The fourth Portuguese Fleet to India found D’Ataide’s letter in July 1501. It contained information that was useful to them about the hostility towards the Portuguese at Calicut, present-day known as Kozhikode and warned of rough waters "to the East".
The captain of this fleet, in turn, left an inscription on stone which was found in 1850. A replica of this postal stone can be seen inside the Maritime Museum.
Leaving post ashore became a means of communication between ships that anchored in the bay for supplies.
It was declared a provincial heritage site. In 1963, the local tourism organisation placed a large post box, shaped like a sailor’s boot, next to the tree where visitors can post letters and postcards. A special frank is used on all outgoing mail to commemorate the fact that South Africa’s first post office was a tree.
Sources:
Barker, B.J. : Dias and Da Gama: the Portuguese discovery of the Cape Sea route, Struik, Cape Town. (Undated)
LANTERN, January (1988): Tydskrif vir Kennis en Kultuur. Jaargang, 37, nr.1 (Stigting vir Onderwys, Wetenskap en Tegnologie, Dept. van Nasionale Opvoeding, Pretoria)
Miller, R. (Ed) (1980): The Seafarers. The East Indiamen. Time-Life Books, Amsterdam.
Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds) (1970): Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v.4, Human & Rousseau, Kaapstad (2000).
Schoonees, P. (1991): Inskripsies op padrãos, posklippe, grafstene en bakens. SA Kultuurhistoriese Museum, Human & Rousseau. Kaapstad.
