Arrived in Cape Town, he was employed by the firm Cloete, Reitz and Anderson as a harpooner for the whaling industry in False Bay.
The greater part of the Cape fur seal colony was to be found on neighbouring Geyser Rock.
Great white pelicans formerly bred on the island until keepers destroyed the breeding grounds through excessive egg harvesting.
[1] Currently Dyer Island is a nature reserve for marine birds and penguin numbers are standing at about 7000.
Dyer showed great business acumen, and was considered a very rich and respected man in the Overberg.