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The history of South Africa part 2

The Dutch are coming the Dutch are coming…1652

So round about 1647 the Dutch started getting interested in the Cape of Good Hope there was a great two and frowning about if they should build a refreshment station there  eventually after about five years they decided to do so they chose as the commander a former merchant of the Dutch East India company (also known as Jan company and the VOC short for Verinecter Oosteter Indsher Comapnjie) Here after referred to as the company  Well the states general the highest authority in the land decided to build a refreshment station this was of course after the Lords seventeen had voted that there should be a way station to provide fresh veggies cattle and sheep for ships passing from the far east to Europe and vice versa.

The former merchant Jan Antozoen Van Riebeeck had formally been in the employ of the company but had been busted for corruption nothing new there South Africa has known a long line of corrupt leaders guess he was just playing his part what no bribe for the commander? He enquired from a passing ship.

So on the 6^th of April 1652 Van Reibeeck and company arrived in table bay he had to wait a day for the last of his three ships to arrive the 7^th been a Sunday no one went ashore must have made Herry mad with anxiety why aren’t they coming ashore he wondered? He did not have long to wait bright and early the boats set out for shore there was Herry all existed here they come help them ashore stand aside there let me help the commander Hello My name is Herry I have plenty of cattle and sheep to sell to you I see you have bright and shiny objects Yes we will take copper bangles and Axes and any sort of metal yes we will relieve them from you in a minute just wait don’t push you there help me cut off the button s from the commanders coat.

Any way old Jan claimed this land for the company this time Herry allowed him to do it these white guys have shiny things we can kill them later  any way the first day there was a back and forth between the shore and the three ships unloading of all the goods putting up the tens and building of huts. Look Jan cried Mrs. Van Reibeeck that one is wearing no cloths hehehe look at his funny bits.” “Ja I saw that don’t look Maria it is not polite to look over long at there funny bits said he.

Anyway they began working on the fort bang, bang went the hammer on the nail pass me the nails please Herry oh that’s strange there’s none left oh well lets have sit down and smoke a pipe.

 By the end of the first month there was a bit of a fort the ships were getting ready to leave the first settlers at the Cape were not your typical group they  there were only about three woman and fifty seven woman. We need to get the men’s minds off the woman thought Jan as he bid the Captains of the three ships The Dromedaries the Rieger and the Goed Hope. Well good bye captain have a good trip to Batavia please bring me back a couple of women for our hard working men.

So the men contented themselves with growing veggies battering sheep and cattle which Herry and his gang would steel back at the first opportunity. Old Jan sighed it is all very inconvenient buying cattle only to have to buy them again next week. Maria remind me to have a word with Herry about his peoples stealing I wonder if I can shoot a few of them let me check my orders from the company said he as he unrolled his scroll of orders Inhabitants … Oh here we go Inhabitants may not be shot you are to remain on the best of terms with the Hottentots living in peace harmony and fidelity. Oh dear that wont do muttered old Jan.

So there was one man playing herdsman to the dwindling supply of Sheep and cattle when a fleet arrived from Batavia. Hooray, Hooray they have come back soon there was a big party here have some wine commander, you must try our Lamb Breede (stew) excellent quite nice your view from the fort but why is it not complete Van Reibeeck??”

Oh well umm you see my men are quite tired they have been working quite hard and with Herry stealing our cattle it is quite hard You don’t think you might be able to lend me a few of your men Commander??

No Jan I don’t think so maybe I can give you some rice and ship store maybe some salt pork and beef but my men need to rest sorry Jan said the commander with an apologetic smile.

Oh well guess I will have to get my men back to work then said Old Jan knowing that he was in a whole heap of trouble.

The Early history of South Africa part 1

The Early history of South Africa  part 1

In the year of our Lord 1510 AD a small force of Portuguese ships arrived in Table bay they intended to claim this land for the King of Portugal in accordance with the edict of his holiness the Pope. Unfortunately the Pope had neglected to inform the locals that there land was to be annexed and brought into the realm of Christendom very inconvenient but never the less that is how matter stood on one fine April morning in that year when the Portuguese stepped ashore the drums beat the trumpet sounded the commanded stepped forward and planted the flag of Portugal.

