Dassen Island Lighthouse
Installed
April 1893
Latitude 33° 25' 55’’ S.
Longitude 18°
05' 23 '' E.
55 kilometres from Cape Town
11 kilometres from the coast.
Isolated and bleak, and standing on a barren outcrop of rock and sand,
Dassen Island Light remains one of the major beacons on the Cape shipping route.
Surrounded by
water, the Western seaward side is deadly, with high seas beating
in from the Atlantic and consequently, many ships have been driven onto the rocks with shipwrecks
scattered around this area. The Eastern side, looking towards the mainland,
is much calmer with hardly any breakers and on the South and North sides, are
two sheltered bays.
The island became
so notorious for the regular incidents of shipwrecks, that authorities released
rabbits and tortoises onto the island to provide a food source for any
survivors.
Whilst outward
bound on her maiden voyage from London to Sydney
in 1891, the SS Wallarah, commanded by Captain F.H. Ekins, and belonging to Wilhelm Lund’s celebrated
Blue Anchor Line, was wrecked at
Boom Point on Dassen
Island. It was this loss,
of yet another ship, which prompted the authorities to take action and the
Lighthouse was erected.
The Blue Anchor Line ships regularly
travelled the South African Coast and it was unfortunate that again in
1909, they faced calamity when their legendary SS Waratah, also on her maiden voyage, disappeared without trace on the Transkei Coast after departing Durban
for Cape Town.
P-J Hannabus, Lighthouse
Keeper (Ret.,) had some interesting experiences on Dassen Island.
“All too frequently, when
the tugs could not make their monthly voyage out to Dassen Island
because of foul weather conditions, the Lighthouse Keepers would run out of
food. At these times, penguin eggs were collected and eaten. Keepers would dive
for perlemoen (abalone) and crayfish. Snoek and bream were plentiful, so the
Keepers always had a meal on their tables.
In the early 1970’s,
helicopters were used for transport which made things easier. We would freeze fish, perlemoen and crayfish,
securely pack them in boxes marked ‘FRAGILE’ Lighthouse Bulbs, ready for transportation to Cape Town. The Lighthouse Keepers from Green
Point Lighthouse would collect the boxed ‘Lighthouse
Bulbs.’ When the swop would take place for the next flight back to Dassen Island,
Green Point Keepers would send steak, wine and brandy and other food items, in
exchange for the seafood!
In 1973 I was assigned to
relieve on Dassen for three weeks and took just enough fresh food with me for
this time. During the three week period, Mr Bruyns our Lighthouse Inspector,
informed me that the Keeper due to arrive to take up the permanent post had
just resigned and I was required to stay for three months! ‘Oh no’ I wailed!
‘I don’t have enough food!’ He asked me if I had any objection to eating
penguin eggs, fish and crayfish, to which I replied, ‘No.’ ‘Good,’ said Mr
Bruyns, ‘go and catch your food!’ I certainly had no objection to this!
In order at times to stave
off boredom and pass the night shifts away, I would cut the gunwales off old
wrecks and make ashtrays by chiselling out the rough-hewn wood, then gluing in the
beautiful Perlemoen shells, which shimmered in their ever-changing iridescent
colours of purple, blue, green and pink. I would give them away as gifts and I was
always very popular at Christmas!”
A series by Suzanne-Jo Leff Patterson
October 2015
