SSC#3: Martello Tower #3 - Simon's Town Martello
This is the 3rd cache of a 9-cache circuit hidden on the lower slopes of Simonsberg (548m), the northernmost peak of the Swartkop Mountains range which runs from Simon’s Town to Smitswinkel. The caches form a potential 4km circuit on a mix of good tar road, stony sandy jeep tracks, sandy/rocky trails and steep indistinct gravelly/bushy trails marked by occasional cairns. The D/T ratings reflect the shortest route to the cache. Remember this is snake country so watch out where you put your feet and use a hiking stick to prod ahead as necessary.
The cache, a custom-made blue bottle-tops cache, is also one of three based on this historical building, is hidden at this superb panoramic viewpoint on the lower slopes of Simonsberg below Jackson's Quarry. The location is that of a covered reservoir which provides a spacious platform to take in the wonderful vista of Simon's Town and False Bay – including the Simon’s Town Martello Tower. It was hidden in recognition of SLAIN's cache GC5A7FF Martello Tower hidden on 5/8/14 and archived on 10/1/16 after some 26 finds.
To reach the cache location:a) turn south off Runciman Drive at park atS 34 11.719 E 18 26.315 onto Harbour Heights Drive and follow this up and around to the end and park in the off-road space available at S 34 11.814 E 18 26.444. Walk the small distance up to the tarred path and follow this west (passing MTR#2) then around the bend and up to the cache location, or b) park at S 34 11.803 E 18 26.552 at the end of Dorian Close. From here simply follow the tarred track past the barrier (and past the location GC7FJKK Martello Tower Redux #1: Origins – see also for waypoints, and GC7FMDN Martello Tower Redux #2: Design & Construction) up to the cache.
When the British occupied the Cape in September 1795, they did so to forestall any similar French action. Before the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the Cape of Good Hope and
not the Mediterranean was the key to the sea route to India. Major General James Craig, who was appointed Acting Governor of the Cape was in command of the occupying troops and set about improving the coastal fortifications of Cape Town. In 1796 he ordered the building of two towers, Craig's Tower just to the north of Cape Town to guard the coast and the road to Wynberg and the other to defend Simon's Bay. Both were erected as keeps for adjacent batteries -- in Simon's Town he constructed a large powder magazine capable of containing 980 barrels of gunpowder - the reserve ammunition for the Royal Naval Ships - close to the Southern Battery which has been built by the Dutch (aka the 'Boeselaar Battery'.
To protect this magazine and the rear of the Battery, he completed the construction of the Simon's Town tower in early 1796 making it the oldest surviving Corsican designed Martello Tower in the world* as the one on the island of Corsica attacked by the two British ships on 8th February 1794, was demolished by the evacuating British troops on 26 October 1796. Both the powder magazine and the tower still stand in the East Naval Dockyard in Simon's Town. It is also the oldest British building in South Africa.
*It is said that Craig's two towers are not actually Martellos and in design they are indeed different from Martellos and each other in important ways - for example they were built for defence from attack from the land and not sea. However, like the 3 towers built at Halifax, Nova Scotia around the same time, the Cape towers were forerunners of the Martello towers and their design influenced engineer officers who later built many Martellos around the world.
Construction of the Simon's Town Tower
This Tower is a fascinating study in the use of locally available material of the time. Being built of local sandstone, the tower is circular with an overall diameter of 12.57m and height of 7.85m. The wall is a uniform 1.83m thick and is perpendicular without projections of any kind with the exception of the timber structure over the doorway.
In the centre of the circular structure there is a square pillar extending from the ground floor to the underside of the roof boarding. This pillar, built of stone set in lime mortar, supports the first floor and the roof as well as forming the base for any gun that may have to be mounted on the roof.
It had a doorway at ground level and three large musketry embrasures probably for carronades, opening on the land side, to cover the approach to the battery from the rear.
Neither of the two towers had a bomb-proof roof and only Craig's tower was ever armed. There is no record of any guns being mounted on or in the Simon's Town tower which was used mainly as a magazine for the nearby battery. It was also used as a navigational beacon for ships entering Simon's Bay and was consequently white-washed in about 1843. Craig's Tower was demolished in the 1880s but the Simon's Town tower was used up to the early 20th century when it later became a museum. It now stands unused within the perimeter of the naval base.
See here for comprehensive details on the design and construction of the tower, the life and restoration of the tower, and its
opening as a museum in 1973. See here for recent photos of the tower, which is open to the public on annual Navy Open Days and at other times by special appointment only.
References for the three caches:
1. Towers of Strength: Martello Towers Worldwide, by WH Clements (1998)
2. A short history of Simon's Town famous Martello Tower, The Heritage Portal (2016)
3. A brief history of the Martello Tower, by Terry Korsten, Simon's Town Historical Society