The Saga of Africa’s Diamond Barges

The Saga of Africa’s Diamond Barges

Texas entrepreneur and subsea engineer, Sam Collins, was the one who conceived the idea of dredging offshore for diamonds. Drawn like so many before to the Skeleton Coast, he formed the Marine Diamond Corporation and led many barge crews through numerous adventures.

In the 1960s, they were plucking nearly 14,000 diamonds in a week from the ocean bed of southern Africa which contained the world’s greatest hoard of diamonds.

Sam’s diamond barges navigated through many gigantic waves and fierce storms. His dream of mining the riches of the Skeleton Coast suddenly slipped away when one of his biggest diamond barges, Colpontoon, crashed. As he couldn’t cover the high cost of operating such a big diamond-mining fleet, Sam moved to London’s East End in 1974.

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