(LINGUISTIC NOT YET CORRECTED)
In August 1956 I started my study as a radio operator at the trainingschool for radiotelegraphists of the Netherlands
Merchant Navy (Opleidingsschool voor Radiotelegrafist ter Koopvaardij), situated at 688 Keizersgracht in Amsterdam.
The school could be found in a monumental house by a canal with huge stone stairs to the life-size frontdoor.
Students however had their own entrance, a small stair leading to a door in the basement, in which the wardrobe
was situated. Behind the huge frontdoor a long corridor stretched out, with directly on the left a high ceilinged room
where all kinds of communication sets were placed. At the end of this marble floored corridor one reached short
stairs to the director’s office with a classroom beside it.
The other classrooms were on the higher floors; the classroom for transmitting and receiving the morse code
was on the highest floor but one. At several big tables with telegraph keys mounted on them, class training was
given in the morse code. Some creeds – apparatus that produce morse signals by means of punched tapes -
were placed here to make it possible to take the signals by earphones. This taking down was done by hand;
doing so by typewriter was out of the question. This had to be mastered later in practice.
The "creed", a convertor for 2-bts punchtape to morse signals
to climbe. An other student of the school did succeed in climbing it; later he married the director’s daughter (and
was consequently rewarded with an office job with Radio-Holland).
Director of the school was Mr. Leijenaar; teachers were Ravensteijn (technics), van Spingelen (regulations and
morse code transmitting), de Bie and Benne (taking down morse code, English and geography). The caretaker
was Mr. Adema, a former radio-officer, as all the other mentioned persons. The very amiable Mr. Adema, who
was in the merchant navy during the entire World War II, did his administration in the director’s office,
where he wielded the sceptre when the director was absent.
There were two classes of 25 á 30 students each; I was in class A. Classmates were among others:
Ackens, Gijs Bossen, J.A. v.d. Bos, Arie Burgerhout, Frits van Dillen, Rob Does, Piet Eijer † , Wim Hahn,
Hoonings, Bertus de Jong, Jan de Jonge, Henk Koster †, Massmeijer, Bertus van Meeteren, Piet Mossinkoff,
Ottevanger, Bob Peters, Theo Rave † , Henk “Bul” van Rhee, Karel “Sjors” Sawade, Scholten, Van Slooten,
Anton Spee, Swagemaker, Bert Veenendaal, Ab Veldman † , Bob Verzijlberg † and Henk Willekes.
Besides the already mentioned (exam) lessons Mr. Leijenaar thought it useful to add some more lessons to
improve our general knowledge. Thus Mr. Van Spingelen taught us Malay, one doctor Rodrigues de Pareira taught
us first aid and every now and then a clergyman called Bodaan came to preach God’s word.
Being intended to become seamen it was necessary that everyone was in possession of a swimming certificate,
if possible certificate B! As, after obtaining my certificate A I never had felt the need to obtain certificate B,
I took a ducking in the Heiligeweg swimming pool every week with most of my fellow students. The director even
tried to impart culture to us by organizing visits to the Rijksmuseum and the Scheepvaartmuseum (the Museum
of Navigation).
Our physical health was an item to which Mr. Leijenaar gave much attention.
Radio-Holland’s trainingschool was entered for the competition “sloop rowing”
during the Sportsweek 1957. Where nowadays the IJ-tunnel is situated we (boat nr. 6)
tried to stay clear of boat nr. 5. Our aspirations to participate in the Head of the River
were totally smashed this way. On starboard side Bertus van Meeteren and “Bul” van Rhee
follow the directions of Mate Veenendaal, while on port side Jan de Jonge and myself are
trying to stay clear of the oars of boat nr. 5. In the background the Naval establishment
where I ended up later on the V.B.S. (Signalschool).
The most important classes were those in radio- and electro-technics. Mr. Ravensteijn turned out to be a born
teacher. During his classes nobody even thought about to ballyrag him. The man had us under his thumb, never
lost his composure and just the way he sometimes looked at you any wish to maladjusted behaviour did disappear.
Was a certain look not sufficient enough, a verbal reprimand would do it for the rest of the day or sometimes for
the rest of the week.
Technical books were not used. Everything – from molecule to the tube voltmeter ERC3 – was explained by him,
followed by dictating the text which we wrote down in ringbinded notebooks. Drawings were made by him on the
blackboard and copied by us in the notebooks or on graph paper, glued into the notebooks later. This type of
teaching had advantages, namely, first explained in great detail, then written down and further studied at home.
Page 169 of my textbook “Radio-technics”
A hand-written, by Mr. Ravensteijn dictated, lecture in my textbook Radiotechnics on a
transformer- or inductive coupling and a Hartley- or three points scheme (in Dutch of course).
The lesson Regulations was taught by Mr. van Spingelen, a rough diamond type. His lessons came from the Textbook
of Regulations (for those, preparing for the exam to obtain the state’s certificate as radio-telegraphist of the 1st
or 2nd class) by J. Grootes. The textbook consisted of three parts; part I dealt with regulations for the safety
of human life at sea, part II with the acceptance and preparation of radio-telegrams and the draft of service
messages and part III contained everything about the exchange of messages in the mobile service.