This strange behavior the locals at first found strange and even funny however when they were informed that they were now subjects of the King of Spain they rebelled and reacted with anger rushing down on to the beach where the peace loving Portuguese had began collecting sea shells for the King of Portugal (He wanted to send them as a present to the Pope). The attack was so sudden that the unsuspecting Portuguese were taken totally by surprise and hardly had time to grab there pikes and cross bows before they were under attack  said one to a friend Fernando get your cross bow out of my ribs”

In an event the Portuguese were driven back the greater number of them dyeing on the beach there blood staining the shore was to be the first blood of many Europeans which was to be lost in South Africa.

It should be noted that the locals that attacked this first failed invasion force were not people the Engoni ** group as commonly believed they were another type of invader that would come much later. The peace loving locals who drove off the Portuguese was known as the Strand loopers (Beach walkers/dwellers) They were a group who was loosely related to the original Bush man who had lived in Sub Saharan Africa for thousands of years.

Been soundly beaten by the locals the Portuguese commander decided to return to Lisbon and tell the King about the Popes failure to inform the locals. The King no doubt sent a strongly worded letter of protest tot the Pope “Ouch so no gift not even a sea shell then inquired?” the Pope.

In the mean time the Southern shores of Africa was to remain inhabited by the Strand loopers for another hundred and forty six years before any thing major happened.

In the early part of the 1600's it was time for the English to try there luck at settling the Cape never one to waste resources James I of England And 6^th of Scotland cast his eyes about and asked cant we use some of those convicts who robbed the stage coach last week when looking around for settlers “Great idea cried his first minster who then set about finding convicts to send to the Cape.

Ner a group of roughs more fitting of been hanged until they were dead, was found to come to the cape when they arrived the captain of the ship a wise man knowing a little of what had gone before ( he must have been a good Catholic decided to abandon the mottly crew of convicts on Roben ***Island at that time it was not known by that name it was just an island South would have to wait for the Dutch to name it half a century later.

It was not long before the local population of Strand loopers was visiting the Island a character known as Herry a minor chief caused them a lot of problems he would later cause the Dutch more problems. So much so that when the next ship called from England the remaining convicts pleaded to be taken back and hanged in England because they had had enough of Herry the Strand looper and his band of merry men. When they got to England some of the convicts escaped and ran away only to be caught an hanged at Kings cross the present site of Kings cross station London England

**Engoni = the tribes and peoples from whom Nelson Mandela, is descended this group includes the Zulu, Xhosa and the other black triable groups of South Africa)

***Roben island = Ryban island Dutch for the Island of the seals they loved to hunt the and kill them for there pelts

South African Ghosts stores PART 2

The second Ghostly story I would like to talk about happened about two years later and concerns one of those modern inventions that is supposed to make life easier but in most cases turned out to make life more difficult. The burglar alarm.

On a certain Friday evening a very busy and overworked security officer was busy dropping of dayshift guards when he received a call on the two-way radio that the alarm a large wool storage house had been activated. The site manager was asked to go and check on it as he was near the premises through the rest of the night until just after twelve o’clock am the supervisor was busy with various duties. However he became aware that there was a problem with the alarm at the wool storehouse as it continued to go off. Shortly after the witching hour he happened to be in the area when the alarm was once more activated he picked up the Site manager and the two men proceeded to the warehouse. After thourally checking the warehouse they managed to isolate the area from which the alarm was been activated they were busy checking the particular devise that happened to be an infrared beam. When the security supervisor happened to become aware of some on looking at there activities from a short distance away as the store was in darkness he holding the torch turned the torch in the direction from which he felt the eyes watching. To the utter bewilderment of both men they saw a shade of a woman of short stature dressed very much in a fashion of two hundred years earlier with a wicker basket on one arm watching them. The men froze the women smiled and turned and glided into a wall this was enough for both men to bolt for the door.

It might be of interest to note that just across the road from the warehouse is a private mortuary that was build in the early 19^th century and it is quite possible that the apparition was at one time a customer of this old business.

