African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 482 - 160 Whale Bay Port
March 1877.
On the West Coast of Africa, four ships quietly broke away from the East Africa to North America slave fleet and headed towards a bay.
Wolvis Bay has a rather unique formation, with a long channel extending into the Atlantic Ocean, resembling a person stretching out an arm. The mouth of the bay faces north, making Wolvis Bay easily recognizable, and most ships passing by can identify it.
In fact, in 1487, Portuguese navigator Dias, one of the pioneers of the Age of Exploration, discovered Wolvich Bay. Before the 18th century, the Dutch also surveyed this area, but it went unresolved. Therefore, the location of Wolvis Bay is prominent yet hasn’t received much attention.
"This is Wolvis Bay, the only deep-water port between Angola and South Africa. After measurement, most waters should be below fifteen meters, and the bay entrance is close to ten kilometers. It indeed has the conditions to build a good deep-water port!"
However, these data cannot reassure the East African sailors because on the land east of the bay is an endless white desert, with only sporadic green vegetation visible.
"No wonder His Highness said the conditions here are poor; the land is still desert, though it does resemble Mogadishu somewhat."
"Much worse than Mogadishu. Mogadishu is an oasis, unlike here, which doesn’t have a large river like the Shebelle nourishing both banks."
From a tourism perspective, Wolvis Bay’s scenery is commendable, with pure white beaches meeting the blue sea, providing a refreshing feeling. However, no matter how beautiful, it cannot change the fact that this place is a desert.
Andre kicked at the animal bones along the shore of Wolvis Bay and said, "If we want to find a water source here, we might need to spend more effort. I wonder when the people from Letania Province can open the supply route."
Thanks to the construction of the East African Central Railway, cargo transportation has become much more convenient, but this is only relative to the inland areas of East Africa. The Central Railway has a section towards the west, but it’s closer to Angola. The sprawling desert in the southwest makes East Africa temporarily uninterested in building a similar railway in the south. Thus, rear supplies cannot be directly sent here via railway and must be transferred through Letania Province.
Letania Province is located in a highland area. To transport supplies from Letania to Wolvis Bay, one must cross hundreds of kilometers of desert, which is also a challenge for East Africa occupying Namibia.
Actually, Letania Province is northeast of Namibia, but it is already the best land route from East Africa to Namibia. The direct east direction nearer to Wolvis Bay is over a thousand kilometers of desert. The Namib Desert almost merges with the Kalahari Desert.
"Now we are divided into two groups of twenty squads to investigate within a twenty-kilometer radius. The first group is responsible for finding areas that might have groundwater, and the second group will explore around to see if there are any oases or rivers. Finding drinking water is the most important task, we must ration the freshwater on the ship," Captain Chris said.
East Africa is relatively experienced in finding water in arid regions, as Africa itself has many dry areas. This skill is essential for some East Africans and is learned from African natives and Arabs.
Soon, the crew identified more than ten places that might have water sources based on vegetation distribution patterns, but further excavation several meters deep did not yield satisfying results.
However, while the east side didn’t shine, the west side did. At twilight, no results were achieved at Wolvis Bay, but explorers from the north brought good news.
"We discovered an oasis about twenty kilometers north, with a relatively large river. The conditions on both sides of the river are quite good, nurturing a wide vegetation belt."
This river is the Swakop River, an important river in Namibia in the past life, originating from the inland mountains and flowing through the Namib Desert downstream. However, its water volume is not very stable and may dry up due to decreased upstream inflow.
In the past life, Germany’s colonial Southwest Africa’s most important port, Swakopmund, was located here. Though Swakopmund wasn’t as famous as Whale Bay Port (Wolvis Bay Port), Ernst did not recall it immediately. Nonetheless, Swakopmund was considered a relatively well-known tourist spot in Namibia in the past life, known especially for German architecture.
Historically, the Germans established Swakopmund in 1892, and it became the colonial center of German Southwest Africa. During the German occupation, it was a major port in Southwest Africa, but eventually, Swakopmund was replaced by Walvis Port due to continuous siltation.
Thus, during this period, Swakopmund clearly had better natural conditions for building a port than Whale Bay Port, causing a dilemma for East Africans.
"Captain, the oasis area to the north has clearly better conditions than Wolvis Bay. At least the water issue can be solved, but Wolvis Bay is a place His Highness specifically ordered us to seize. What should we do?"
Chris pondered for a moment: "Why choose? We have enough people. Let’s establish outposts in both places; they’re not too far apart. Even if we can’t find water here, we can transport it from the north."
However, Chris’s idea soon changed because after excavating more than ten meters deep, water emerged!
"Water is out! Water is out!"
Chris hurried to the water outlet, seeing clear well water seeping from underground. "Quickly find some materials from the ship to brace the well head, don’t let the sand bury the well."
Because the surface is desert, sand was still flowing down the pit. The sailors found planks and simply created a separator to keep the sand and well apart, and they erected a wooden well cover.
"Now that the water issue is resolved, Wolvis Bay has the conditions to establish an outpost. Should we still establish one in the north?"
"Certainly, that place isn’t far from Wolvis Bay, so we must control it. Otherwise, what if the enemy exploits it in the future?"
In fact, in the past life, Wolvis Bay was a British colony, so surely there was groundwater. The British weren’t deities, they needed water.
In the past life, Whale Bay Port at Wolvis Bay was an enclave of the British South African colony within German Southwest Africa. Until the late 20th century, South Africa, under international community pressure, returned Wolvis Bay to Namibia.
Wolvis Bay is definitely a unique place; its maritime conditions are significantly stronger than those at Swakopmund in the north. Swakopmund, though having relatively ample freshwater resources, faces the Atlantic Ocean directly with no natural geographic barriers. At the same time, Wolvis Bay is the only deep-water port on the two-thousand-kilometer coast of Southwest Africa, making both places important for East Africa. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Two months later, Letania Province finally established contact with the sailors heading to Wolvis Bay, and East Africa began construction here.
Before this, the East African government had already learned about the existence of the Swakop River north of Wolvis Bay through information brought back by returning slave ships.
Regarding the two locations, the East African government decided to develop both simultaneously. Soon, a fortress appeared at Wolvis Bay, and Whale Bay Port remained the name for the port at Wolvis Bay, which Ernst felt was fitting.
The outposts East Africa constructed at Wolvis Bay and the Swakop River estuary were soon discovered by the Cape Town colony. Of course, the Cape Town colony first noticed East Africa’s expansion activities on the north bank of the Orange River.
This caused significant discontent for the Cape Town colony, as they also had eyes on Wolvis Bay, initially planning to occupy it next year, but East Africa beat them to the punch (the British colonized Wolvis Bay in 1878).
An unpleasant scene ensued; when the East African Governor sent people to survey Wolvis Bay, they saw a military fortress standing in the unclaimed area they remembered, leaving the British from afar in Cape Town in a dilemma, ultimately reluctantly returning to Cape Town to report to the Governor.
