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| << November14, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 155 dated 14.11.2005 |
November28, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 157 dated 28.11.2005 >> |
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Turtle Essays Edition no 156 dated 21st November 2005 ** Turtle Essays in conjunction with a Cape Town tour operator is offering accommodation and tours around the Cape Peninsula, Winelands and to see the whales at Hermanus. Find out more here. Http://www.turtlesa.com ** Do you enjoy this weekly ezine? Please tell your friends about it and send them to http://www.zinester.com/mpb/ml_fs.cgi?topic=50058 to become regular readers ** In this edition: Editors Blurb The history of Knysna Knysna Oysters ** Editor's Blurb Hi folks. Welcome to all my new and regular readers. It's just over four weeks to Christmas and about ten days to the start of the December school holidays here in the Cape. Our roads are already chaos with road works blocking the main highways and we will soon have the influx of visitors from up north hitting our shores for the holiday season so expect large traffic jams. The authorities are also planning roadblocks to catch drunken drivers and those fathers who have tried to avoid paying maintenance for their children. The non payers can expect some time in Pollsmoor if they do not pay up. As my family will be home on holiday for the next few weeks it will be difficult for me to find time for article research so I have decided that next week's ezine will be the last for 2005. This week I have prepared two articles on Knysna, one of the Western Cape's premier holiday destinations along our Southern coastline. The article on the history of Knysna has a little intrigue included. I hope you enjoy them both. See you all next week. Geoff Fairman ** The history of Knysna People love rumours especially those that have to do with British royalty. George Rex who arrived in South Africa and settled in Knysna in 1804 is the subject of one such rumour. He is believed to be the illegitimate son of George III, Prince of Wales. The legend is that he was the forgotten son of George the III and should have become king, rather than George IV on the death of his father in 1820. Had this been the case there would have been a completely different royal family in Buckingham Palace today. It is believed that the Prince of Wales secretly married a quaker girl named Hannah Lightfoot on May 27, 1759 in the Church of England. He later became King George the III. Three sons were born during this marriage, the eldest being George Rex. In 1797 to avoid a scandal involving the British monarchy George was sent to Cape Town as marshall of the vice Admiralty Court. On his arrival in the Cape he met a coloured slave girl whom he later freed. It is not known whether he married her but George was adamant that all his children were illegitimate confirming the theory that the last words of George III to his son were: ???You must never marry. There must be no legitimate heirs???. The reason for this request was that George III did not want George's children to have any claim to the British throne. When the Cape was handed back to the Dutch in 1803 George Rex moved his entire family and large entourage to the farm Melkhoutkraal, which he had purchased in Knysna. The farm included the whole lagoon and the area today known as Knysna. The land was covered in indigenous forests and a natural industry for the area was timber. As it was very difficult to move timber by ox-wagon George Rex proposed building a harbour in the lagoon and in 1817 the 188-ton Royal Navy brig Emu made the first attempt to enter the lagoon through the Knysna Heads. Unfortunately for her she struck a submerged rock in the channel and was badly damaged and had to be beached to stop her sinking. Later that same year the ship Podargus arrived to fetch the cargo and crew of the Emu and managed to find a safe passage through the heads into the lagoon thus paving the way for a shipping industry in the area. In 1817 Knysna became a port for naval and commercial ships. Ships entering the lagoon brought in goods and shipped out timber. In 1820 George Rex ceded some of his land to the British Admiralty to allow them to build a port in the lagoon. Unfortunately this project was never completed as fires destroyed the buildings and a ship that was being built there. The land that was supposed to be used for the dockyard was later laid out as a village which was named Mellville. Ground adjacent to Mellville which was owned by Colonnel Sutherland was also laid out as a village and called Newhaven. These two villages grew rapidly and merged in 1881. Shipbuilding started and in 1830 the first ship built in Knysna using local stinkwood was launched. The ship weighed a 140 tons and belonged to George Rex. Two schooners named Rover and Annie Benn were also built in the lagoon. After living in Knysna for 35 years George Rex died in 1839 and was buried on a hillock on his farm Melhoutskraal or the Old place as it is known