Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
, South Africa and is home to
Naval Base Simon's Town
Naval Base Simon's Town is the South African Navy's largest naval base, situated at Simon's Town, near Cape Town. The base provides support functions to Fleet Command.
History
A small dockyard facility was first established in Simon's Town by th ...
, the
South African Navy
The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force.
The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...
's largest base. It is located on the shores of
False Bay
False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...
, on the eastern side of the
Cape Peninsula
The Cape Peninsula ( af, Kaapse Skiereiland) is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of ...
. For more than two centuries it has been a naval base and harbour (first for the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and now the
South African Navy
The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force.
The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...
). The town is named after
Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel (14 October 1639 – 24 June 1712) was the last commander and first Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony, the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope.
Background
Simon was the son of Adriaan van der Steland Maria Lievens ...
, an early governor of the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
.
Topography
The land rises steeply from near the water's edge and the town is boxed in along the shoreline by the heights above. The small harbour itself is protected from swells by a
breakwater
Breakwater may refer to:
* Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour
Places
* Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia
* Breakwater Island
Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...
that was built with thousands of huge blocks of sandstone quarried out of the face of the mountain above.
Simon's Town is now in effect a suburb of the
City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality
The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026.
The rem ...
. The
Simon's Town railway station
Simon's Town railway station is a Metrorail railway station in the town of Simon's Town on the Cape Peninsula; it is the southern terminus of the Southern Line. The station is located between Station Road (the M4) and the beach.
The railway l ...
is the terminus of the
Southern Line, a railway line that runs south of the central business district of Cape Town. In places, the railway line runs along the steep eastern shore of False Bay, and in bad weather waves and foam from some heavy swells wet the trains.
Attractions and amenities
Boulders Beach
Boulders Beach
Boulders Beach is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located on the Cape Peninsula, in Simon's Town, a suburb of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is also c ...
is located a few kilometres to the south of Simon's Town, in the direction of
Miller's Point. Here small coves and beaches are interspersed between boulders of Cape granite. There has been a colony of
African penguins
The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. Like all extant penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings sti ...
at Boulders Beach since 1985. There is no record of the birds having lived here prior to that date. There are only three penguin populations on the mainland in southern Africa; the others are close to
Hermanus
Hermanus (originally called ''Hermanuspietersfontein'', but shortened in 1902 as the name was too long for the postal service at Stoney Point and
Betty's Bay
Betty's Bay is a small holiday town situated on the Overberg coast of South Africa's Western Cape province. It is located 100 km from Cape Town beneath the Kogelberg Mountains on the scenic R44 ocean drive between Pringle Bay and Kleinmond. This v ...
.
Martello Tower
In the last weeks of 1795 or the first weeks of 1796, the British built a
round tower
A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fu ...
on a site that today falls within the Naval Base. Britain had just annexed the Dutch colony at the
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
and wanted to establish some defences to ward off possible Dutch or French attacks. The resulting tower was high, had a base diameter of , and walls thick, though there is no evidence that the British ever installed the guns the tower was designed to hold. In front of the tower, the British also constructed a battery that they did arm with cannons. The
Martello tower
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
They stand up ...
was used as a navigational beacon for ships entering Simon's Bay and was consequently white-washed in about 1843. The tower was restored in 1972 by the Simon's Town Historical Society (in conjunction with the
South African Navy
The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force.
The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...
), and proclaimed a
provincial heritage site; today it houses a small museum.
South African Naval Museum
The
South African Naval Museum is a
maritime museum
A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the militar ...
, which contains collections and artefacts related to the maritime history of South Africa and the South African Navy.
Simon's Town Museum
Simon's Town Museum is a community museum established in 1977 and located in The Residency, a historical building erected by Governor
Joachim van Plettenberg
Baron Joachim Ammena van Plettenberg (8 March 1739, Leeuwarden, Netherlands – 18 August 1793, Zwolle, Netherlands) was the governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 11 August 1771 to 14 February 1785. Plettenberg was presiding governor after ...
in 1777. The museum records and preserves all aspects of the history of Simon's Town community.
Public art
In 1985, a statue of
Just Nuisance, the only dog ever to be officially enlisted in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, was erected in a position overlooking the harbour. The Simon's Town Museum has an exhibition dedicated to his story.