An example of the contents of part I:
Imagine that the coaststation Scheveningenradio, leading the distress traffic, at 10 hrs
20 mins had composed a message that proclaims the end of the distress traffic concerning
the s.s.”Waalhaven”
Scheveningen Radio would send the following message:
…---… CQ CQ CQ de PCH 1020 Waalhaven PILQ QUM
In radiotelephony this would sound as follows:
Mayday Casablanca Quebec Casablanca Quebec Casablanca Quebec ici Scheveningen
Radio En Nombre En Nombre Amsterdam Jerusalem Baltimore Jerusalem En Nombre En Nombre
Waalhaven PILQ j’épèle Paris Italia Liverpool Quebec
Quebec Upsala Madagascar
Probably this requires some explanation! At the time in radiotelephony the so called International Alphabet was used,
i.e. Amsterdam, Baltimore, Casablanca, Denmark, Edison up to and inclusive Zanzibar. The figures 1 – 10 were given
the characters A – J preceded and ended by twice the French words "En Nombre" (in figures).
the former Dutch East-Indies. The atmosphere during his lectures was different to that during the
technique lessons, more relaxed and amusing. An overstepping of the mark, was followed by the loud,
verbal reprimand: “Van de Ruit, when you don’t shut your trap this very moment, I’ll kick the living hell out
of you”. Nowadays the man would be charged with threatening with physical violence! It was much more fun in
the classes in former days.
Practice transmitting morse code
If Mr. van Spingelen was absent director Leijenaar replaced him as a teacher. The remaining lessons were
devided among Mr. de Bie and Mr. Benne. Mr. de Bie came from the Dutch East-Indies and was gentle and friendly.
I don’t remember much of Mr. Benne. One incident, however I do remember. The whole class led by (the
somewhat older) Willekes and Swagerman revolted against something and left the classroom en masse despite
Mr. Benne’s objections.
After an urgent request of Mr Leijenaar I applied for a seaman’s book on September 10th 1957. I never
understood why I had to do this so premature; only 18 months later would I obtain my radio certificate!
The request for the seaman’s book had to be done at the Waterschout , situated in the Droogbak near the
Central Station in Amsterdam. The photograph in the seaman’s book was taken on August 20th 1957. For the first
(and hopefully for the last) time my fingerprints were taken. The print of the index finger is shown in my
seaman’s book.
Late 1958 the whole class sat for the first part of the State exam at the Inspection Coast- and Shipsradio, located
Scheveningseweg 6, The Hague. The greatest part of my class passed this first part of the exam.
Scheveningseweg 6
These were my results:
Receiving morse code: 8 Transmitting morse code (17 w/m): 5 Regulations: 6 English 6 Geography 6
for this exam. The man was absolutely right; until that moment I had grossly neglected the technique lessons and
so my progress was clearly insufficient. It was of great matter now to start studying as a madman. Now I could
specialize entirely on technique without worrying about the other lessons. These were pleasant essentials ! After a
while my progress turned out to be sufficient and I was entered for the next technique exam.
On March 16, 1959 I passed the technique exam with a 5 (sufficient) as result, so I qualified for the State’s
Certificate 2nd class and took the oath of secrecy. Instantly thereafter I was told that I was “selected” to fulfil
my military service with the Royal Navy, where I would follow a cadre training.
"... nor make public in any way ..."
As a rule 10 percent of all exam candidates (so not only those who passed the exam) would be called up to
fulfil military service with the Royal Navy. This time there had been 130 candidates, so 13 of them were called
for military service before going to sea with the Merchant Navy. Those from the remaining 117 who passed
the exams, were obliged to serve with the Merchant Navy till the year they reached the age of 27. Should someone
for whatever reason stop earlier, then he was sure to be summoned for active service. So from April 27th 1959
till January 27th 1961 I served as conscript with the Royal Navy.
After the succesful training classmate Busch organised a party at his home in
Zaandam, where Herman de Jong and I (already in uniform of assistant-telegraphist)
toast with Bertus de Jong (only the arm vissible).
After being demobbed Hans Valk (navy mate) and I were not sure at all that we would join Radio-Holland. During our
term we had stayed in close contact and now our term was over we decided to apply together for a job with
Aramco. This oil company used telegraphists who maintained contact in Saudi-Arabia between the several
Aramco locations and (I presume) the U.S.A. Rumors circulated that one stayed in the dessert for six months
followed by a couple of months at home. The earnings of course were much higher than with Radio-Holland.
We also were interested in a job as a telegraphist on the innumerable radar-stations in Alaska. As a former
navy employee you could get a job there, so “they” said. We never left for Alaska, but Hans Valk and I went to
the Aramco head office in The Hague to apply for a job. A load of information of what the job was all about was
given to us. After having read the papers out enthusiasm diminished visibly and we reported to Radio-Holland.
