Paternoster is one of the oldest towns in the area and today there’s still uncertainty as to how it became known as Paternoster. One school of thought is that shipwrecked sailors prayed for deliverance calling on “OUR FATHER”, “Patre Nostre” in Latin, thus giving rise to the peaceful little fishing village of Paternoster. Others feel it might be named after the beads (Paternoster) that were worn by the Khoi tribes who frequented the area in the early 1800’s.

Paternoster has been the scene of a number of shipwrecks over the years. Some of the ships that met their demise in the region were: The iron steam Troopship SS Saint Lawrence (1876), the Portuguese twin-screw mail-steamer SS Lisboa (1910), SS Haddon Hall (1913) and the SS Malmesbury (1930). The Cape Columbine lighthouse got its name from British wooden snow “Columbine” which was wrecked in 1829, 1.5 km north of the lighthouse.

A lot of the inside doors in the fisherman’s cottages at Paternoster have been made of wood from shipwrecks that had washed ashore. According to local folklore the SS Lisboa was carrying barrels of red wine, which washed up on the shore after the ship sank. The locals apparently buried some of them and dug them up after the customs men left town.

Aunty Serra Pieters, who still live in Paternoster, tells how as children they dug out the wine vat from under the sand dunes it as containers for water.

Over the years Paternoster has remained a fishing village and is well known for its crayfish and other seafood delights. Many still fish using the traditional methods. Early in the morning you might be lucky enough to spot “The Watcher”… He walks up and down the beach looking at the sea birds, and their activity, he determines where the Harder’s (Mackerel) are. Then he guides the net fisherman to the fish.

Crayfish, snoek, harders, hottentot, geelbek, kingklip, and white/black mussels are the most commonly known delicatessen of the West Coat.

Paternoster is immersed in history and fishing folkore-a perfect place to just relax and touch the past. We invite you to close your eyes, hear and smell the sea, and envision a time when life was simple and fulfilling, a time when the reward of a day’s work was the gleaming bodies of the fish filling the nets.