Introduction to Bacon & the Art of Living
The story of bacon is set in the late 1800s and early 1900s when most of the important developments in bacon took place. The plotline takes place in the 2000s with each character referring to a real person and actual events. The theme is a kind of “steampunk” where modern mannerisms, speech, clothes and practices are superimposed on a historical setting. Modern people interact with old historical figures with all the historical and cultural bias that goes with this.
narrative
Joshua Penny and My Farewell to the Cape
South Africa, August 1890
Soon, I was back in Cape Town, wrapping up my business and preparing for the trip to Denmark. I met Uncle Jakobus at his Papendorp home with David de Villiers Graaff. The plan excited David. (6) I was reluctant to ask him to invest in our venture. He would be our biggest client in the Cape, and I did not want to compromise future price negotiations by having one of our main clients as an investor.
Oscar was concerned about how such a move would be viewed by other potential clients who are opposition to Combrinck & Co in the market. So, I did not discuss the matter further with even Uncle Jacobus, being content only to greet my old friends and share good Cape wine together. In later years, I looked back with great fondness on this meeting. It was the last time I would see Uncle Jacobus.
David, on the other hand, I continued to see over the years, and our friendship grew even stronger. The next time we meet will be in Copenhagen. That same month, on 14 August 1890, David was elected mayor of Cape Town at the early age of thirty-one. Someone who was peripherally involved in the meat industry was responsible for this. The legendary John Woodhead!
John is a much older friend from our mountain climbing circle and owned a leather tanning business (7) in town. He was the current mayor of Cape Town. He and David knew each other well. John bought almost all the hides from Combrinck & Co.. The young David grew up before him, and after John’s second term in office as mayor (1886 and 1888), he proposed the young David as Major. (The Sheffield Daily Telegraph and Dommisse, page 43 -51)
John knew Table Mountain and spent lots of time there on account of large civil projects that he had initiated. There is the impressive Woodhead Reservoir and the Woodhead Tunnel. John, who grew up in England, came from a family of big civil people. One of his family members built the Woodhead Pass, crossing the Pennine chain of hills there.
I said farewell to my hiking buddies by trecking up Table Mountain with them one last time before departing. The group that came up was Mike, Achmat, Taahir, Uncle John, Minette and me. We decided to do a special hike for our last hike together before I left for Denmark. Mike was leading the group. He had spent about a year looking for Penny’s iconic cave on the mountain. When he located it, he investigated all possible access routes and could lead us to the safest and best way. We went up with Platteklip Gorge, past the slave caves (1), down with Grott Ravine, and across to Fountain Ravine, where we scrambled to Penny’s Cave (2). This mysterious and secluded cave overlooks the Atlantic. We spent the night here.
The cave is believed to be one of the locations where Joshua Penny lived for over a year. He was an American, impressed into the British Navy, and sent to the Cape to participate in the Battle of Muizenberg in 1795. Great Britain took possession of the Cape Colony, which the Dutch established as a refreshment station for the voyage from Europe to India. The British action was taken against Dutch facilities to use it against the French Navy. The British staged an amphibious landing at Muizenberg on 7 August 1795. The battle was short. Skirmishing between British and Dutch forces continued until a larger military force landed in September.
No sooner did the young Joshua Penny Land when he deserted with a few friends. They initially managed to get by with the help of Dutch farmers, but when the new British government at the Cape proclaimed that they would confiscate the farms of any farmer who supported deserters, they were advised to join a clan of Khoi. Penny spent several months with them and learned valuable skills to enable him to achieve the feat he is remembered for, namely, having spent 14 months on Table Mountain. This was no small achievement, as Table Mountain was notoriously inhospitable for anybody trying to survive up there, with very little chance of finding food or proper shelter from the harsh Cape weather. Penny’s 14 months on the mountain became the longest recorded stay of anybody up there, without any support from the city below or towns in the area.
Jim Searle led an expedition of mountaineers in 1892 and 1894 to what is believed to be the main cave where Joshua Penny stayed. The cave is difficult to find and access. It is located on Fountain Ravine on Table Mountain and overlooks the Atlantic, just as Penny described in a book he published about his adventures. The main clues to Penny’s use of this cave are items found in the cave that date back to the time of Penny’s habitation and correlate to descriptions given by him about items of clothing and a knife he had with him. These items are beautifully displayed at the Cape Town offices of the Mountain Club of South Africa, courtesy of Mike Scott. Looking at all the evidence carefully, it is probable that the cave, identified as Panny’s Cave by the Mountain Club of South Africa, is indeed the right cave.
