This Clock Tower has a long history. When it was built in 1882 it was situated at the entrance to the harbour of its time to serve as the office of the Port Captain. As the harbour was developed around it the Port Captain moved into the building across the cut in 1904. The tower consists of three storeys – the ground floor has a tidal gauge which sits over a well and which indicated the exact height of the tide at any given time for the benefit of the ships entering or leaving the harbour.
The first floor served as a reading room for visiting ship’s captains. The second floor, which was the Port Captain’s office, was originally lined with mirrors to allow the captain to observe all movements around the harbour. Above the top floor is the clock cupola. The clock which was imported from Edinburgh, Scotland. The mechanism was originally inside the cupola, but was brought down when the clock was cleaned and restored to its former glory
The tower was allowed to fall into disrepair and was renovated in 1976 and again in 1997. The walls have over the years been various colours even at one stage Green and Gold of the Springbok colours, but during the latest renovation the paint was scraped back and it is now the red colour it was back in the 1800s.
It developed a lean of about 50mm, but this has since been addressed and fixed.
I have had to change the question as the sign I thought was permanent has been removed.
To claim a find on this cache, you must email the owner. There is a porthole in the tower, facing the water - How many bolts are needed to hold the porthole in place and how many bolts are there present?
in French :Pour réclamer une découverte sur cette cache, vous devez envoyer un e-mail au propriétaire. Il y a un hublot dans la tour, face à l'eau - Combien de boulons sont nécessaires pour maintenir le hublot en place et combien de boulons y a-t-il ? Pour clarifier, les trous à trois et neuf heures ne sont pas des trous de boulons, ce qui est évident après avoir répondu à la deuxième partie de la question.
In German : Um einen Fund in diesem Cache zu beanspruchen, müssen Sie dem Besitzer eine E-Mail senden. Im Turm befindet sich ein Bullauge, das dem Wasser zugewandt ist. Wie viele Bolzen werden benötigt, um das Bullauge an Ort und Stelle zu halten, und wie viele Bolzen sind vorhanden? Zur Verdeutlichung: Die Löcher bei drei und neun Uhr sind keine Bolzenlöcher, was nach der Beantwortung des zweiten Teils der Frage offensichtlich ist.
There are tours of the tower available on request.
Close by you will find the forerunner to the swing bridge, the Penny Ferry (GC2K9JC) which was the only way to get across from the pierhead to the South Quay when the cut was excavated to allow ships access to the Alfred Basin. It was opened in 1880 and still runs today, but it will cost more than a Penny. Also close by the remains of the Chavonnes Battery. It was built between 1715 and 1725 by the Dutch East India Company and named after its originator, Maurits Pasque de Chavonnes, who was the governor of the Cape Colony at the time.
Thanks to Bryn Portwig and Lesley Cox for permission to use their interior pictures
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.