De Pass: A story of pioneering and missed opportunity

Christiaan Jacobie 

In 1854, when much of Namibia remained unexplored and unknown to the western world, a man named Aaron de Pass arrived in Walvis Bay. At the time, he was unaware that him and his family would be at the forefront of early Namibian history. 

Born in England, Aaron de Pass immigrated to the Cape Colony in 1846 with his wife, his son Daniel and his brother Elias. He worked as a merchant and later established the mercantile shipping company A and E de Pass. By 1849, he had established several trading posts along the west coast of the Cape and what is Namibia today, including Angra Pequena (Lüderitz), Sandwich Harbour and Walvis Bay. 

At Angra Pequena he built a shipyard and pioneered the export of shark liver oil and dried fish, especially to Madagascar and Mauritius. He later bartered cattle and goats with the indigenous people at Sandwich Harbour, which he exported to the Cape. De Pass imported the first patent slipway to Simon’s Town in 1851 and later built a second slipway at Table Bay. He was also responsible for introducing the first daily public transport between Cape Town and Simon’s Town in 1860. 

Further north, opportunities revealed themselves in the form of guano. His son, Daniel, started harvesting guano on Ichaboe Island in 1851. Five years later, in 1856, a man by the name of Captain Spence joined the company as a manager, later becoming a partner in the company, which was subsequently renamed De Pass, Spence and Co. 

In 1863 a company representative, Captain Sinclair, signed a treaty with the Nama chief, David Christiaan, at Bethanie, on behalf of the company. It received a grant of coastal land from Angra Pequena down to Baker’s Cove and inland for about 55 miles. It also included several islands off the coast. 

One day, while harvesting guano on the barren Island of Pomona, Captain Spence observed green mineralised rock on the mainland. He thought this could indicate copper deposits. Spence informed Daniel and in 1865 de Pass established the Pomona Mining Company and began mining for silver and lead. This proved to be an unprofitable endeavour and they soon terminated their mining operations. Unknown to them, the gravel which they were shoveling away was richly sprinkled with diamonds. 

They returned their focus to the guano trade. The guano rush had, however, brought with it not just opportunities but also problems. Fights, murders and poaching of the guano on the islands off the coast led Daniel to persuade the Cape government to annex the islands in 1867. 

A sailor, David Radford, joined De Pass, Spence and Co in the late 1800s. He settled at Angra Pequena and started trading from there. The bay where he operated was later named Radford Bay. 

On 9 April 1883, Radford learnt from some of his employees that a sailing ship had anchored in the bay. The man in charge of this endeavour was Heinrich Vogelsang, who was sent to establish trade for the Bremen tobacco merchant, Adolf Lüderitz. Vogelsang set off for Bethanie, to make an agreement with Josef Fredericks, who had succeeded David Christiaan as the Nama chief. On 1 May 1883, Fredericks sold the harbour of Angra Pequena and all land with a radius of 5 miles for 100 pounds and 200 rifles to Lüderitz. This agreement was revised a few months later, extending the area to include all its bays, from the Orange River Mouth to 26° North of Angra Pequena and inland for 20 miles. 

At this time Daniel de Pass had taken up residence in London. He was shocked to read a report in the Daily News of 12 July 1883 stating that the harbour of Angra Pequena had been bought by a German company under protection of the German government. 

An infuriated de Pass wrote to the British foreign office and the German consulate contesting the German claims to the territory, maintaining that it was legally his property obtained from the late Chief David Christiaan. A long litigation ensued. On July 15 1886, de Pass and his associates were allowed to resume their operations on the Islands in the vicinity of Angra Pequena, as well as Sandwich Harbour and Walvis Bay. 

When August Stauch and Robert Scheibe found diamonds at Pomona and laid claim to them in 1908, Daniel used all his power once again to prove that the claim was made in an area belonging to him. All mining at Pomona came to a halt, and took almost four years to resume. De Pass sold his shares of Pomona Mining Company to a German businessman, Ludwig Scholz, who then sold these interests to the Pomona Diamantengesellschafft, a company started by August Stauch and Robert Scheibe, together with a few others.

In August 1912, shortly before the commencement of the First World War, the amazing discoveries at Pomona could finally be mined. 

Daniel de Pass retired in England, where he died on 5 April 1921. His son Alfred remained in Cape Town and gradually withdrew from the family business. He had become an avid collector of arts. His collections can still be seen today at the South African National Art Gallery and galleries in South Africa and England.