(Linguistic not yet corrected)
Twenty years at sea
Ten years merchant navy Ten years O.S.V. "Cumulus"
My career at sea can be roughly devided into parts of ten and five years.
After having served with the Royal Navy I joined in 1961 the Dutch merchant navy, to exchange her after
ten years for the Department of Transport and Public Works. From radio-officer I became a (sailing)
communication official. A transition I didn't like at all actually. My work was limited to transmitting and
receiving of messages; the independent functioning, maintenance of and repairs to radio equipment on
a merchant ship was finished. I had to work in a team with fellow civil servants. Some of them had sailed
with the merchant navy and some with the Royal Navy. To cut a long story short: I had to get used to it
very much, especially in the beginning.
My ten years with the merchant navy can be devided into two almost equal parts. The first five years I
sailed on freighters and the second five years I spent on tankers.
The voyage as a trainee I made under the leadership of chief R/O A.P.G. Viool on the Wonosari of the
K.R.L. (Royal Rotterdam Lloyd). My first ship as an independent radio-officer was the Parthenon of the
K.N.S.M. (Royal Dutch Steamship Company), after which I (or rather my fiancée at that time) thought
it needful to become a landlubber.
After having submitted my resignation a trial trip followed on the Glenlyon of Glen Lines and a coastal trip on
the Eos of the K.N.S.M. After having said goodbye to the sea I had a clerical job on a ship broker's office;
at first on Schiphol Airport and later on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam-C. Here I had at least some interface
with the merchant marine; at shipping companies I reserved space for all kinds of cargo; yawn, yaawn, yaaawn !!
My career at shore lasted some eighteen months, after which I supremely happy dumped my fiancée (or was I
dumped ?). Radio-Holland seemed to be glad to have me back and shortly thereafter I signed for two voyages
on the Dutch merchant ship Alwaki (a punishment as I still see it) of Van Nievelt Goudriaan, followed by a
voyage on the Alkes of the same company. My time on freighters was concluded by two trips on the Ampenan
of the K.R.L.
The next five years I spent on tankers. Almost four years on three of the four ships (Gulf Italian, Gulf Hansa,
Gulf Hollander) of Nedgulf Tankers and some six months on the Kryptos of Shelltankers, accompanied by
my wife, not being the above-mentioned fiancée!!
In between two coastal trips, the first one on the Ceres of the K.N.S.M. and the second one on the Bali of S.M.N.
(Steamship Company "Nederland").
From necessity I missed three ships. In 1962 the Amstelhoek of Reederij Amsterdam due to my discharge,
in 1965 (?) the Zaanland of the K.H.L. (Royal Dutch Lloyd) due to an expired medical examination and in 1967
the Geopotes IX (?) of the Hollandse Aannemings Mij. (Dutch Contractors Company), due to illness.
After the Kryptos the spouse had more than enough of sailing the seven seas and I got the opportunity to become
a civil servant with the Department of Transport and Public Works by agreeing to sail on the ocean station vessel
Cumulus. I held this out from 1971 till 1981. The Cumulus had changed in those ten years from an ocean station
vessel on behalf of of aviation into a weathership only, in other words she changed from Air Traffic Control to
K.N.M.I. (Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute).
In course of time the benefit of A.T.C. people on a K.N.M.I.-ship became more and more doubtful, so my colleagues
and I were "removed"; one was medically declared unfit, one retired, only the technician/radio-officer stayed on
board as chief over some radio-officers of Radio-Holland. My collegue Jan Fernhout and I then began a course
Air Traffic Controller's Assistent, after which we were employed as Briefing-Officer at Schiphol Airport till 1999
(again almost two times 10 years).
All in all I did devide it perfectly; 10 years merchant navy, 10 years Cumulus and (almost) 2 x 10 years Air Traffic
Control Netherlands.
How I passed the first ten years you can read by selecting several ships on top of this page. For the next ten
years please select "Bowwaves and Radiowaves" and then "Cumulus".