Here is a story surrounded in mystery that I look forward to exploring further. In theory somewhere in 1796 the American ship Hercules wrecked on our Eastern Cape coast.
The wretched news that the old Daily Dispatch building at 35 Caxton Street had been gutted was distressing for me but not wholly unexpected. After all, it had served as a wool storage depot before it became the home of the newspaper, the printing presses and the staff for more than 100 years. Its ancient timber must have been thoroughly oil-soaked from the amount of pelts stored there in the heyday of the wool trade in East London.