The above coordinates was taken with 6 meter
accuracy.
Please place exactly as it was
found!!
On the Northern slopes of Chapmans Peak is an old Fort which
predates the 1922 scenic drive by over 130 years. Established at
the time when the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was undergoing a
rapid decline, the fortifications were built for them by a French
mercenary regiment from India who had already constructed a battery
of 20 pieces of cannon at West Fort at the western extremity of the
Bay. The forts exchanged their colonial command on more than one
occasion until they were abandoned around 1826.
The cannons at East Fort were last fired in anger on Sept 15th
1795. Around noon, the 16 gun British Ship Sloop HMS Echo, part of
a small flotilla en route from Simons Town to Table Bay under the
command of Capt Todd, entered the bay on a reconnaissance mission.
The task being to establish whether or not the Bay was fortified
and at the same time alarm the Dutch that a British Naval task
force was active on the Atlantic seaboard. The Echo drew fire from
both East and West batteries, and quickly took flight without loss,
but she also took with her reliable intelligence about the gun
batteries for the British fleet. Admiral Elphinstone's feeling that
Hout Bay could be the "soft underbelly" of Cape Town was proved
wrong and Hout Bay's Gunners stand was probably the last act of
defiance by the Dutch prior to the first British
occupation.
Like Chapmans Peak Drive, the Forts suffered the ravages of time
and neglect and the 1796 blockhouse had already extensively
collapsed and its timbers having long since
decayed.
According to their website The Hout Bay Heritage Trust is planning
a major reconstruction project here to restore the East Fort as a
"Living Museum" with an estimated price tag of possibly R100M or
more.
Original content:
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Notebook
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Pen
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Read Me
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Carabiner
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Bridgestone Tyrepresure Gauge
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Keyring
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Plastic Bangle
FTF
Congratulations goes to
capeccr!!