Riebeeck’s men erected the first beacon in South Africa, on Robben Island, in 1657. It was a simple contraption, made up of burning pitch rings around the top of a pole, has lured vessels to their watery graves on many occasions.
This evening we meet, almost solemnly, at one of South Africa’s most well-known sentinels, the Cape Columbine lighthouse erected in 1936. For this beam of light, flashing every fifteen seconds from 80 metres above the highwater mark and carrying its warning some 32 nautical miles out to sea, is the first that maritime traffic from Europe encounters as they approach our shores.
The ocean floor not far from here holds the last whispers of the barque Columbine which wrecked here in 1829. So too did the troop carrier St Lawrence, and the Portuguese mail steamer Bilboa, meet their end here in 1910. Interesting too, is the fact that the small town of Paternoster through which we pass to reach this spot was named by survivors of a shipwreck who hastened to give thanks to their God.
Right around our coast, there is a close link between the location of lighthouses and numerous wrecks of ships from the 15th century onwards. The Greenpoint light at Mouille Point was South Africa’s first solidly built lighthouse, in 1920, on the site of the earlier light erected in 1824. Mouille Point, too, has had its fair share of wrecks, including most recently the Seafarer that ran aground in 1966. Slangkoppunt, near Kommetjie, is the tallest cast-iron tower on the South Africa coast erected in 1919 and is today fully automatic.
It stands watch over the treacherous reefs and outcrops so well known to divers, surfers and anglers. Danger Point, near Gansbaai, stands silently above the site of one of SA’s most famous ship wrecks, the HMS Birkenhead which went down in 1852 whilst rushing to Port Elizabeth from Simonstown carrying British troops and their wives and families.
The light at Cape St Blaize in Mossel Bay stands magnificently on the tip of the ridge, watching with a bird’s eye view over the coastline. The Great Fish Point lighthouse stands near the mouth of the Great Fish River along the eastern cape coast. It was lit in 1898 and provides some comfort to mariners who seek to sail the treacherous waters off the Wild Coast further north. Further along our coast, at North Sand Bluff at Port Edward and Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal, two lighthouses complete the string of the 8 lighthouses that form the initial phase of the SA Lighthouse Adventure Tour Operations.
By their very nature, most lighthouses are located in remote, often windswept areas, along our coast. As such they are often situated within protected zones, guardians alongside exquisite fynbos, exotic animal life and fantastic views. They are subjects for photographers and artists.
Their history is closely related to the fates of many sea-going travelers; and often the communities that live in their shadows have stories to tell to fascinate the visitor. Surely there can be no one who has not been moved to reflect quietly when they hear the deep resonance of the foghorn blast from the shore to sea; or when they are momentarily caught in the sweep of the beam as it passes swiftly at night. These sentinels are fundamental to our existence as a maritime nation.
It is therefore quite superb that the National Ports Authority have developed the tour adventure concept. For some time now a number of lighthouses in the USA and in Europe have been converted into bed-and-breakfast establishments, often kitted out with museums and linked into nature trails. We welcome the opportunity to make the premises of quite a few of our many lighthouses in South Africa open to the public, for recreation, for historical tours, for conference venues, for people interested in architecture, and so on. By doing so we are opening up yet another facet of our country’s history as well as exposing people to one of the most important elements of our modern infrastructure.
An important element of this project is the participation of the communities that live around the lighthouses. With proper management and live imagination we can expect these facilities to assist in the growth and development of the remote areas in which they are located.
I look forward to receiving progress reports as the project unfolds, and I am sure that everyone who travels to enjoy these facilities will be sufficiently awestruck by the stories each of these lighthouses will be able to tell.
In fair weather and foul, these lighthouses stand tall and proud, guardians of our shores, sounding and beaming warnings to seafarers and ships, in a long chain of bright lights along the southern shores of Africa. My congratulations to all concerned for this wonderful venture.
I thank you.