today. In 1876 a gold nugget was found on the farm Ruigtevlei by James Hooper. It was deemed to be a significant find and the authorities made a grant of a hundred pounds to him to do further prospecting in the area. In 1885 the search for gold in the Karatara River recommenced bringing many fortune seekers to the Millwood area. The succesful mining industry produced much gold over the next ten years and then petered out when the mines ran dry. Over the years Knysna continued to grow and if George Rex were alive today he would be so proud as Knysna has become one of the Southern Cape coast's best known holiday destinations. It offers many activities and attractions, the most well known being the Knysna Heads which guard the mouth of the lagoon which connects the estuary with the sea. Next time you visit Cape Town and the Garden Route take some time out of your journey and discover the jewel that is Knysna. Geoff Fairman ** Knysna Oysters Knysna is the oyster capital of South Africa. Each year in the July school holidays the town puts on an Oyster festival. As part of the festivities a number of cycle races and road marathons are held. These activities are extremely popular with the public and accommodation is hard to come by during the festival. Also on the menu is the Knysna oyster which gives the festival its name. Since the early days of Knysna, oysters have been readily available in the area but due to demand collecting them in the wild is no longer commercially viable. The cultivation of oysters was first muted in 1946 by a retired wine merchant in the Knysna area. After two years of research and an inspection of the Knysna lagoon a Dutch oyster farmer was employed to start an oyster farm. Various species of oyster were imported and a bottom farming method was employed which turned out to be unsuccesful. It was then decided to try and use the local oysters but catching the natural spats using various methods also turned out to be unsuccessful from a commercial point of view. The main problem being a lack of knowledge of the local conditions which made methods used successfully in Europe unsuitable in Knysna. Local predators and pests also fed on the baby oysters creating more problems for the farmers. Between 1965 and 1970 various methods of cultivating oysters in the lagoon were tried most of which had limited success. A hatchery was established in the lagoon near Belvedere but was closed down because of problems with pollution, bacteria and the slow growth of the oysters being cultivated there. It was then decided to import the oyster seeds from overseas. 3 - 4mm oyster seeds are imported from either Chile or France and on arrival in South Africa are placed into a specially designed nursery in Port Elizabeth where the oysters lie in bins with mesh screens for bottoms and fresh salt water is pumped through them. The oyster seeds grow quickly and after about three months grow to between 10 and 12 mm in length. When they reach this size they are removed from the oyster bins and transferred to the Knysna lagoon where the next phase of their development begins. In Knysna the oysters are placed in fine mesh bags and are tied onto inter tidal racks anchored in the lagoon where they are exposed to the elements during low tide and are submerged at high tides. This exposure reduces the risk of parasites and keeps the bags that the oysters are kept in free from marine organisms that would attach themselves if the bags were constantly underwater. During this phase the oysters are regularly graded and by spending time out of the water their shells are strengthened and they become accustomed to living out of water extending their future shelf life. Unfortunately during this process more than 40% of the oysters do not survive. After about nine months the oysters have grown to about 45mm and are then ready for a move back to Algoa Bay for the final process of their cultivation. On arrival in Algoa Bay the oysters are placed in lantern nets which are attached to long ropes which are kept afloat by buoys far out in the bay. Here they live for about three months in the open sea in perfect conditions for oysters. When they reach marketable size and the plumpness of sea grown oysters they are harvested and brought back to land where they are scrubbed and graded into different sizes. They are then placed in crates and kept in cement tanks filled with fresh sea water which is drained for a number of hours each day. The oysters are now ready for delivery to the markets. It's a strange thought but in many instances the oysters you buy in Knysna will be more well travelled than you or me are. Geoff Fairman ** For my personal details, contact address, and warnings regarding products advertised in this ezine please read the disclaimers which can be found at: http://www.turtlesa.com/Disclaimer.html |
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| << November14, 2005 - Turtle Essays Edition no 155 dated 14.11.2005 |
November28, 2005 - Turtle Essays edition no 157 dated 28.11.2005 >> |
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