Notable inhabitants
*
Georgia Papageorge,
installation art
Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...
ist
*
Hendrik Vermeulen
Hendrik Meyer-Vermeulen (born ''Hendrik Mentz Vermeulen'', 7 April 1982) is a South African Couturier and fashion designer, specialising in Haute Couture and Corsetry as well as a singer-songwriter performing under stage name Joh Urban.
In 200 ...
,
couturier
''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the ...
*
Simon Peyton Jones
Simon Peyton Jones (born 18 January 1958) is a British computer scientist who researches the implementation and applications of functional programming languages, particularly lazy functional programming.
Education
Peyton Jones graduated fr ...
,
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
born in (and named after) Simonstown
Economy
Simon's Town became a
free port
Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which com ...
in 1832.
Coat of arms
The Simon's Town municipal council assumed a coat of arms, designed by Adelbert Bonn, in September 1905.
[Chapman, F.P. 'How the town obtained its coat of arms' in ''Simon's Town Historical Society Bulletin'' (July 1973).] It was granted by the
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
on 27 September 1957.
The design is described as ''Quarterly: I and IV, per pale, the dexter Argent, three towers placed 2 and 1 Gules, the sinister per fess Or and Azure, in chief on a mount Vert a peacock in his pride proper and in base three plates placed 2 and 1 Argent; II and III, Azure, an estoile and in chief three crescents Argent; over all an oval cartouche with scrolled edges Or, charged with a demi-lion rampant Gules, issuant from three barrulets wavy Vert''. In layman's terms, the shield is divided into four quarters. The first quarter is divided vertically, one half depicting three red towers on a silver background, the other a peacock on a gold background above three silver discs on a red background; the second quarter is blue, with three silver crescents at the top and a wavy star below on a blue background; the third quarter is the same as the second and the fourth the same as the first; in the centre is an oval with a decorative edge displaying a red lion emerging from wavy green stripes on a golden background.
These were a slightly modified version of the arms of
Willem Adriaan van der Stel
Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gu ...
, which Bonn mistakenly thought were those of his father
Simon van der Stel
Simon van der Stel (14 October 1639 – 24 June 1712) was the last commander and first Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony, the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope.
Background
Simon was the son of Adriaan van der Steland Maria Lievens ...
.
The crest was the figure of
Britannia
Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...
resting on a golden naval crown. Two golden anchors were placed behind the shield. The motto was ''Fac et spera''.
When the municipality was dissolved in 1996, the council placed its regalia, including the letters patent from the College of Arms, in the custody of the Simon's Town Historical Society.
[''Simons' Town Historical Society Bulletin'' (July 1997).] The society registered the arms in its own name at the
Bureau of Heraldry
Bureau ( ) may refer to:
Agencies and organizations
*Government agency
*Public administration
* News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location
* Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...
in October 1999.
[National Archives of South Africa : Data of the Bureau of Heraldry]
Department of Arts and Culture, Republic of South Africa
Gallery
N.N. (1806) p046 VIEW OF SIMONS BAY.jpg, Simon's Bay - Naval Base, 1806
SAS Isandlwana F146 Simon's Town.jpg, The South African Naval Base in Simon's Town.
Kalk Bay, Sudáfrica, 2018-07-23, DD 06.jpg, View of the bay from the railway line.
Simons Town station.JPG, Simon's Town station
Wikimania by Rehman - 2018-07-18 - B015 - Simon's Town.jpg, Simon's Town station was also visited by Wikimania attendees in July 2018.
Simon's Town Harbor.jpg, Boats in Simon's Town harbour.
Admiralty House St Georges Street Simonstown Cape Town - Side view 1.JPG, Admiralty House
Simonstown.jpg, The historical centre of Simon's Town
Simon's Town 2008-08-16.jpg, View of the harbour with the civilian yacht moorings in the foreground and the naval base to the right in the background.
Just Nuisance at Jubilee Square - panoramio.jpg, Statue of Just Nuisance in Simon's Town.
Middle North Battery Simon's Town 9 inch Gun firing 24th September 2014 v2.jpg, A restored 9 Inch MLR Gun being fired at the Middle North Battery overlooking the town.
Roman Rock Lighthouse.webm, A flight around Roman Rock Lighthouse just outside Simon's Town harbour.
See also
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Simon's Town Historical Society
{{Authority control
Maritime history of South Africa
Ports and harbours of South Africa
Suburbs of Cape Town
Populated places established in 1680
Articles containing video clips
1680 establishments in the Dutch Empire
Populated places established by the Dutch East India Company