Boer History1690 at the Cape of Good Hope: Noord Wreck, Huguenot Relief, and the Drakenstein Church Grant
Noord from Natal — January 1690
The calendar year 1690 opened with a small Company vessel already far up the south-east coast. In October 1689 the council of policy had resolved to send the galiot Noord a second time as far as Natal. The objects were three: to rescue the nine missing men of the wrecked Stavenisse still thought to be living among the coastal peoples; to purchase for the Honourable Company the Bay of Natal and the land around it; and to survey Algoa Bay and, if possible, buy that inlet and its neighbourhood from the native proprietors. [3]
The galiot had sailed from Table Bay on the 28th of October 1689. Contrary winds delayed her, and she did not arrive before the Bay of Natal until the 9th of December. There three men of the Stavenisse were found and taken on board, and the desired purchase of territory was effected. A formal contract was drawn up by Laurens van Swaanswyk, journalist of the expedition, and the chief residing near the bay affixed his mark. In that instrument the Company was acknowledged proprietor of the lagoon and surrounding land. Merchandise in rings, beads, copper plates, wire, and similar trade goods was recorded at a value of about £1,650 English sterling, though a far smaller real outlay would have represented the goods actually handed over. Landmarks bearing the Company’s arms were set up in several prominent positions. [3]
On the 11th of January 1690 the Noord sailed from Natal, and on the 15th she arrived in Algoa Bay, still known by the older Portuguese name Bahia da Lagoa. Skipper Pieter Timmerman did not find the place answering that description. A stiff breeze was blowing in, and the bay, instead of lying glassy as a lake, ran like a stormy sea. He judged it nothing better than an exposed bight and, deeming it worthless to the Company, did not even drop anchor. [3]
Wreck of the Noord — 16 January 1690
On the evening of the 16th of January the galiot was believed to be well off the land when, about half-past nine o’clock, she struck suddenly. With the next wave she was washed high up on the reef called Klippen Point, about fifteen or sixteen English miles west of Cape St Francis. Her officers were afterwards severely blamed for the loss, yet they appear to have used due precaution. The night was dark, and the Agulhas current at that place often sets dead inshore. [3]
At low water the crew could walk to land without wetting their feet. They numbered eighteen men, all strong and hearty. The wreck filled with water at high tide, but they had no difficulty getting what they needed out of her. No inhabitants were seen in the neighbourhood. On the 23rd they started from the scene of the disaster to make their way overland to the castle as best they could. Each man took a matchlock with ammunition and as much food as he could carry. For several days they kept together; at length they broke into parties, the sturdiest pushing on ahead. [3]
On the 27th of March 1690 the mate Theunis van der Schelling, with three companions, arrived at the Cape and reported the loss of the Noord. Those four had suffered much from hunger until they reached the kraal of Captain Klaas, by whom they were entertained and cared for in the most generous manner; they attributed their preservation to his kindness. Klaas at once sent some of his people to search for the other men, but most of them perished before aid could reach them. The few who were rescued told piteous tales of the misery they had gone through and of cruel treatment at the hands of San parties along the route. [3]
One result of these coastal expeditions and disasters was a knowledge of the south-eastern country and its inhabitants such as was hardly added to for the next hundred years. From this time forward the Europeans in South Africa also regarded one class of those inhabitants less favourably than before: the wild hunting peoples previously known under many tribal labels, and henceforth commonly called Bushmen. The country from Delagoa Bay to the Cape, the commander wrote, could be travelled over in safety if it were not for those banditti. Khoikhoi and Xhosa hands were already against them; European hostility was now added in the settled districts. [3]
Batavia Relief Distribution — 18–19 April 1690
Shortly after the first Huguenot parties had arrived, the board of deacons of Batavia had sent a sum of money equal to twelve hundred and fifty English sovereigns to be distributed among the refugees according to their needs. In purchasing power of the day the gift was large, and it was appreciated as such. It was decided that all the Huguenots should share in the present except a very few who were otherwise provided for. [3]
The money was distributed on the 18th and 19th of April 1690 by commissioners who had taken every individual’s needs into consideration. A copy of the list of distribution survives in the archives at the Hague. It names those who had arrived in the Borssenburg, Zuid Beveland, and Wapen van Alkmaar, and it shows further what havoc death had already made in the little band of refugees, together with other particulars of household size. With a few names added from another document, the roll forms a working list of the Huguenots who settled in South Africa in this first wave. Amounts were reckoned in gulden of Indian currency, equal to one shilling and fourpence halfpenny of English money. [3]
Among the larger grants were Pierre Lombard, a sick man, with wife and one child, at 750 gulden; Isaac Taillefer with wife and four children, 720; Pierre Jacob with wife and three children, 640; the widow of Charles Marais with four children, 600; Philippe Fouché with wife and two children, 600; and Abraham de Villiers with wife and two brothers, 570. Many other households received smaller sums scaled to need. Those listed as otherwise provided for, or as not needing assistance from this fund, included the Rev. Pierre Simond with wife and one child, Jacques de Savoye with wife and two children, Louis de Pierron with wife and three children, Pierre Barillé with wife, André Gaucher, Abraham du Plessis, Paul Brasier, and schoolmaster Paul Roux. [3]
The full list gives a total of one hundred and seventy-six souls, while in despatches of nearly the same date from the Cape government the number of Huguenots of all ages in the colony is stated as one hundred and fifty-five. In the official count those in Company service were certainly not included, and those married into Dutch families may not have been reckoned. It is also likely that several names on the relief roll, after long residence in the Netherlands, would not have been treated as refugees by Commander Simon van der Stel. Many surnames on the list had already been familiar in the Low Countries for two or three generations—branches of Le Fèbre at Middelburg since 1574, De Lanoys at Leiden since 1648, Nels at Utrecht since 1644, Du Toits at Leiden since 1605, Cordiers at Haarlem since 1627, and others. [3]
Khoikhoi Relations and San Pressure — 1690
Tracts of land of considerable extent were by this time being taken into occupation for European immigrants, yet relations with neighbouring Khoikhoi remained generally peaceful. There was still open country enough for all. Free farmers would gladly have employed hundreds of Khoikhoi if the men could have been induced to take steady service; most preferred their own pastoral life. They had no objection, however, to light occasional work for tobacco and spirits, and in harvesting especially they were found useful. They were also ready to hire out female children, by which means household servants were obtained and a knowledge of Dutch was spread. None of the nearby clans had yet taken to making gardens or cultivating ground on their own account. [3]
The clans could not always be kept from fighting one another. The two captains of the Chainouquas, Klaas and Koopman, quarrelled frequently, but whenever they came to open war the commander still interfered on behalf of Klaas, held a faithful ally through whom large herds continued to be obtained for the fleets. San parties from the Drakenstein mountains still came down into the valley and committed depredations. They were treated as outlaws and were too wary and fleet of foot to be made prisoners easily. Khoikhoi pursued them with greater success. Klaas was almost constantly scouring the mountains in his neighbourhood in search of them, and though on several occasions they nearly ruined him by sweeping off his herds, he destroyed a large number of them. [3]
Crimes by Khoikhoi against Europeans continued to be tried in Dutch tribunals and punished under Dutch law. Thefts were not uncommon; other offences remained rare. Natives committing crimes against their own people were left to their own law, the policy of the time being not to interfere further than the safety and welfare of the settlement required. Khoikhoi were generally free to wander over open country so long as they did not trespass on ground occupied by settlers; when that liberty clashed with European interests it was suspended. During the Dutch–French war the directors ordered that natives with cattle be kept away from the neighbourhood of Saldanha Bay, so that enemy ships putting in there might not find supplies. [3]
Namaqua and Grigriqua Raid — Late 1690
In March 1689 Namaqua and Grigriqua parties had crossed the Elephant River in force against the Cochoquas near Saldanha Bay, and the commander had not then seen fit to interfere. When a similar raid was made at the end of 1690, he sent thirty or forty soldiers to preserve order. The invaders were attacked, and several thousand head of cattle were captured. The whole of the booty was restored, however, and in addition presents of tobacco and spirits were made, once the late disturbers of the peace entreated a renewal of friendship and promised not to repeat the offence. [3]