The most famous ghostly apparition on the coast of Africa is of course the Flying Dutchman. The story of the flying Dutchman is well known how a merchantman of the Dutch East India company was fighting her way round the Cape of Good Hope in a terrible storm. The captain vowed to sail round the Cape if it took all eternity the devil appeared and told him he had received his wish and he and his crew would sail round the Cape until judgement day, as a harbinger of disaster. The following story concerns a young man who went to sea in a fishing boat quite regularly in the 1980’s but one day on a clear and calm day he saw the ghostly shade of a square rigged ship and vowed never to go to sea again.

 Jim was out of work and the small town of Port Alfred did not offer much in the way of work for the young man he could earn a small living by going to sea as a fisherman and to this course he duly applied himself. Having met an old sea dog who owned his own fishing boat Jim and the old Air force captain came to an arrangement where by Jim would go to sea as a fisherman and the captain would pay him for any thing he caught. This been agreed upon they set out on a number of occasions to the fishing banks some days Jim made quite a lot of money as he was an expert fisherman and other days when things went badly he made nothing. The captain was a very difficult man to please and he used to take delight in giving Jim the short end of the stick. However nothing wavering they continued for about eight months. Then on one of those days that fishermen love the sun was shining and there was not a hint of wind they set out across the treacherous bar at the mouth of the Kowie river and out in to the deep waters. Finding a suitable spot they dropped anchor and began to fish the captain with a short stocky sea rod and Jim with a hand line as this was all the captain would permit. The fishing was good and by mid morning Jim had caught about a hundred kilograms of line fish of various types at about eleven o’clock the captain called a halt to the fishing and rations of sandwidges and coffee was broken out. There was some idle chatter among the four men aboard the boat nothing of a serious nature was discussed and most of the conversation was about local matters and some goings on at the local public house. Once the lunch was finished the men drifted back to their stations. On coming to the bow of the boat Jim checked to see that the anchor was still secure and resumed fishing he had not been engaged for long. When he happened to look out to the south east to his surprise he saw bearing down of them a squire rigged merchantman of the 17^th century with blood red sails.

Hurrying to the back of the boat he called out to the others to come and assist as they were in danger of been run down by the strange craft. The other men hurriedly helped to lift anchor and started to drift still the strange ship approached the two other crewmen also saw the ship but the captain did not. He would not start the engine so they continued to drift before the ship for the space of about ten minutes. Then slowly the apparition dissipated. This was enough for Jim that day when he reached the shore he packed away his sea going gear and never went to sea again as for the captain with in a year of the incident he had passed away.

South African Ghosts stores part 1

Some South African ghosts have the unusual habit of appearing at odd hours of the day and night. There is never a sense of foreboding or doom just before they appear as is common with there European counterparts I have titled these three short stories the dinosaurs, the old woman and A sighting of the flying Dutchman

The most unusual ghost that has been seen in South Africa happened one night in 1993 on a highway just outside the city limits of Port Elizabeth. A security supervisor was driving along just after two am on a bright moon light night when he suddenly saw what he at first thought was a troop of elephants crossing the road he slowed down and approached cautiously. However when he got closer to the large beasts that he had at first mistaken for elephants he saw to his amazement that it was a group of dinosaur’s of rather large size. Stopping he watched this heard of ghostly apparitions with some fear as he was aware that he was watching some thing quite spectral for five minutes he continued to watch with trepidation the great beasts reflecting the moonlight of there bodies. Wandered across the road into the surrounding bush the last of which disappeared as another vehicle approached casting its headlights on the beasts. This begs the question did the security supervisor perhaps not step back in time for a moment to an age when dinosaurs once roamed the plains and see an event long passed which has been imprinted on the atmosphere of the area?

This is the blog of Rachel Mendel

Hello my name is Rachel Mendel.

For Years and years I begged pleaded and gave advice until my son  Mandel found a wife.

I was so proud that my advice had work so I feel that I am qualified to give advice so please ask your questions and I will answer

Regards

Rachel