Coena Haman who owned the Cafe Royal (now Hermanus Pharmacy) for many years, when he was a boy, used to shoot sharks from the harbour rocks. He teased them towards a paraffin tin thrown into the water, which bobbed away from the shark as it tried to grab it. When Coena returned from World War I, he went to the harbour with his gun. A strong man was standing nearby and told Coena not to shoot. 'I want to catch it,' he said.

Coena said he would eat his hat if he could do that. The stranger was Bill Selkirk and shortly afterwards he caught with rod and line a shark of 445 kg. Coena was not made to eat his hat. Instead, Selkirk stood him ginger beer. 

Big 'X' of The Great Escape - Roger Bushell  

Amongst the list of names on the War Memorial at the Hermanus Old Harbour, one finds the name of Roger Bushell. Roger, however never lived here and therefore did not attend the Hermanus High School, yet every year at the school prize-giving, two prizes are awarded in his honour. The Roger Bushell Character Prize is awarded to the senior boy adjudged by his fellow scholars as the boy with the best character and influence; a boy to whom a fellow scholar in trouble can turn for advice based on sound Christian principles. The other prize is for the Most Bilingual Scholar. Roger's parents lived in Hermanus, near Fernkloof at the time of his death. After the war they made this presentation to the school in remembrance of their son, who could speak nine languages and became one of the galant South Africans who died during the war at the age of 34.

Hermanus High School

The earliest traces of habitation have been found at Cape Hangklip. Stone hand-axes from the Neanderthal era dating back 20 000 years have been unearthed.

Khoisan strandlopers left their fish traps and kitchen middens along the Beach from Kleinmond to Hawston as well as in mountain caves bordering the seashore. The area was isolated because of the Kogelberg Mountains that served as a barrier to the European expansion in the Western Cape.

For two centuries this area became the stronghold of outlaws – or 'drosters' – runaway slaves, criminals, and the remnants of Khoisan tribes, which had been decimated by measles. 

There are two Caves of archaeological significance on the Overstrand Coast and both are named Klipgat, meaning literally 'rocky hole'. One is seen as a large overhang on the southern side of Hoy's Koppie in Hermanus, while the other is at De Kelders, near Gansbaai among a complex of open caves in the Walker Bay Nature Reserve.

Hoy – the fastest shorthand writer in South Africa; General manager of railways; Took regular fishing holidays in Hermanus; Refused railway branch line to Hermanus; Drafted new legislation to run railway on business principle; introduced the first road service of the South African Railways; William Hoy was knighted in 1916.

One of the holiday-makers in Hermanus in early years who will never be forgotten is William Hoy. No book on Hermanus can ever be complete without his story, which in fact begins 21 years earlier when he immigrated to South Africa.