We managed to scramble to Penny’s cave with Mike’s expert guidance. That night, the small group of intimate friends laughed and told stories until midnight. We dreamed about the mountains I would climb in Europe and celebrated our great friendship. I was, in particular, sad to say goodbye to Minette.
Long after 12, when everybody had retired to their sleeping bags, and all one could hear was the pulling of the Cape wind on the fynbos, I was sitting alone in the mouth of the cave looking out over the black Atlantic. Minette came and sat next to me. “Do you feel his presence?” she asked softly, not to wake the others. Truth be told, I did! More than Joshua Penny, I felt his energy. His defiance of the British navy, which conscripted him into a war that was not his to fight. The courage it took when he deserted in the middle of the fight and wandered between frontier farms with a handful of companions until he joined a company of Khoi. The inquisitiveness with which he learned field craft from them that would end up saving him from certain death when he lived for so many months in isolation on this majestic mountain. I suddenly realised that, like Joshua Penny, it would require everything of me to learn the lessons that the universe has installed for me. More than anything, before I would find my cave and sojourn on my Table Mountain, it would ask me to learn the field craft necessary for survival.
I looked at Minette in the bright moon hovering over the eternal ocean, and I knew she sensed it, too. We sat for a long time in complete silence. Then, we returned to our sleeping bags and fell asleep under the spell of the African moon, the Southern Cross constellation, and the spirit of Joshua Penny communing with us!
Julie and I ended our relationship a year earlier, opting to stay the best of friends rather than live together as husband and wife. We married when we were children, and as we grew up, we realised we were growing apart with vastly different views of life. My life was too unstable for Julie, who longed for a country home and a white picket fence. On the other hand, my instinct was always to choose the more adventurous route. Without fail, I would opt for adventure over stability. The greater the challenge, the more enigmatic the riddle, the more intense the attraction! I respected this!
This disappointed my family, but it was the right thing to do. It saddened my dad especially, but I think he made peace with it over the weeks, months, and years, as he could see how we each individually were happier with our new circumstances. Julie and I lived close to each other on the slopes of Table Mountain, and bringing kids up in two homes that were close was a convenient arrangement for both of us in light of my travels. It continued to baffle the Cape Town community, but we did not care for their opinions.
In the years following this, I became better friends than ever with Minette, now working for the Bank of the Netherlands in Cape Town. I started spending a lot of time with her seeking advice on financing our bacon company, and we hiked up Table Mountain almost every weekend when I was home. I grew very fond of her, and suddenly, sitting in Penny’s cave, watching the majestic sunset over the western ocean, I realised how much I would miss her.
Her work at the Nederlandsche Bank en Credietvereeniging voor Zuid-Afrika was very interesting. It was founded on Thursday, 1 March 1888, in Amsterdam as the Nederlandsche Bank en Credietvereeniging voor Zuid-Afrika (“Dutch Bank and Credit Union for South Africa”). The bank opened its first offices on Church Street in Pretoria on 1 August (5), and Minette worked for their branch in Stellenbosch.
I spend a few days with my Mom and Dad, helping around the house and riding to work with Dad in the mornings. He encouraged me to seek the best artisan and to be trained by him. He wished he was young again and could embark on this adventure with me.
I spent almost every moment of my last days at home with the kids. Tristan and Lauren are the light of my life; the only thing that made it possible to leave them was the knowledge that what I learned would enable our new company to prosper so that we could provide for our families.
One spring morning, late in 1890, I was on the deck of a Danish vessel en route to Copenhagen. I waved goodbye to everybody who came to the harbour to see me off. My gran, Ouma Susan, my mom and dad, my Uncle Jan Kok and his family, David de Villiers Graaff, the kids, my hiking friends, and Minette. My brothers, Andre and Elmar, were also there. Oscar and Trudie came down from Potchefstroom to see me off and Oscar’s father-in-law, Anton. Dawie Hyman came down from Kimberley.
