An enterprising local resident, John Owen Smith, entered into various disparate business ventures. Several of them such as mining copper in Namaqualand or recovering guano on Bird Island, required a seagoing vessel. This is what set in motion the necessity to build one locally. The unlikely location selected was a non-descript lake at the western end of Kragga Kamma road known as Lake Farm.
Main picture: Lake Farm in 1944
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