Saldanha Bay, with its perfect setting for a harbour, was always constrained by the lack of fresh water. With the Khoekhoe's transhumant existence, the Vredenburg Peninsula formed part of seasonal grazing, which was dictated by the seasons, with summer providing little rainfall and winter being the opportunity to graze cattle and sheep. The early seafarers and explorers who entered the safe haven found that the lack of a permanent fresh water source restricted any concept of settlement.
When a ship, the Pearl, captained by an Englishman Samuel Castleton entered Saldanha Bay in 1612, he was able to trade a calf and sheep for an iron hoop and hatchet with the Khoekhoe based there. They advised him that besides a small ‘puddle’ there was no other water in the vicinity. He declared it a ‘very barren place’.
Subsequent explorations by the Dutch, French and British all reached the same conclusion: a fine, placid natural harbour, but devoid of an adequate water source. The British author, John Barrow, saw the bay as a ’spacious, secure, and commodious sheet of inland sea water, for the reception of shipping, hardly equalled in any other part of the world’. He reported two brackish springs near Hoedjes Bay and went on to suggest laying a course to a farm, Witteklip, 10km north to create a supply; not a new idea as it had been proposed previously in 1738. This would have been prohibitively expensive.
He then had the idea to tap into the Berg River, which became a concept...
