Page 26 - Bulletin 20 2016

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the payment of an annual rent. After this length of time the land would normally revert back
to the government.

Lastly, there was Property or Eigendom. This involved the granting of land in reward for
some form of meritorious service to the Company (as in the case of Simon van der Stel when
granted Constantia and in turn, all the land south to Cape Point), or that in granting would
serve to further a specific objective of the Company in some way. Normally these
concessions were governed by special conditions particular to the grant. This, in turn, could
very well explain the vergunning given to Antoni Visser and, as we will see, subsequent
owners of his property in what would come to be Simon’s Town.

We must also appreciate that the Directors of Dutch East India Company appear through their
actions to have not wanted a large civilian population and attendant infrastructure in the
South Peninsula that might be put to use by a rival power attempting to invade the Cape. A
resident civilian population also brought problems such as smuggling which in Table Bay
cost the Company dearly in lost revenue and ongoing law enforcement (30) . This may well
have been the intention behind the Company granting the whole area of the southern
Peninsula to Van der Stel in 1700. The Directors likely knew Van der Stel was not about to
engage in significant developments further south than his holdings at Constantia and thus, by
granting this area to him, they effectively closed it to other potential ‘memorialists’ /
applicants for the time being. Following Van der Stel’s death, however, and in consideration
of the fact that any one of the growing number of ships electing to use Simon’s Bay during
the winter months could be found to be in need of immediate assistance, the Company
gradually deviated from this course of action. In short, having Visser as, in effect, a
trustworthy agent in Simon’s Town was as much to the Company’s benefit as it was to
Visser’s commercial interests.

And indeed, Visser is on record not only trading as a general provider of fresh produce and
ships’ chandler but also rendering generous assistance to those in distress. One example
involved the V.O.C. ship Pallus which arrived from Texel in 1737 with 37 men dead from

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