History
Mossel Bay History
There are several theories about who first circumnavigated the African continent. Were the Phoenicians (1500 BC-350BC) the first? Could it have been the Chinese or the Portuguese or the French? Was it the Portuguese seafarer Bartolomeu Dias de Novaes in 1488?
No one will know for certain, except that there is clear proof that Dias and his fleet of two caravels and a smaller supply vessel rounded the southern tip of Africa in 1488 in search for a sea route to the Far East.
It is also certain that he entered the bay where the town of Mossel Bay is situated and named it Bahia Aguado de Saõ Bras. The date was apparently February 3, 1488. It is thought that they landed at what is now known as Munro Bay to ship water from a fountain, which is still there today.
They also came across the indigenous Khoi people with their cattle herds as well as “Watermen” or “Strandlopers” (beach strollers) who lived from herbs, roots, small land animals, shellfish and fish which they caught by spearing them.
Although what is generally believed to be the first contact between the indigenous people of the present day Republic of South Africa and Europeans, ended in acrimony, it is also a fact that subsequent European seafarers returned to Bahia de São to ship water and probably fresh meat.
The landing of Dias at the Bahia de São Bras not only led to the eventual founding of the town of Mossel Bay but was a defining event in the birth of South Africa as it is known today.
Vasco da Gama
Nine years after Dias, another Portuguese seafarer, Vasco da Gama, landed at Bahia de São Bras. Siegfried Stander writes in his book “Mossel Bay – 500 Years” that the first recorded commercial transaction in South Africa took place on this occasion when a black ox was bartered for three bracelets. Da Gama also erected a padrao and a wooden cross but these were torn down by the local inhabitants because they apparently disliked the Portuguese who took their water.
The next significant event in Mossel Bay’s history was the arrival by Pedro d’Aitaide in the autumn of 1501. According to legend he placed a letter in an old shoe hanging in a milkwood tree. This ancient tree, known as the Post Office Tree, can still be seen today and is one of Mossel Bay’s major tourist attractions. D’Ataide was a captain in the fleet of Pedro Alves Cabral and the letter served as a record of the fortunes and misfortunes of Cabral’s fleet as well as to warn other seafarers about the hostility of the inhabitants of Calicut in the Far East.
D’Aitade’s letter was found in the same year by João da Nova, alerting him to the dangers in the East. Da Nova erected a small ermida or hermitage, a prayer chapel dedicated to St Blaise. It was the first Christian place of worship in South Africa. Predating the Cape Town Castle, this was also the first European building in South Africa. It was, however, destroyed over time to the extent that even its exact location is now uncertain.
On 8 July 1601, the Dutch commander Paulus van Caerden, arrived on the Verenigde Provintien and when he could not find refreshments other than mussels, he gave the bay its present name of Mossel Bay.
In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck arrived in Table Bay to establish a half-way station at the Cape for the Dutch East India Company. The emphasis shifted to the Cape and hamstrung development in Mossel Bay for many years.
As the European settlers at the Cape slowly moved inland, Mossel Bay came into the picture once again. Several grants of loan land were made in the Mossel Bay district from 1729 onwards. Marine activity in the bay also increased once more. In about 1781 Mossel Bay got official status for the first time as a military post.
Granary
In 1787 Governor Cornelis van de Graaff ordered the construction of a granary at Mossel Bay after a good wheat harvest and to encourage sheep farmers to switch to grain production. This was a major decision as far as Mossel Bay was concerned and provided the momentum for the development of Mossel Bay as a port and town.
Mossel Bay’s first church, the Dutch Reformed Church, was consecrated on 1 June 1845. After a few ups and downs with schools, a First Class Public School was established in Mossel Bay in 1862.
In 1849 the then Governor of the Cape, Sir Harry Smith, gave the town the name of Aliwal to commemorate his victory over the Sikhs in Aliwal, India. This name was, however, unpopular with the locals and gradually fell into disuse in favour of Mossel Bay.
The town of Mossel Bay was officially established in 1856, as a result of the proclamation of a separate magisterial district. The first chairman of the Board of Commissioners, the equivalent of the present-day Mayor, was Mr Josiah Benjamin Bland, after whom one of Mossel Bay’s main streets is named. The first Town Clerk was Mr Joseph Vintcent, whose descendants by that name still live in Mossel Bay.
The first edition of the town newspaper, the Mossel Bay Advertiser, was published on 4 January 1871 and is still published to this day.
Mossel Bay became connected by rail in 1905 when the first train ran between Mossel Bay and Riversdale.
Today Mossel Bay is a thriving harbour town and seaside resort, equidistant from the cities of Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, on the famous Garden Route of South Africa. Its population is made up of mainly Afrikaans, English and Xhosa-speaking people.
It is frequented by ocean liners and has excellent road, rail and air connections. It has thriving fishing and agricultural industries, and is home to a unique offshore-gas-to-liquids plant. Mossel Bay has championship golf courses and others sports facilities, modern shopping centres, good restaurants and hotels and excellent medical facilities.
Sources: Mossel Bay – 500 Years by Siegfried Stander; Mosselbaai – Seepoort van die Tuinroete by Sue van Waart.