As the ship set sail and the crew was scrambling about, as Table Mountain and the view of my friends and family faded, my mind wandered back to Oscar’s dad’s voorkamer and the founding meeting of our company. The Harris family smoked their bacon if it was destined for one of the colonies on account of the added preserving power given by the smoke. (3) Since the clients would expect the same smokey flavour, we knew our bacon would also be wood-smoked. One of the Boer ladies who attended, Carina Lochner, a prolific artist, saw the connection between bacon and natural wood smoking and suggested the name Woody’s. (4) Oscar and I liked it, and it became the name of our bacon company.
With a sudden cold sea breeze in my face and the open sea ahead, with the greatest sense of excitement and expectation, I softly whispered to myself, “and so starts the adventure of Woody’s Bacon!!” Still, I could not get the image out of my mind of Minette sitting next to me in the moonlight and our spirits connected to the earth and Joshua Penny! It was as if Penny was there himself to bid me farewell! It is easy to imagine life when everything goes well. Penny would teach me never to look back. Do what the moment requires, even when events overcome you that may seem unfair at the moment. This would become an important lesson for me when, in later years, my business partners, whom I trusted with my life, would act deceitfully. I would learn that some people’s words are not their honour, and manipulating, scheming, conniving, and deceit are more important for some people than honesty and integrity. It was Joshua Penny who taught me never to look back but to learn the lessons of the Khoi, who taught him important fieldcraft to prepare for life. He could do nothing about the actions of the British Navy, who conscripted him for the war, but he escaped the moment he had a chance. The field craft that the Khoi taught him may have appeared rudimentary and irrelevant to his future, but it became highly relevant in the right environment, the key to his survival!
Later in his life, in 1812, Joshua Penny was involved in a scheme to launch a “torpedo” against a British ship in Gardiner’s Bay. The British became aware of the plot, raided his home in East Hampton on Long Island, and arrested Penny for his involvement. He was one of the “pilots” of the torpedos. He was sent to Ramillies to be questioned about the scheme and sent to Melville Island Prison at Halifax, paroled, and released nine months later in Salem, Massachusettes. His courage and irreverence for the established order in his youth became the hallmark of his life! Reflecting on this, I realised that attitude is equally important as skills!
These thoughts were all swirling through my mind as the last images of Table Mountain disappeared on the horizon. I was not on my own. My family and friends were sailing away with me, and in my heart, I felt the spirit of Joshua Penny!
Was it only the adventure of Woody’s Bacon? The ups and downs. The disappointments and betrayals with the success and the achievements! Certainly not! It was the adventure of a lifetime!
(c) eben van tonder
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Notes:
(1) These are two shallow caves up Platteklip Gorge that were inhabited by runaway slaves. The caves are situated right next to the old footpath up the gorge just before one enters between two large vertical cliffs. This was still the route up by the late 1800s and would have been the route that Eben, Minette, Achmat and Taahir took if they did the hike in 1890.
(2) Joshua Penny was an American, impressed into the British Navy, who visited the Cape, where he took part in the Battle of Muizenberg in 1795. He deserted and spent fourteen months in hiding on Table Mountain.
Jim Searle led an expedition of mountaineers in 1892 and 1894 to what is believed to be the main cave where Joshua Penny stayed (where he stayed the longest). The, very difficult to find and access, the cave is located on Fountain Ravine, Table Mountain and it overlooks the Atlantic, just as Penny described. The main clues of Penny’s use of this cave are items found in the cave that dates back to the time of Penny’s habitation and correlates to descriptions given by him about items of clothing and a knife he had with him. These items are beautifully displayed at the Cape Town offices of the Mountain Club of South Africa, courtesy of Mike Scott. Looking at all the evidence carefully, it is probable that the cave, identified as Panny’s Cave by the Mountain Club of South Africa, is indeed the right cave.
On 13 June 2019, Eben, Tristan, and Mike Wakeford hiked to Penny’s cave. To do so was a lifelong dream of Eben. Years earlier he mentioned this desire to Mike, a friend, and professional mountain guide. Mike has himself spent years investigating various access routes to the very secluded cave.
Eben flew back to Cape Town from Johannesburg where he was working at Van Wyngaardt on 12 June. On the morning of the 13th, on Minette’s birthday, the three set out to the cave. After their hike, Eben posted the following on FB.
