Het monsterboekje (the seaman's book)
Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd
I finally got a chance to study my fathers seaman’s book. Amazingly every ship he sailed during his career has been administered in this little book. Some names are difficult to read, and there are still few gaps, but below is a list of every ship my father sailed between 1951 and late 1972. He started his career with the Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd (1883 - 1970) as a deckhand at the age of 17. After the war many ships were repurposed military American ‘Liberty’ ships. At the end of the war it took only 42 days to built a Liberty ship.
s.s. Overijssel Built in 1946 in the USA and sold in the same year to the Dutch government and transferred to the Rotterdamsche Lloyd.
Date of signing on: 07-11-1951. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
During his years with the Rotterdamsche Lloyd he went to nautical school to obtain his diploma which allowed him to move up from deckhand to an officer.
s.s. Tomini Built as Liberty freighter s.s. George L. Baker. in 1943. Bought in 1950 by the Rotterdamsche Lloyd as s.s. Tomini.
Date of signing on: 21-09-1954. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Kota Baroe. Built in 1929. The Kota Baroe sailed from 1948 onwards to the Dutch East Indies.
Date of signing on: 04-07-1955. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
La Corona / Shell Tankers
During his time with the Rotterdamse Lloyd between 1951 and 1955 my father became bored with the long consignments and he applied for a job at N.V. Petroleum Maatschappij 'La Corona’ (founded in 1912), a subsidiary of the Dutch Shell Company. In 1955 Shell Tankers N.V. was founded.
His rank was third, second and first mate. The second mate (third in command) would to the actual navigation. Third mate is junior to the second mate and basically a qualified deck manager and safety officer. The first mate is the head of the deck department and answers only to the captain. The first mate was also a qualified medical officer but my father took this one step further by taking an internship at two hospitals.
Many of the ships he sailed were so called K-tanker ships or ‘General Purpose Tankers’ with a load capacity of 18.170 ton and a length of 168 meters. Shell named its general purpose tankers with names beginning with a K.
Korenia. Built in 1955. Owner N.V. Petroleum Maatschappij 'La Corona'.
Date of signing on: 05-06-1956. Rank: “4e stuurman”. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
My father was just 21 when he sailed his first ship as an officer.
Kellia. Built in 1953. Steamer with 18.009 tonnes deadweight (the total weight of cargo).
Date of signing on: 14-11-1956. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Taria. Built in 1939. 18.009 tonnes deadweight.
Date of signing on: 03-12-1956. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Singapore, 04-07-1958.
Date of signing on: 04-07-1958. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Singapore, 28-11-1958.
Omala. Built in 1938. In service with the Kriegsmarine Kiel during the war. Badly damaged by a torpedo from HMS TERRAPIN at Listerfjord on 24 March 1944. Repaired after the war and back in service of N.V. Petroleum Maatschappij 'La Corona'.
Date of signing on: 03-03-1959. Rank: third mate.
Kais. Landing craft of the Nederlandsche Nieuw-Guinea Petroleum Maatschappij, Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea.
Date of signing on: 23-06-1959. Rank: first mate.
During his time in Netherlands Nieuw-Guinea my father was 25 years of age. This puts the following anecdote into perspective. He once set off an orange emergency flare among a cargo of white chickens, in effect painting the poor chickens bright orange. The captain wasn’t pleased but nobody was fired.
In 1959 the cabinet Jan de Quay took office in The Netherlands with Joseph Luns as foreign minister. This conservative centre right cabinet consisted of political parties in favour of keeping Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea as a colony. This angered Indonesia and the Indonesian army carried out military actions on Netherlands New Guinea. The conflict escalated and Shell withdrew its personnel from Netherlands New Guinea. My father had to leave and was smuggled back into Indonesia on a Shell Tanker sailing under. British flag. He was picked up by the tanker Saroena mid-sea and pretended to be a British citizen when the Saroena arrived in Indonesia.
Saroena. Year of construction 1939. N.V. Nederlandsch-Indische Tankstoomboot Maatschappij, Batavia, Netherlands East Indies. In 1956 the ship was transferred to "La Corona".
Date of signing on: 12-01-1960. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Singapore.
Gyrotoma. Built in 1950 as a steamship.
Date of signing on: 01-06-1960. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Acila. Year of construction 1958. 170 meters long. The usual 18090 tonnes deadweight. The ship was managed by Shell Tankers NV but owned by Maatschappij tot Financiering van Bedrijfspanden N.V.
