Under the Bourbon flag, the French Pondicherry Regiment came to the Cape in 1781 at the time of the Fourth Sea War between Britain and the Netherlands. The French who were allied to the Dutch sent their Indian Pondicherry Regiment of troops , established in the French Enclave south of Madras. French rule in Pondicherry  was first established in 1673 and it remained very closely linked to France for 281 years. The Indian soldiers “energetically” built several military fortifications at the Cape of Good Hope, but only the sites in Hout Bay have substantially survived and are readily still accessible albeit in a poor state of repair.

The most striking and restorable site is at East Fort on the slopes of Chapman’s Peak. It has a very dramatic natural setting and retains the original eight cannon placed there by the Regiment which constructed the original battery for their Dutch allies. The cannon, though probably sourced from the VOC’s ships visiting Table Bay, were made in Sweden and were retained on site in 1795 when the Cape fell to the British and also in 1806 after a short period of rule by the Batavian Republic.

Dave Cowley, of the Hout Bay & Llandudno Heritage Trust, points with a "linstock"  to the old Military Road, which eventually became part of Chapmans Peak Drive . He is explaining to the many visitors how the northernmost gun with its traversing platform could counter a land based attempt to out-flank the fort.  Linstocks were use by gunners 200 years ago to fire the cannons with a "slow match" consisting of a short length of cotton rope with a smouldering tip which would ignite the gunpowder.  The Heritage Trust have been working on the restoration of the Fort since 2001 and when it is fully restored would like it to become a major heritage tourism attraction to the Cape.

During WWII South African and Allied Forces occupied the site as part of a complex network of defences guarding the Cape sea route. In all, six nations have direct linkages with this site and we are proud to restore the strong international links that the site once had.

In the 2000 millennium year, the Hout Bay and Llandudno Heritage Trust pledged to safeguard their community’s heritage for the benefit of future generations. The Trust sees ‘Heritage Tourism’ as a potential major attraction to their community which will benefit visitors and residents alike and they have embarked on a project to restore East Fort, which will eventually be the oldest working battery of original cannon in the world.

Preparation for Bastille Day 2004:-   French Consul to Cape Town, Bruno Clerc (left) and Capitane Hervé Boy (2nd left) with senior officers of the French Naval vessel "La Marne" study the technical challenge of firing one of Hout Bay's 1752 cannons to salute la République Français on the 14th July at East Fort.
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