In the interval between the 1689 raid and this later one the old Cochoqua chief Oedasoa died. One of his brothers thereupon applied to the commander to be appointed in his stead. He received a staff of office and was named Hannibal. The episode fixed a pattern that would recur: Company arms used sparingly to check cross-river raiding, cattle restored as a price of renewed friendship, and local succession marked by a Dutch staff of office. [3]
Farming and Company Economy — 1690
Agriculture was by now far enough advanced that there was sufficient food for the inhabitants, the garrison, and the people of the fleets. In good seasons a surplus of fifteen hundred or two thousand muids of wheat could be exported to Batavia. Experience had taught the government always to keep two years’ supply in the magazines against drought or destruction by locusts or caterpillars. The Company had not yet abandoned farming altogether, but was gradually doing so as colonial supplies became dependable. Besides the garden in Table Valley and the vineyard at Rondebosch it still held seven farms or cattle places, the most remote at Hottentots Holland; on two of them a few hundred muids of wheat were grown, the others serving mainly as breeding and holding stations for oxen and sheep bought from Khoikhoi until required for the fleets. [3]
For free farmers wheat remained the first object, because it brought relatively a higher price than any other product. Cattle rearing came next. Wine followed; the Company purchased it at £5 a legger for the fleets. It was not saleable in India on account of inferior quality; some was converted into vinegar for seamen. Directors at home still pressed for cheaper grain, more export of wheat, wine, and olive oil, continued vine experiments, and renewed attention to the olive. The commander answered with reports of trials in the Company’s gardens, on freehold farms, and at Constantia, and of Huguenot grafting of cultivated olives on the wild olive of the country, while most burghers still would not wait long years for uncertain olive profit. Persian horses and asses and Spanish rams, introduced in 1689, remained part of the stock-improvement effort through this season. [3]
The directors saw in the growing free community a chance at last to reduce the Cape’s reputation as the dearest victualling station in the world. Refreshments for the fleets could now be had in ample quantities. They hoped a body of militia would make a large garrison less necessary, and that food would be produced at cheaper rates than formerly. In their despatches they pointed out that while wheat sold in the Netherlands at 6s. 8d. the muid, they were then paying 12s. 6d. and even 13s. 11d. the muid at the Cape, though Cape farmers paid no rent and hardly any taxes. They believed the price could gradually be reduced toward Fatherland levels and still leave colonial producers better off than farmers in Europe. [3]
Huguenot Discontent Awaiting Reply — 1690
The French church deputation of 28 November 1689 had been refused and ordered home under the oath of allegiance. Nothing more could be settled at the Cape until a reply arrived to the letter the Rev. Pierre Simond had written some months earlier to the Supreme Authorities. Through 1690 the two nationalities therefore continued to regard each other with a bitter spirit of hostility. The commander saw in Huguenot projects an attempt to thwart his scheme of a pure Dutch colony; they saw in him a determination to compel them to be Dutch whether they would or not. [3]
On both sides rash words continued. In open meeting the French had resolved not to intermarry with the Dutch, forgetting that if such a resolution could be carried out most of them could never marry at all. Individuals among them did not scruple to say that, having braved the anger of the great king of France, they would be ashamed of themselves if they were afraid of Commander Van der Stel. Many Dutch colonists ceased to hold intercourse with the French; some were even reported to have said that they would rather give bread to a Hottentot or to a dog than to a Frenchman. At the same time most of the refugees were already overcoming the first difficulties of settlement: small rough houses, gardens under cultivation, and good first-season crops. A few who had declined farms at Stellenbosch remained poorer. The mixed location of French among Dutch neighbours was still felt as a grievance, and the deeper church grievance waited on Amsterdam. [3]
Seventeen Authorise a Drakenstein Church — 6 December 1690
