The beacon had to be renewed on two occasions during the 19th century. Beacon Island is not an island in the true sense of the word. It just happens to be situated in the estuary of the Piesang River which separates it from the land. Today it is no longer an island as the western bank of the river has been filled in to provide access to the island and the hotel.
Not much was known of the island before John Sinclair started his whaling activities in the bay. The first cargo of whale oil left the shores of Plettenberg Bay in 1834 on board a ship named Calypso. After Sinclair a number of other men continued to whale in the bay and it was Cornelius Watson and Percy Toplis who managed to obtain a lease to use Beacon Island as a whaling station.
Tragedy was to strike Watson shortly afterwards when a whale he had harpooned from his boat Scorpion dived and pulled his boat under. He was drowned and a week later the whale with Watson's harpoon still in its side washed up on the beaches near Cape Town about 500 kilometres away. Watson's partner struggled on and eventually sold out to the Southern Whaling Company in 1908.
Whaling continued from the Beacon Isle until 1913 when a Norwegian company with seven whaling ships started whaling in the bay. Things went well for a couple of months and then ill luck started to take its toll. The whaler Groukama sank in the Knysna lagoon at Featherbed Bay. A month or two later the pilot boat used in the lagoon was capsized by the Thesens supply boat.
In July 1914 the whaling station on Beacon Island was badly damaged by fire and to crown it all war broke out in August of the same year. Whaling however continued until 1916 when all operations ceased.
Today there is not much left of the old whaling station although the old slipway can still be seen. There is aslo some whaling equipment on the grounds on the island if you are interested.
With whaling being a thing of the past the manager's house on the island was soon turned into a boarding house and was run by Anne Harriet and her husband Thomas Hopwood, becoming Hopwood’s boarding house, forerunner of the Angler’s Inn, also now closed. The site is now home to a large hotel.
THE CACHE IS LOCATED ON THE SEASIDE OF THE WELL KNOWN HOTEL ON THE ROCKS. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT YOU DO THIS GEOCACHE AT LOW TIDE. PLEASE BYOP AND REPLACE CACHE AS FOUND.