Date of signing on: 09-10-1960. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Date of signing on: 09-12-1960. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Date of signing on: 26-01-1961. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
During one of my father’s journeys from Kaap de Goede Hoop to the oil refineries on Curaçao captain KMR (Koninklijke Marine Reserve) A.A. Oepker experienced a psychosis and diverted the ship to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Apparently the captain thought himself as Napoléon Bonaparte and pointed a gun at my father and forced him off the bridge. The captain was an amateur painter and my father had to pose as Napoleon in the captain’s cabin. The painting Oepker made was a near copy of a painting he made before in 1959, but this time with my father’s face as Napoleon. The original 1959 painting is part of the collection of the Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie. The 1960 or 1961 painting has yet to be found. All I have is the black and white photo copy below.
Possibly because of KMR captain Oepker, some high ranking military marine personnel was awaiting the Acila on Curaçao. The first mate refused to salute the military reception and was slapped in the face.
The Acila at Ango Ango Port located on the East bank of the River Congo, approx 2.5nm downstream from Matadi, to the S of the Chaudron d'Enfer. The port is used for the discharging of petroleum and other dangerous cargoes, also for ships not powerful enough to negotiate the Chaudron d'Enfer.
Kylix.
Date of signing on: 18-01-1962. Rank: third mate.
Date of signing on: 30-05-1962. Rank: third mate.
Zafra. Built in 1960. 40.164 tons deadweight.
Date of signing on: 31-10-1962. Rank: third mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Koratia. Bouwjaar 1954. 18.000 tonnes deadweight. Engine: Steam, turbine with electric motor.
Date of signing on: 29-03-1963. Rank: second mate.
By 1963 my father moved to the harbour village Viken in Skåne County, Sweden. Apparently he had enough of The Netherlands in the early 1960s. He lived there until 1966.
Kenia. Built in 1955.
Date of signing on: 21-09-1963. Rank: second mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Kermia. Built in 1955. K-tanker.
Date of signing on: 15-05-1964. Rank: second mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Date of signing on: 11-09-1964. Rank: second mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Onoba. Built in 1962. With 53.444 tons deadweight the Onoba was much bigger than a K-tanker.
Date of signing on: 24-09-1965. Rank: second mate. Port of signing off: Port Said.
Japan Rose. Not a Shell tanker but a Japanese ship. Year of build 1965. Gross tonnage 41470 tons. MO number 6522115.
Date of signing on: 12-01-1966. Rank: second officer. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Korenia. The second assignment on this K-tanker.
Date of signing on: 20-04-1966. Rank: second mate.
Date of signing on: 22-07-1966. Rank: second mate. Port of signing off: Pembroke, Wales.
Niso. The Niso was one of the largest tankers built at that time (1966) with 121.293 tonnes deadweight. My father had to supervise some of the work at the shipyard of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Ind. Co., Aioi, Japan where the Niso was built.
Date of signing on: 21-11-1966. Rank: second mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
The Shell N-tankers were built around the time of the D-tankers. Due to the Six Day War between Israel and Egypte, Jordan and Syria the Suez Canal was blocked for shipping. Shell Tankers was forced to transport the oil from the fields in the Middle East around Cape of Good Hope (Kaap de Goede Hoop). It made economical sense to built larger ships for the longer route. The D-tankers had a deadweight of 70.000 ton and a length of 240 metres. The N-tankers were built for a deadweight of 120.000 tons and measured 265 meters.
The (still unnamed) Niso just after launching.
My father sailed the Niso on its maiden voyage. They were lucky they arrived in one piece. For some reason the captain took enormous risks sailing the big ship through waters in which he was not allowed, way too close to land. But the chain of command is: the captain’s word is law.
Philippia. Built in 1959. Flag state: Liberia.
Date of signing on: 15-07-1966. Rank: first mate. Port of signing off: Monrovia.
Acmaea. Built in 1959. My father’s first tanker after his 3 year assignment in Doha, Qatar.
Date of signing on: 25-07-1970. Rank: first mate.
Date of signing on: 04-10-1970. Rank: first mate. Port of signing off: Shell Haven, Thames Estuary (UK).
Capisteria. Built in 1960. Flag state: Liberia.
Date of signing on: 18-02-1971. Rank: first mate. Port of signing off: Rotterdam.
Arca. Completed 1959 as Arca for Shell Tankers Rotterdam.
Date of signing on: 22-09-1971. Rank: first mate. Port of signing off: Bahrein (04-03-1972).
Onoba. Second assignment on this ship.
Date of signing on: 23-05-1972. Rank: first mate. Port of signing off: Kharg Island, Iran (03-10-1972).
Cinulia. Built in 1955. The Cinulia was to be his last ship just before the 1973 oil crisis in October. During a storm in late 1972 he broke his arm when a gulf hit the deck. This ended his career after just 31 years at sea.
Date of signing on: 11-12-1972. Rank: first mate. Port of signing off: Durban, South Africa (16-02-1973).
Second from the left: Cornelis Haas. 14 September 1960