On the 6th of December 1690 the Assembly of Seventeen took the request of the Rev. Mr. Simond on behalf of the Huguenots at the Cape into consideration, and resolved to permit them to establish a church at Drakenstein under strict conditions. The deacons and elders chosen yearly were to be approved by the council of policy—which meant in practice that a double list of names should be submitted by the retiring officers, as at Stellenbosch, from which the council would select deacons, and that elders nominated by the consistory could be rejected if not considered suitable. A political commissioner was to have a seat in the consistory. Important matters were to be brought before the church council of the Cape, in which deputies from the country consistories would then have seats. The consistory of Drakenstein was to control poor funds raised by the congregation, but contributions sent from abroad were to remain under the control of the combined church council. [3]
With regard to schools, the teachers at Stellenbosch and Drakenstein were to be men who understood both languages, and care was to be taken that the French children should be instructed in Dutch. Lastly, the request of the Huguenots to be located together was refused, and the government of the Cape was instructed, when granting ground, to mix the nationalities so that they might speedily amalgamate. The despatch embodying these resolutions would reach the Cape only in June 1691, after which the parishes of Drakenstein and Stellenbosch were separated. The decision itself, however, was taken in Amsterdam before the close of 1690, and it fixed the institutional answer to the November 1689 deputation: a separate country church under Company oversight, bilingual schooling with Dutch instruction for French children, and no French territorial bloc. [3]
Van der Stel Raised to Governor — 14 December 1690
Plans of Table Valley from this period show the town covering part of the ground between the Company’s garden and the shore of the bay, while extensive private gardens occupied much of the remaining space. There were no private residences beyond the present Plein Street on one side and Burg Street on the other. On the north side of the Heeregracht the Company’s garden extended as far down as the present Longmarket Street; on the opposite side it terminated where it still does. A reservoir near the site of the original earthen fort on the parade ground received water conducted from the Fresh River in a wooden pipe laid down in 1686, from which it could be conveyed along the jetty to the ships’ boats. Close to the reservoir stood a mill for grinding corn. As far as the buildings extended the streets were regularly laid out and crossed each other at right angles, though none yet bore the names they carry now. [3]
The colony which Simon van der Stel at the close of 1679 had found limited to a portion of the Cape peninsula had spread during the next twelve years over the tract bounded by the mountains of Drakenstein and Hottentots Holland. Farmhouses were now to be seen along the Koebergen and as far down the valley of the Berg River as the Green mountain beyond Wellington. Every year a few families still arrived from the Netherlands to increase the number of colonists. [3]
The directors of the East India Company considered that a settlement of such promise should have at its head a man of higher rank than a commander. As Simon van der Stel was regarded as deserving promotion, on the 14th of December 1690 they raised him to the dignity of governor, and granted him a salary above his maintenance expenses of £16 13s. 4d. a month. The despatches to that effect would arrive in Table Bay only on the 1st of June 1691 in the ship Java; from the date of that arrival the colony was always thereafter presided over by an officer with the rank of governor. The promotion itself was resolved in the Netherlands before the year closed. [3]
Close of 1690 at the Cape
By the end of 1690 the Cape had absorbed the lessons of another hard coastal failure and another measured advance in institutional life. The Noord had bought Natal ground and raised Company landmarks, then wrecked at Klippen Point on 16 January; Theunis van der Schelling and three companions reached the castle on 27 March after Klaas’s hospitality, while most of the eighteen-man crew perished on the overland trek. On 18–19 April the Batavia deacon fund was distributed among Huguenot households on a need-scaled list of some one hundred and seventy-six souls. Namaqua and Grigriqua raiders who struck again late in the year were checked by thirty or forty soldiers, their captured cattle restored, and Cochoqua succession marked by the naming of Hannibal after Oedasoa’s death. On 6 December the Seventeen authorised a Drakenstein church under council approval of officers, a political commissioner in the consistory, Cape oversight of important matters, bilingual schoolteachers with Dutch instruction for French children, and an explicit refusal of separate French location. Eight days later they raised Simon van der Stel from commander to governor. Those were the calendar facts of 1690 at the Cape. [3]