Ship Wreck

[Jeremy Dixon]

Yes clanwilliam dam is on the Olifants river Olifants river mouth  31°41'38.86"S  18°11'38.60"E here is a photo of the distance between Elizabeth Bay and the Olifants river mouth

[Michael Alexander]

There is only one Perrenial river on the Southern West coast of Africa, and that betweenis the Oliphants right down in the Cape Province, about 400km south of the Orange River, Jeremy Clanwilliam is on the river, is on the river and exits at Papendorp, and the Kunene on the Angolan Border, 200km north of the Orange river....so basically we are in the middle and could quite well have been a stopping point for refreshment, perhaps the small bay at Alexander Bay could have provided shelter.....

[Jeremy Dixon]

Mike you could be right! It does sound like a good possibility

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

My guess  -  could only be the Orangeriver.  Thinking about current location of the river mouth  (and I don't think 500 years would have made such a vast difference in location)  -  not a very rocky part of the coast and it does make that sort of bay at Alexander Bay.  Furthermore  -  could the current Alexander Bay not have been the Prince of Whale bay.  We should go see why it is called Alexander Bay and from what date, then maybe we will find the connection. 

[Michael Alexander]

Named after a Captain Alexander, a british sea captain , circa late 1800's, surveying the coast for the British Cape Colony of the time, bearing in mind the copper river barges that brought copper down the Orange river back then....

[Jeremy Dixon]

I heard a story that the orange river mouth used to be the largest river mouth in the world long befor our time I heard it waw wider than the amazon river mouth!

[Michael Alexander]

What I heard, was that it's original mouth, was 16 times what it is today..... it is also a know fact that only one seventh of the Orange actually flows above the surface of the ground...interestings stuff...

[Pete (RIP)]

Jammerbucht ("Misery bay") is the bay immediately west of Pomona.  Many people these days refer to it as Pomona bay.  Silver was mined in this area for some time before diamonds were discovered.

[Michael Alexander]

Pete, I never knew that... is there still silver there? Any mine still there? What year was this? Do you have any pics? Are you allowed to post them?

What other minerals were mined in the area?

[Michael Alexander]

I do not know why, but I believe that the water has once again been pumped out of the coffin dam..... the wreck is now dry again...... I wonder if the dig will start again....

[Alexandre]

Do you happen to know if any timbers were removed in the first place?

[Michael Alexander]

I'm afraid that i do not know....will ask around though....

[Pete (RIP)]

Mike ~

With regards your interest in silver mining at Pomona, Olga Levinson in her book, Diamonds In The Desert, records that De Pass, Spence and Co. mined silver and lead in the Pomona area from 1861 to 1863.  They had no idea whatsoever that they were in the very close proximity of one of the greatest diamond deposits ever to be discovered.  At the time there was quite a bit of economic activity in the general area as guano collecting on the nearby offshore islands was at its peak. 

There is little to see of what remains of the silver mine today and, unless you know what you're looking at, one would probably not recognise it for what it was. 

[Michael Alexander]

Thanks for that Pete, it rings a bell now.... ever read the book, the "Glamour of prospecting".... also about a prospector who walked all over the diamond fields looking for copper, not realising that he was walking over the worlds richest diamond deposit.... the book is available at The Springbok Cafe, ...I've bought two so far, (Not to read twice...), BUT KEEP LENDING THEM OUT ...and never getting them back...must buy two more sometime......

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

when you buy tell me, love to borrow a copy.