FROM CRISIS TO CHAIRMANSHIP OF DE BEERS 163
we
enjoy on the board. Naturally, one would like to sec De Beers
(considering Barnato Brothers and our interest) re-established as the
absolute controlling factor in the diamond world.
In
the event, Ernest Oppenheimer had to wait a few months longer before he
became a member of the De Beers board. At last, on 12 July 1926, Ernest
could cable from London: 'For your private information only De Beers
board of directors unanimously agreed appoint me board', as soon as the
necessary number of qualifying shares had been deposited. The wall of
the citadel had been breached: but a long conflict was to lie ahead
before the stronghold was captured. The appointment came at a fortunate
moment, for the crisis in the diamond world had already begun.
♦ II ♦
In
the years 1926 and 1927 the equilibrium of the diamond market was to be
gravely affected by the emergence of new sources of alluvial diamond
production: in the Lichtenburg district of the western Transvaal and
in the inhospitable coastal regions of Namaqualand, in an area running
from Alexander Bay at the mouth of the Orange River to the mouth of the
Buffels River, 32 miles south of Port Nolloth, famous in the days of
the 'copper boom' as the principal port of transhipment and the
starting point of the railway to the copper areas. Some diamonds had
been found by F. W. Martens near Alexander Bay as early as 1909, and in
August 1925 J. E. Carstens had found a diamond on the Port Nolloth
'reserve', but the really sensational discoveries—though prospecting
had already begun at several places and acquisition of options over
farms and claims was also taking place— did not take place until
January 1927, when Drs. Merensky and Reuning finally uncovered the
'Aladdin's Cave' at Alexander Bay—in Ernest Oppenheimer's words, 'a
fabulously rich accumulation of large diamonds in a very small space'.1 By this time production in the Lichtenburg areas—the original discovery had taken place on the farm
1
The classical description of the riches uncovered is to be found in a
paper read before the Geological Society of South Africa in August
1927, on the 'Diamond Deposits on the Coast of Little Namaqualand'
(published in 31 Transactions) by Drs. Wagner and Merensky, pp. 19-20:
'.
. . It was mainly from the Oyster Line, and to a less extent from the
River Line that there was produced during prospecting the marvellous
parcel, 12,420 carats in weight, that caused such a sensation in
diamond circles a few months ago. It was admittedly the finest
assemblage of uncut diamonds ever brought together. The parcel was
