REMINISCENCES OF WHALING IN FALSE BAY

By Abdullah Moses

 

I was born in Simon's Tow on 9th September 1884. When I was a youngster of 14-16 years old whaling was flourishing in Simon's Bay. We had a proper crew and all the youngsters were look-outs. As soon as a whale was sighted we would light a smoke fire. The whaler was then guided towards the whale. When we saw that the boat was in a position for striking, we would put out the fire and anxiously wait for results.

On a Saturday morning a whale was sighted in Jaffer's Bay (Cole Point). The smoke signal was made and in next to no time the whaler Monarch, owned by Mr Hablutzel, put to sea with her crew consisting of Abdol Clark (harpooner), Jonkie Moses, Satarien Osborn, Agmat Jenkins, Sayed Solomons and Mr Marnewal (skipper).

The whale was duly harpooned by Mr Abdol Clark. The line was allowed to run free and then secured to the bollard in the whaler. The whale towed the boat towards the open sea and took its first stop for a rest at a point about where the Dockyard Lighthouse now stands. It then pulled out along the coast in one long haul to Miller's Point.

All the people ran along the coast roads and paths following the whale hunt. I ran, and ran, and ran, following the chase as far as Miller's Point. At that time there were no docks. We ran all the way past Steen bras Bay (now the Dockyard bathing pool), Kleintuin (now Seaforth), Mr Hablutzel's farm Bellevue, the Prisoner-of-War Camp (now the Golf Course), and Froggy Pond.

From Miller's Point we watched the whale towing the boat out in the direction of Smitswinkel Bay. We could go no farther as the going after Miller's Point was too difficult and, besides, we were too tired.

We later had news from the boat when they returned empty handed, that the rope had to be cut as the whale was pulling them out to sea and they had no chance to come near to the whale to deal the death-blow with the lance.

After this episode, at the end of the month, another whale was sighted outside the Roman Rock; it was a beautiful day and the water was very calm. The boat set out from Jaffer's Bay in pursuit, manned by the same crew. They chased right out to the whale and harpooned it.

From this point the whale towed the boat towards the shore. A calf was with the whale and and every time the skipper tried to lance her, the calf was always in the way. The skipper then lost his head and stuck the calf with the lance. The calf sank to the bottom and the mother went to lift the calf. When she saw that the calf was dead, she went to make a second attempt to lift the calf up, came up and gave a SCREAM. She then jumped out of the water and charged the boat. All the crewmen could do was to reverse the boat and try to back away. The whale swung around and bit the bows and forward part of the boat clean off. The crew was thrown into the water and had to hang on until help came from a second boat (Mr Hablutzel himself in his boat Sea Queen) two hours later. The whale continued its charge from the boat right out to sea and was not seen again.

The last whale caught at Simon's Town was harpooned and killed by Mr A.V. Thomas, uncle of Mrs Kaye. It was pulled up on the beach in the little bay beyond Froggy Pond just below the old well in the grounds of the house since built there, where it was skinned, cut up and melted down.

 

References

Extracted from the Simon’s Town Historical Society Bulletin. (Vol.II. No.3. January, 1964)