the Dutch settlers, Mossel Bay acted as the major port serving the Southern Cape region and its hinterland, the arid Klein Karoo (or Little Karoo), and during the ostrich feather boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, more than 800,000 kg of feathers were exported through the port every year - which may have been the impetus that led to the construction of the first breakwater in 1912.

Fishing and farming remained the main activities of the area during