Cape Good Hope 1652-1702

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3 Etienne de Flacourt
(Plate 5)

Translated from his ‘Histoire de la Grand Isle Madagascar ...’, Paris 1658. Strangman's translation is good, with valuable background material.

The French East-India Company appointed him to take charge in Madagascar, and he sailed on May 19, 1648, touching at Saldanha Bay and arriving on December 5. He was there for six years, sailing for home in Ours on February 12, 1655.

On the 4th of March, towards 9 o'clock in the morning, we sighted Cape Agulhas, and had passed it by midday. We coasted along until the evening, and throughout the night we had the fairest weather imaginable, with a calm sea and a gentle breeze. This cape lies in latitude 34^o 30′ South.

On the 5th there was a fog, so we steered for the open sea, but towards midday it lifted and we had a sight of Table Mountain. For the rest of the day and evening we were becalmed. Then after midnight there came a light easterly wind which continued until morning, when thick fog fell. On the 6th, at about 9 o'clock in the morning, the fog cleared and we saw the Bay of the Table to the East of us. We sailed close in and perceived three Dutch ships at anchor [dr 19/2, 21/2, 22/2], and some sailingboats entering the harbour. As the wind held good, we made short tacks throughout the day and night, so as not to miss the entrance to Saldanha Bay, where we intended watering. On the 7th we entered this Bay and came to anchor, in three and a half fathoms, under the lee of the Isle aux Cormorans.

Throughout all the time of our stay at this place we saw great numbers of whales in pursuit of the fish. This made it impossible for us to catch any ourselves near the ship. Along the shore, however, in two or three feet of water, where the whales could not come, we caught fish in plenty. A great many savages came to see us, and some came aboard the ship. One was named Saldan, another called himself Barraba and another Coubaha. From them I learned of their language nearly four hundred words and expressions.

On the 15th, as I was taking a walk on the Isle à la Biche, I saw on the strand a dead hippopotamus, that is to say a sea-horse. Along the shores of the Bay we came across the resting-places of elephants or other beasts as big, and one day I myself saw, not far from the fountain, the head of an elephant, from which the tusks had been extracted. We found foot-prints of wolves, lions, tigers, deer, oxen, wild cats and other animals. There were numbers of small buck and we ate some of them. We saw, too, an animal of the size of an elephant, which had two horns on its snout just as a rhino-

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ceros has one. These horns were of the same size as those of the rhinoceros one sees in the cabinets in France. At a distance of two pikes, we fired two musket-shots at it, with a ball weighing three ounces, and these balls did no more than flatten themselves against the animal's hide. The smell of the powder, to which it was unaccustomed, sent it running away. It trotted faster than a man, however nimble, can run. Its skin was covered with very short hair, grey in colour like that of a mouse, its tail and feet resembled those of the elephant, its ears were upright and round, and it had a small tuft of hair on its withers. It was a male. We came across many traces of this animal in the neighbourhood of the Bay. This creature has not been described by any author [sic].

On March the 26th we weighed anchor....

Saint Helena April 8. He remained in France for five years, publishing his ‘Histoire ...’. In 1660 the Company again appointed him Director-General, and he sailed from Dieppe on May 20, but was killed when his ship exploded off Portugal during a fight with Moorish pirates [Strangman].

With his account may be read the following:

dr 8/3/55. Roode Vos arrived from Dassen Island ... had met a French ship the day before yesterday between the Robben and Dassen Islands, which ... came from Madagascar. [Brought also a report from Dassen Island, dated 6/3/55:] There came also ... a ship which ... came to anchor this afternoon. As far as we could see she was not a Dutch ship, nor did she show any signal. We therefore fired a gun, whereupon she immediately showed a red flag* at her stern, and sent her boat towards the shore, but ... it turned back. Towards evening she ... set sail, we think for the bay of Saldanha. What ship it was, God knows.

dr 9/7/55 ... In the [Saldanha] bay on the islet our men found ... a letter written in French [from de Puige le Masle, Captain of Ours, to the Captain of Saint George] ... ‘we reached the Cape Agulhas at midday on March 3, and the next day ... we were off the Cap d'Boa Esperance ... in the evening we were 4 miles to leeward of the Table Bay, in which we saw 3 very big ships [dr 19/2, 21/2, 22/2], which fired 5 guns to show us the roadstead. Then we were becalmed and enveloped in very thick fog ... lasted until the 7th, we always lying off and on. On the morning of this day ... we saw a ship [Roode Vos, as above] making for us ... and having shown us her Dutch flag she fired a gun.... We shortened our mainsail, struck the topsails, and hid our flag from view. Meanwhile she came to leeward of us and enquired whence we came and whether we wished to enter the Table Bay, since she was going there. We replied that we were bound for the Saldanha Bay. Then we asked her who she was, to which she replied that she belonged to the Dutch India fleet, and that she came from the Saldanha Bay.... That day we entered the Saldanha Bay.... The next day (the 8th) we ... arrived at the anchorage.... We tarred one mast, the rigging and the ship ... resolved to depart, weather permitting, either tomorrow or on Monday....’

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[5] Etienne de Flacourt