Prospectors of Namaqualand

Fred Cornell

In the early part of the 20th century, several prospectors picked their way along the north-west South African coastline, looking for anything that glittered. Fred Cornell was the best known of this generation of fortune-seekers.

©Ann Gadd

Remnants of diamond mining in Alexander Bay.

He spent 20 years in South Africa and his wanderings took him through most of Namaqualand, the Richtersveld and Namibia. As he went, he kept his eyes open for gold, copper and diamonds, but he didn’t report any significant finds. Instead, he wrote a book, called ‘The Glamour of Prospecting’, which was very popular.

Some say that Cornell did indeed find diamonds but kept it a secret. And, it does seem hard to believe that he could spend so much time in the area and not stumble across at least one. However, many others had come before Cornell and similarly failed to discover anything.

In any event, Cornell served with honour in World War 1 and returned to England to receive an award from the Royal Geographical Society for his work. Sadly, while in London, he died in a motorcycle accident, in 1921.

Jack Carstens

©Roger de la Harpe

Street scene, Port Nolloth, Namaqualand.

It was only with Jack Carstens’ discovery of a diamond in 1925 that the ball really got rolling. Carstens was from Port Nolloth, the son of a storekeeper who was also the local Reuters correspondent. One day, Jack was exploring the Oubeep farm, south of the port, when he picked up a shiny lump of rock.

News of this, the first diamond found on the Namaqualand coast, spread fast thanks to his father’s newspaper connections, and the hunt was on. Soon, dozens of treasure hunters headed up to Port Nolloth to see what they could uncover.

Robert Kennedy

©Roger de la Harpe

Diamond mining boats in Harbour, Port Nolloth, Namaqualand.

The next find was made soon afterwards by Robert Kennedy, an experienced prospector, who was taking a swim in the cold water off ‘The Cliffs’, north of Port Nolloth. By chance, Kennedy looked up at the rocks above him and spotted a chunk of diamond-bearing rock. He soon recovered 14 diamonds from the site.

The Teacher

Garnets in coastal rocks near Kleinzee, Namaqualand.

Then, amazingly, a teacher spotted a diamond embedded in the wall of a newly built school building on the farm Kleinzee, near the mouth of the Buffels River. Jack Carstens was called in and a syndicate was formed to buy the farm. Within a week, 500 carats had been found.

Solomon Rabinowitz

Orange River wetlands at its mouth, Alexander Bay, Namaqualand.

Meanwhile, another prospector named Solomon Rabinowitz was scratching around the gravel beds near the mouth of the Orange. Hidden among the oyster shells, he found 334 diamonds. Clearly, there were rich pickings to be had and, by 1926, the mining rights to most of Alexander Bay had been snapped up. The lower elevations were claimed by the Luderitzbucht Syndicate, and the upper elevations by Caplan’s Syndicate (headed by a storekeeper from Port Nolloth).By David Fleminger