Page 113 - KBHA BULLETIN 3

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Because we had to finance everything ourselves we decided to have 500 copies printed. This

was the minimum we could ask for.

In between the final proof reading and printing was a difficult period, that of correcting.

Again we had tremendous support, as you can see in the acknowledgements. It is amazing
how many mistakes there can be and how there just seem to be more and more every time the

text gets corrected. Eventually it was getting near Christmas and we had to give the go-ahead
to print. In the printing industry they cannot stop the machine on number 499 and there are

usually a few extras. We ended up with 599 books. 15 large boxes, each containing 40 copies

finally arrived and were stacked in my lounge two weeks before Christmas, and I was leaving
for my first holiday in years that Sunday morning. I can assure you that we were nervous.

The rest is history. By word of mouth the books just disappeared. By the time the Fish Hoek
Echo, The Cape Times and the Burger gave us some publicity we only had 40 books left. The

response has been terrific. We have had wonderful letters and phone calls from people with

connections and memories of Kalk Bay and they have all been extremely pleased that this
information has been recorded.

I would like to read an extract from one of these letters:

Dear Mr Stibbe and Mr Moss,

I want to thank you for the lovely book you wrote of the Kalk Bay fisherfolk. Mr Thesen gave

us one as a gift. Then I bought six, as I want each of my children to know their roots.

I am a granddaughter of Victorino De la Cruz, also the great-granddaughter of Pedro

Hemingelda who was one of the first fishermen in Kalk Bay together with the Fernandez in
open boats. Dick Turpin was married to my great Aunt Barbara.

My own grandfather deserted his ship and settled with the fishermen at Kalk Bay. My great-
grandfather came from Manila but my grandfather came from ilu ilu City and as a child he