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Van der Stel’s activities extended, although it can be expected Van der Stel ran livestock in
the Noordhoek and Silvermine valleys and is said to have established a fishery at Kalk Bay
during this period (24) .

The winter gales of the Cape of Storms

During the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries events took place in Table Bay
which compelled the Dutch East India Company to turn its attention to the southern Cape
Peninsula as never before. It had long been the practice for V.O.C. ships separated from the
yearly returning fleets from the East to reassemble in Table Bay. From here they would
eventually set out for Holland in convoy, with their strength in numbers restored. For some
this meant a delay of as long as two months at anchor and at the mercy of the elements,
particularly the northwest gales which periodically lash Table Bay during the winter months
(25)
. The danger posed to shipping when these storms turned Table Bay into a lee shore had
often been commented upon in the journals of commanders and later governors at the Cape,
but since minimal loses had resulted this remained something the Company had come to
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accept as one of many hazards of their trade. Then on June 4 , 1692 a northwest gale caught
the return fleet in Table Bay resulting in the loss of three ships with others damaged. Similar
rd
th
shipping disasters occurred on May 23 , 1697 and then on June 17 , 1722 (with the loss of
five ships, their precious cargoes and over 600 lives), following which the Company
Directors began to seriously investigate remedial action such as possibly building a protective
breakwater or ‘mole’ out into Table Bay and/or developing an alternative anchorage at the
st
Cape for use during the months of winter. Then on May 21 , 1737 disaster struck again with
eight ships driven ashore and the loss of 208 lives and cargo. At last, in 1741, the Directors in
Holland took action resolving that all V.O.C. ships would henceforth use the roadstead in
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Simon’s Bay in preference to Table Bay from “the 15 of May to the 15 of August” each
year (26) .

The severity of this situation at the Cape is further evidenced by the fact that even before the
V.O.C. took this decision in 1741 a growing number of captains had already begun taking the

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