“Around 10 years ago a relationship started with the story of Joshua Penny, the American who was pressed into service by the British, partook in the Battle of Muizenberg in 1795, deserted, learned bushcraft from the Khoi and who lived for a considerable time on Table Mountain. He escaped to Table Mountain in 1799 after he was arrested and faked injury. He lived in caves in Table Mountain, making traditional Khoi dishes and brewed beer from honey and smoking his pipe.
A member of the mountain club of SA located the cave. Jim Searle led an expedition of mountaineers in 1892 and 1894 to what is believed to be the main cave where Joshua Penny stayed. Articles were recovered that fit the description by Penny of what he took with him. It became known as Penny’s cave. He lived in many caves on the mountain but was this one of them and his last one where he left his few possessions? I was skeptical about this being one of his caves because a piece of wood that Penny used to cut small notches in to keep time was presumably found, and lost in the way down. Having been to the cave I am, however, convinced it was his caves. Its location is obscure enough and fits his way that he hunted animals by chasing them over cliffs. He may have discovered it while doing just this. It is secluded enough and difficult to get to which fits the choice a man in hiding.
It was an ordeal for young Penny. When he eventually went down after, think it was 2 years, the Danish Captain that he met on the Muizenberg side did not recognise him as human. He was probably wearing animal skins and his condition must have been very bad.
The location of the cave is not widely publicised and it is extremely difficult and treacherous to get to. Mike Wakeford spent years looking for ways to get to the cave. This morning T and I fulfilled a life long ambition to hike to it when Mike took us on the adventure of a lifetime. Minette, Luani, and Luan celebrate their B Day today and we gave Minette a present of getting a route that she and her sister will be able to use to get to his cave.
Here is the clip of our arrival at the cave this afternoon.
So many years of planning and research. Mikes amazing efforts of exploring all possible routes. Tristan, wow, joining us on an epic epic epic epic adventure. Everything on the origin of meat dished being inspired by Joshua’s story. Minette, our motivation to search for an accessible route. I am speechless tonight!!! Wow!! Wow!! Wow!!! Life is beautiful!!!!”
Here, we arrive at the cave.
Tris, myself and Mike. My first trip to Pennys Cave.
Here are the first glimpses of the cave.
Inside Penny’s Cave.
Inside Penny’s cave
(3) This is true as a historical fact. In those days, Bacon was sent to the colonies and was cured and smoked. Coating the bacon with smoke added antimicrobial protection on the long journey. In England, cured, unsmoked bacon is sold as a product option, while in the previous colonies, the bacon is usually cured and smoked.
(4) The name was suggested by Carina Lochner from Somerset West, who also designed Woody’s logo and the Woody’s packaging for the first few years. The name originates from Woody’s being produced using natural wood smoke.
(5) “In 1903 the company was renamed to Nederlandsche Bank voor Zuid-Afrika (“Dutch Bank for South Africa”). In 1906, the bank expanded and an office in London was opened. The bank split in 1951, renaming its South African part as Nederlandse Bank in Suid-Afrika Beperk/Netherlands Bank of South Africa Limited (“NBSA”). In 1969, the number of South African shareholders increased significantly and the company became 100% South African-owned after the Bank Mees en Hope sold 20 percent of its shares. The South African part was completely independent. The Dutch part of the bank no longer exists. Syfrets SA and Boland Bank listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1969. In 1971 NBSA changed its name to Nedbank. Nedbank Group formed from the merger of Syfrets SA, Union Acceptances and Nedbank in 1973. In 1986 Old Mutual Limited became the major shareholder (53%) of Nedbank.
In 1992, Syfrets, UAL Merchant Bank, and Nedbank Investment Bank Division merged to become Nedcor Investment Bank (NIB). Old Mutual, Nedcor’s holding company, was demutualised and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1999. It became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Nedcor and Old Mutual joined forces in an offshore private banking venture and acquired the Isle of Man and Jersey private banking business of Robert Fleming & Co. in 2001.
The new Nedcor Group was formed on 1 January 2003, combining Nedcor, BoE, Nedcor Investment Bank, and Cape of Good Hope Bank into one legal entity. The Nedcor Group was renamed the Nedbank Group on 6 May 2005. As part of the managed separatio