Tavern of the Seas — by Lawrence G Green
COLLECTIBLE BOOKS: Jail was no picnic in 19th century Cape
Just the memory of life in the Breakwater Prison was enough to keep men on the straight and narrow afterwards
22 August 2017 - 12:20
Crime in the early days of Cape Town was daring, and punishment brutal. "For human misery in the mass there has never been anything in SA to match the Breakwater Prison," Lawrence G Green relates in his book Tavern of the Seas. In 1846 the Cape authorities decided that a breakwater should be constructed in Table Bay. It was to be built by convict labour, and in 1860 Prince Alfred (later the Duke of Edinburgh) pressed a silver trigger to tip the first load of stones for it. Green says that was the first and last "touch of luxury in the whole enterprise".
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