Here I was told that I was expected in the property 223 Kerkstraat, where the practical course as preparation for
the first voyage would be given. This course was led by Mr. de Graaff and was meant to handle radio-installations
on board, as well as related equipment such as radar, direction finders, automatic alarm receivers, depth-sounders,
accumulator loading appliances etc.
On a ship the depth-sounder is a partly invisible instrument. Except for the recorder on the bridge there are also
a transmitter and receiver, situated in the bilges of the ship. To make this visible during the practical course
the following experimental structure was invented: two lampshades (containing the transmitter and receiver)
were hanging from the high ceiling above a wooden plate. When the plate was lowered, the recorded depth
became higher. The echosounder showed 6 feet of “water” in the classroom; by lowering or hoisting the wooden
plate the depth could be changed.
All kinds of transmitters, receivers, directionfinders, automatic alarm receivers, in short everything that could
be found in a radiostation, was displayed here. The purpose of all this was to master the operation, maintenance,
tracing of a defect, and eventually repairing it, of the apparatus. We were informed on many defects and
technical trouble that could appear in practice, which we wrote down. Also the pile of paperwork on board was
delt with. All kinds of books and forms of Radio-Holland were discussed, especially how and why to fill in the forms
and how to post it.
A summing up: Medgraaf (announcements to telegraph stations), Medfoon (ditto to telephony stations), several
circulars (under which “circulars Telegramservice”), Berko (information to the merchant navy), A.D.V.
(general service regulations), repairlist RH25a, RH11-13 (list of telegrams/calls), RH56a (newsbulletin),
RH49 (weather report), RH38 (accumulator report), RH2a (telegramform), RH35 (radar report), RH44
(radiobearings), RH76 (catalogue gift service) RH1520 (correction diagram radiobearings).
There was also a list of overtime (RH32) but that was not discussed, because “you probably won’t need it”.
Useful tips were given us about life on board, such as behaviour and relations with other crew members.
They even told us that if one unexpectedly happened to have a “wet dream”, one could safely ask the servant
for new sheets. They probably spoke from experience.
During the practical course we go payed 150 guilders a month pocketmoney instead of wages, because Radio-Holland
did not contract us until the day of signing on. The monthly wages of an assistant-telegraphist turned out to
be ƒ 256,10 of which probably only ƒ 150,00 would remain after the deduction of taxes and pension contribution.
On February 9th I had to be examened medically for the merchant navy, that was done by the medical examiner
Dr. W.H.F. Klokke on the Geldersekade 57. For the first time I was injected with a so called “cocktail”,
against typhoid, paratyphoid A. B. and cholera. The result was a big red spot on my upper arm, that started
to hurt and became stiff later. After a couple of days the evil was over.
Early April I was assigned to function as an assistant-telegraphist on the “Wonosari”, a ship of the Royal
Rotterdam Lloyd and I ordered my outfit at Determeijer on the Damrak, such as a (blue) uniform, long and short
white trousers and shirts,”toetoep” coats (high collared white coats), white stockings, black shoes, black
neckties, raincoat (never worn!) etc.
As a rule the Wonosari was not equipped with an apprentice sparks, but due to the huge shortage of personnel,
independent radio-officers had to be deliverd as soon as possible., so that the Wonosari among others was appointed
as such. Regarding the accomodation, I just had to make do with it, because this ship was equipped with just one
cabin for a radio-officer. An apprentice sparks had to share a double cabin with an apprentice-mate. On April 19th
I went into service with Radio-Holland, was appointed the service number RH 51 and the next day I signed on the
Wonosari at the Waterschout in Amsterdam.
Of my ex navy collegues Bas Leeuwenburg became an assistant on the “Asmidiske”, Pit Jongman on the “Willemstad”
and Ronnie Verschoor on the “Gabonkust”. I don’t know on which ship Hajo Honderd, Theo Rave, Rick van IJsseldijk
and Faes made their first voyage. Classmate Bob Verzijlberg was placed on the “Oranje Nassau” and Bertus de Jong
on the “Johan van Oldenbarnevelt”.
A motley mixture of classes A and B of the course year 1956. The picture was taken before
the Radio-Holland school at 688 Keizersgracht in Amsterdam.
Squatted from left to right:
Rob Does, Ab Veldman, Frits van Dillen, Bertus de Jong and Bert Veenendaal
Stooped from left to right:
Jan Manni, Arie van de Ruit and Wim Hahn
Standing from left to right:
Theo Rave, Arthur Spee, Piet Eijer, Gijs Bosse, Henk Koster, Jan de Jonge, ?????, Henk Willekes,
Dercks(?), Bertus van Meeteren and Henk “Bul” van Rhee
Entirely at the top and in the rear:
Rinus de Cocq and Herman Oostervink The photograph belonged to Ab Veldman, who died on January 16th, 2003 and was donated by Mrs. Pieta Hoogendijk,
for which I thank her very much.