Knysna fisherman disappears

KNYSNA NEWS - Careworker Lydia Jacobs of Stevenshoek, Hornlee cuddles the flask that was found floating in the water near the Knysna Angling Club on Tuesday, September 4.

"It was still half-full with the coffee I had made for him," she says. Her husband, Johannes Jacobs (50) went fishing on his small boat on the lagoon on Friday, August 31 never to be seen again.

Police divers and the NSRI are still looking for his body for four hours each day since his disappearance. Jacobs suffered from a heart condition, but could swim and had a lifelong love affair with the ocean. His fishing rods were some of his most prized possessions.

"I know it's the flask I bought for him because the lid is loose on top. Now there's sand in it too, because it doesn't close properly."

The drop-off
David Alexander says he took his father-in-law to their usual drop-off point at the lagoon at 07:00 on Friday morning with their standard agreement that he would collect him the next morning at 10:00.

"Since there had been a storm and the weather was so bad, I went down to the pick-up point just after 09:00 on Saturday morning to see if he might already be there, but there was no boat in sight. When he gets on the water, he stays there through the night."

When there was no one there yet, an increasingly concerned Alexander drove further down and up again to see if he could maybe spot the boat. At 09:57 he went back to the original pick-up point, but still there was neither boat nor anyone there.
"I somehow had the feeling all was not right, so I drove down to The Point and kept checking the water until I eventually spotted something quite far in," recalls Alexander. He immediately called his youngest brother-in-law, who still lives at home with his parent, Elfonso Jacobs (33), and told him that he thought he might have spotted 'Oom' Hannes' boat, but that there seemed to be no-one in it.

Empty boat found
Alexander then rushed to go pick up his brother-in-law and they took Alexander's own boat from the Leisure Isle Boat Club into the lagoon so that they could get closer to where he thought he had seen his father-in-law's small fishing boat.
"It was about 50m or so from that big trunk which lies in the water at The Point. When the tide is in, especially at springtide, it can be quite deep out there.

When we got close we immediately recognised his boat. Some white guys who had been busy making bait were trying to get the water out of the boat."

They discovered Oom Hannes' bait pump and his fishing rods still neatly stacked in the boat.

"His sea pants were still in the boat, but his blue foodbag was missing. His tin with fishing hooks stood eerily alone in the boat."
Walking around the boat at low tide on Saturday morning they also discovered the woollen cap he had been wearing, in the water nearby. The front anchor had been dropped, but the back one was still on the boat. The oars were also missing.
"We then called the police and went to shore to meet up with them," says Alexander. The NSRI was also alerted.

Heart condition
The family later learned that fishermen had seen 'Oom' Hannes battling to row against the gusting wind on Friday afternoon at around 16:30.
"My husband had a heart condition," explains Lydia Jacobs, "and we are pretty sure he may have had a heart attack at sea." 'Oom' Hannes had been an elder in the New Apostolic Church, but had to quit due to his failing health.

Saying goodbye
She says that, in hindsight it seemed as if her husband had, for the past year, been preparing them all for his death. In view of what happened, they think he may have had a strong premonition concerning his own death.
She recalls that before he left to go fishing, he had called her back a second time to say goodbye again.
"Kiss me again," he had said, hugging her, "because I'm now going to my 'second wife' and when I get there I want the warmth of my first wife's embrace to still linger on my lips."

A neighbour, who ran into 'Oom' Hannes on that same morning as he was getting ready to go fishing, also remembers him giving her a puzzling reply when she asked him whether he knew that there was a storm approaching. Apparently he replied: "Ja, I know about the storm, but where I am going there are no storms. Only peace and lasting rest."
One of his daughters, Julian (36), married to David Alexander, had a similar experience.

She remembers visiting her parents' home on Thursday. "My dad came out of the bath and suddenly gave me this huge, intense hug like he had never ever done before in his life. He said to take good care of the baby." (Julian is expecting her second child.)
"We have made our peace with my dad's apparent death at sea because that is exactly what he would have wanted. He repeatedly told us to expect the unexpected and not to mourn over him should he suddenly die," sighs Julian.

The family waits
'Oom' Hannes' father, the elderly 'Oupa' Vaaltuin Jacobs of Oudtshoorn, made the journey to Knysna on Monday, September 3, with his two sisters, Eva and Caroline Kok to wait for any news of his missing son. The family is now only praying that their beloved husband and father's body will be found so that he can be cremated and his ashes strewn on the Knysna lagoon.
He leaves behind his widow, Lydia Jacobs, and their four children, Elfrieda Washinggreen of Oudtshoorn, Athony Kiewiets, Julian Alexander and Elfonse Jacobs, as well as nine grandchildren.

"I have fished all my life, but this time I won't be bringing any fish back home," 'Oom' Hannes had mysteriously said before he left to answer the beckoning of the second greatest love in his life - the ocean.

His lifejacket, like a final flag of farewell, was recovered from the train bridge jetty.

ARTICLE: ANOESCHKA VON MECK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST