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Geweldig! Mijn vader was artillerist aan boord van de Abbekerk, Cornelis van der Boon (1917) inmiddels al 32 jaar overleden. Wel wat verhalen van hem gehoord, maar dit is veel meer gedetailleerd.

Groet,
Jaap van der Boon
Noordwijk

Peter,

I found your father’s story quite by accident, searching for maps that showed where Oosthaven (NEI) was, since I am reading a book about the USS Stewart in the early days of the war.
I’m excited to read your father’s story – thank you keeping this webpage going!

My grandparents were aboard a Dutch vessel departing Tjilatjap on March 1 1942. Boarded in the afternoon and left port in the evening. They arrived Freemantle Saturday March 7th. According to a letter my grandfather wrote, the ship was a liner formerly on the transatlantic run. He described it as normally accommodating 150 passengers but carrying significantly more people leaving Tjilatjap. Quite possibly the MS Zaandam.

Hello

My father was an officer on HMS Wallflower. I have in my office a brass compass binnacle and the compass which came from a lifeboat they found during the war. It may be from MS Abbekerk, I’m afraid we have no way of knowing now but I remember him saying he went onto this lifeboat quickly to get a souvenir before they sunk it. I can send you photos of the compass if you like

Best regards

Aidan Tuckett

Dear Peter: Most excellent story.Would you have a copy of this remarkable event in W.W.2 Merchant Ship History? Please advise as,I would very much like to have it for my records,Many thanks,Dave

Hello Neils ,Excellent story,enjoyed it very much and well written.Do you have this story in book form? as,I would love to have a copy,I am a Marine,Merchant Navy ,Navy researcher and very interested in these topics. Best Regards,Dave

Kheon Hoea (departed Tjilatjap 1 March 1942, arr Fremantle 7 March
MV Zaandam (departed Tjilatjap 1 March 1942 arr Fremantle 7 March
Generaal Verspyck (departed Tjilatjap 2 March 1942 arr Fremantle
SS Tung SOng (departed Tjilatjap dusk 2 March 1942 arrived Fremantle 13 March).
MV Janssens (departed Tjilatjap 4 March, arrived Fremantle 13 March).

Just to say that thanks to this site, I was put in touch with Peter North, son of Geoff North, and got a lot of information about camp life from him. I understand the original papers shown here are now in the Imperial War Museum.

I guess you have read “Under Ten Flags”? It was written by Captain Bernhard Rogge who skippered the German merchant ship Atlantis armed as a raider. This ship operated in areas including off the coast of Africa and Australia and assumed the identity of the MS Abbekirk for a time. I do not have the book here with me but enjoyed reading it very much.

Thank you for recording your father’s story.

My own father spent most of the war, 1942-45, in Singapore as a PoW, and travelled on the WS12Z / DM1 convoys to get there, of which the Abbekerk formed part. It is only in the past year I have rediscovered some of his old papers and started my own research – your work has both encouraged me and been helpful, so thank you.

My father was in the 85th Anti Tank regiment, which left the UK 12/13th November and arrived Singapore 13th January. I would greatly appreciate any information regarding which ship(s) this regiment travelled on for the journey, if you or any visitors to the site have any such knowledge.

Once again, thank you for this labour of love, for preserving this history.

I remember vividly the incident of the British plane being fired at by the Abbekerk, seeing the tracer bullets arcing into the sky. I was 10 years old at the time and was traveling with my Mother from Fremantle to Columbo to rejoin my Father who had escaped from Singapore Mother and I had been evacuated from Singapore on the Orion I remember there was another incident when we arrived at Columbo in the evening The ship ran into the anti submarine nets and flares emerged from the water to illuminate us for the benefit of shore batteries which fortunately did not fire at us Thanks to the Abbekerk we survived the voyage and thanks to the crew who gave me a birthday cake on the 12th April

Hi Peter. Fascinating story, and well presented. I am writing a guide to the history of the Thames in London, and would love to quote briefly your father’s experiences. Would I have your permission to do this?
All the best, Anthony Galvin

Hi
My parents sailed on the Maaskerk in 1943. My dad was in the Navy. I’m not sure why my mum was on a boat during the war! Thanks for these memoirs – they’ve given me an insight into what the trip must have been like for my parents.

As a 14 year old in 1942 I started work in the heart of London and later became an engineering apprentice. I became a ship’s engineer. In 1956 I took a one-way “Run-Job” from Holland to Cairns
in the Konanda (Google it)and was an engineer on various Australian rust-buckets. I worked for ‘Australian Dredging’ (a subsidiary of Adrian Volker Dredging) for a few years and on an Australian Dredging contract in the port of Tjilatjap in 1970. Tjilatjap had been badly bombed by the Japanese and was derelict up to 1970 owing to the many wrecks and munitions laying on the river bed. The wrecks were dragged out of the river by cranes and torn apart by Javanese workers with hammer and chisel for scrap. Later, The Russians were also interested in Tjilatjap (Sukarno)for a submarine base, but that’s another story. I was re-travelling some of my own journeys when I chanced upon your fathers story.

Kind Regards

Bob Dailey

The pictures are now included in the pictures of the sixth voyage

Many thanks!

Peter

Dear Sir
My Father served on HMS Wallflower and I have a sequence of 5 photos from first sighting of MV Abbekerk’s lifeboats to the picture you have of one lifeboat alongside HMS Wallflower.
If you do not have the other photos I can scan and email them to you if would like them.
Regards
Roy Terry

Peter: I just finished the newly published book on “Bull” Halsey exploits during WWII in the Pacific and I read it in tandum with the Japanese naval interpretation of their naval activities at Midway ( The Battle that Doomed Japan – Midway by Mitsuo Fuchida, former Captain & Masatake Okumiya, former Commander – published Ballantine Books, 1958). I was always fascinated by the fact that the Abbekerk made it to Australia and my father, a flight surgeon with the 13th Air Force in Lembang, Java said almost all of the convoy was destoyed by the Japanese Navy. I wanted to share with you a passage that I uncovered in the book which sheds some light on what happened to many of the ships leaving Java and how skillful the crew of the Abbekerk was, breaking away from the convoy and evading the Japanese Navy.

Note: the Nagumo Force was the Japanese naval group that hit Darwin on Feb. 19 with 188 planes

page 49 – “The Nagumo Force withdrew to Staring Bay(also known as Teluk Bay), on the southeast coast of the Celebes, but did not stay there long. The invation of Java, culmination of the southern operations, was to begin on 1 March. To support it, the Nagumo Force, together with Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo’s Southern Force Main Body of four battleships, was to skirt around to the south of Java and cut off any possible enemy reinforement or escape. The combined force sortied from Staring Bay on 25 February and headed into the Indian Ocean through Ombai Strait. On 3 March, a 180 Plane strike was launched from our carriers against the south Javanese port of Tjilatjap, netting a bag of about 20 ships sunk. In addition, up to 5 March, 3 enemy destroyers and 14 transports were sunk trying to escape southward, and three other transports were captured. The landing operations meanwhile went off on schedule, and on 9 March Java surrendered. The Nagumo Force returned to Staring Bay to await orders. ”

I have always considered my father’s escape from Java one of the most harrowing experiences in his war career even though he started the 801st Air Evacuation Squadron in New Caledonia, flying wounded out of Guadalcanal in the Solomons.

Good afternoon. My name is Sergey. I beg of you please tell me where you can view photos AMERSKERK 1941 – COBURG? 3 ship of this type. I do not believe that there are no photos of this ship! There should be some photos of what MS AMERSKERK! I look forward to your reply. With respect to you, Sergey

Hello Would appreciate this story of your Father.Please send in English.Thank you,Dave

Ian, my mother’s nephew and his parents would be evacuated via Tjilatjap. When they arrived in the harbour, they had something to eat next to the ship. During this ‘lunch’ their ship was bombed in the harbour with all their posessions on board. They had to walk back via the train-track.

Could anybody shred a light on what vessel this could have been? I would be very thankful!

Gerrit Bon.

Hi Kyle

I think I can help you some, but I dont have youre email adress.

Can you please email me: peter@peterenhanneke.nl

Peter

hope you see this because this project is worth half of my grade.

i am making a project about a boat named ss hato but because i can not find it i an going to do it on this boat. iF YOU FIND ANY INSIDE LOOK OF THE boat could you post it on the website before december9. Also if you have any special features could you also post it. Kyle

I am one of the late Lt Col TC Whimster’s four daughters and I would be very grateful to receive a copy of the original letter above or to be put in touch with anyone who has memories of him.

He spoke little about his time in Changi or Kuching. As a child I remember seeing a simple exercise book with a record of the deaths of POWs in the camp. I have found three photos of him in the Australian War Archive collection, taken the day after Batu Lintang was liberated by the Australians and know the ship he was transported on from Singapore to Borneo – the SS De Klerk which was renamed the Imbari Maru by the Japanese. The wreck of this former steamer lies off the Lubuan coast and it is now known as the Australian Wreck.

Look forward to hearing from anyone who can give me more information.

Bij toeval stuitte ik op de website van MS Abbekerk,als inwoner van Abbekerk werd mijn interesse gewekt.Ik wist van VOC schepen met de naam Abbekerk en van een naoorlogse Abbekerk.Maar dit schip en bemanning was mij nog onbekend.
Daarnaast ben ik geinteresseerd in het verhaal – in overleg en met toestemmming – om dit te publiceren in het jaarboekje van de stichting Historisch Abbekerk en Lambertschaag.
Ik wacht het antwoord af.

After Abbekerk leaves Port Of Spain on August 15, 1942, the 3de mate writes they encountered a lifeboat of a Norwegian ship. The survivors – with Trinidad in sight – refused to come aboard and sailed on (in retrospect a very sensible decision).
I tried to find out which Norwegian ship this could have been and the most likely candidate is de D/S Bill:
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/1977.html
en
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/bill.html

The lifeboat reached Trinidad that same day.

Mooi verhaal en goed te begrijpen door een oud
koopvaardijman

Mooi verhaal en goed te begrijpen door een oud
koopvaardijman

a great epitaph to a true seaman

Hi Niels,

Good question. What exacly was the reason to name her Abbekerk I don’t know.
The VNS (Verenigde Nederlandse Scheepvaarmaatschappij) named most of her bigger cargo ships after places in Holland that end on -kerk (Which means church in Dutch).
examples: Bovenkerk, Serooskerk, Maaskerk, Aagtekerk, Heemskerk, Amstelkerk, Hoogkerk etc. (I’m not sure if these places really all do exist:-)
The passenger ship often named -fontein (I guess thats because VNS had several lines to Africa and fontein (fountain) is a common ending for the names of towns in South Africa). Examples: Rietfontein, Boschfontein, Oranjefontein etc.
After the war, some ships that sailed lines to west Africa were often called -kust (meaning Coast), like Dahomeykust and Ivoorkust, but -kerk was by far the most used ending.
Ship names were often re-used after a ship was sold or scrapped. Or sunk.
On the VNS website you can find a lot of information on the ships. (VNS is now part of Nedloyd)

Peter

Hello,
why did they called it ‘Abbekerk’?

I live in Abbekerk (N-H) in the Netherlands.

Best regards,

Harry Glad you made it. I was on the Kota Gede
and kept a small diary. We departed Tjilatjap a t 8 p.m. on Feb 27th. I have a book by a Japanese pilot who wrote that they went to bomb the ships in the harbour on th 28th and found they had all left.
The important thing is we got away. We mayhave been hungry and very thisty for about 10 days but much better off than those who were left behind Regards Ian Robinson

I was in the R.A.F. and boarded the Dutch vessel Kota Gede at Tjilatjap at 5am on Feb 27 41. We waited all day and left the harbour at 8 pm. The captain steered a S.W. course and then altered course for Colombo Ceylon.
I think we were the last ship to leave.
I have a book by Saburo Saskai, a renowned Japanese fighter pilot, he was on a mission,12 fighters and 12 Betty Bombers, to bomb Tjilatjap harbour on the 28th. He wrote we found the harbour empty all the ships had left. Ian Robinson

I read your most interesting account of your father’s account of his day (feb 27 in the harbour at Tjilatjap). I was in the R.A.F.and boarded a dutch vessel Kota Gede at 5.30 a.m. on that day. We waited on deck all day and left the harbour at 8.00 p.m.
I think it was the last one to leave. I have a book by aJapanese fighter pilot, Sabaru Sakai. He was in flight of aircraft which was sent to bomb Tjilatjap 0n the 28th. He wrote every ship had left the harbour ;so we just got out in time. Many allied service men owe their lives to the Dutch sea men who got them out. Regards Ian Robinson

Hi,
I was browsing the Web the other day and came across the most interesting account of your Dad’s account of the voyage made by the MV Abbekerk from her sailing from Gourock on the Clyde until iis demise in the north Atlantic in August 1942. Iwas on board this ship at the time, being one of a group of four DEMS Gunners.(Later called Maritime AcAc Regiment). I could go on but rather than do so I would prefer you to contact me for further information if you have any questions to ask.
Best wishes
Walter Macnab

Taken from http://www.fremantleports.com.au/About/OurHistory/1942.asp
In the following month after Singapore had fallen to the enemy, vessels crowded with refugees
arrived at Fremantle, taxing accommodation to the utmost in the inner harbour, whilst as many as 30 took up all anchorage in Gage Roads. In the inner harbour, it was, therefore, a common sight to see up to as many as four vessels of substantial size lying in tier, and it was due solely to the circumstances forced upon the port and the prevailing weather conditions that such a state of affairs could be permitted. Altogether, some 75 vessels were using the inner and outer harbours at one and the same time, and in the fortnight ending 20th March, a total of 103 vessels, Naval and merchant, and mainly seeking refuge, arrived at the port. Until these vessels could be ordered to some other destination, acute conditions persisted at the port for some weeks.

On 21 july 1940 the SS Troutpool was sunk when she hit a mine leaving Belfast Lough. 11 crewmembers were killed.
Abbekerk was lucky here: she didn’t have maps of the harbour and therefore her master anchored at the entrance on the 21st and refused to move on before she had maps and a pilot. Troutpool sank between Abbekerk and the spot the port authorities had wanted Abbekerk to anchor.
More on this event: http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/belfast-lough-condor.20367/

Two remarks on the pictures after some research on the http://www.maritiemdigitaal.nl/ website of the dutch maritime museums:
The one from the book with the officer overseeing the demolition of cars: this was taken in Oosthaven (Sumatra) a week earlier.
(Situation was quite simular and Abbekerk was there at that time too)
The folders are now confirmed from before the war since I found a folder/timetable from 1938 with the same pictures.

This mortar like granade thrower was probably a Holman projector: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holman_Projector

According to the movement card from the Britisch National Archive, Abbekerk was also armed with a 4″ poop gun at this time (and not a year later, as my dad describes.)

The planes were not Spitfires but Hurricanes

At this point not Singapore but Persia was the convoys destination. The locomotives on board were to be used on the railwayline engineers on one of the troopships were building to Russia.
Only when Pearl Harbour was attacked part of the convoy was rerouted to Singapore. In Durban they managed to unload some of the locomotives but some were still on board when she sailed for Singapore. Since the locomotives were build for a specific track-width, they had difficulties “getting rid” of that cargo later on.

Peter

The plane was a Kate (Nakajima B5N) single engined bomber/torpedo plane. This Kate was on patrol from one of the carriers close by and did in fect drop a single bomb. All the guns firing from Abbekerk missed, but the pilot himself missed as wel and returned safely to his carrier.

Thank to Bill Bartsch for this confirmed information.

Peter

* This was actually the battleship ROYAL SOVEREIGN, not Warspite
** Abbekerk went to Durban this time, not Capetown where it had been several times before.

Peter,

Wellicht is het goed om nader contact te hebben. Mijn vader (Jacob Visser)was tweede stuurman op de Abbekerk toen deze verging. Mijn moeder heeft de VNS verwittigd van het verlies.

Mijn vader heeft zijn memoires uitgewerkt, welke ik tot mijn beschikking heb.

Groet,

Wiebe Visser

Hoi Peter

Was je e-mail kwijtgeraakt door een stomme fout maar had het wel gelezen dus maar hier posten

Maar het was inderdaad 16 januari 1940 die krantenartikel foutje van mijn kant.

groet,

Berend

Mijn vader heeft ook op de abbekerk gevaren en is ook gebombadeert en getorpadeert met de abbekerk. heeft daar wel over vertelt maar is in 1989 op 88 jarige leeftijd overleden ik kan nog wel wat verhalen herrinneren vindt het erg leuk om er iets over terug te vinden op het internet.

I am currently typing up all of my father’s memoirs of the war and his time in Singapore. He passed away in 2001. Whilst piecing together some stories, I came across his memory of leaving Tjilatjap. My father’s troop had walked most of the way from Batavia to Tjilatjap – and were triumphant to see the sight of masses of troops on the main quayside. After reporting to the Army RTO, they were directed to the Abbekerk which they had to cross to board the ship tied next to it – the “Kota Gede”. They sailed on this ship for about 14 days to reach Columbo but before mainland was reached, they found out that the Abbekerk had been torpedoed on its way to Australia. This was one of my father’s very narrow escapes with his life.

I hope you find this of interest and good luck with all your research.

Regards, Lynn Barkus

Hartelijk dank voor Uw bericht en website.
Wij zijn momenteel bezig een klein boekje te schrijven over de Nederlandse bijdrage aan de strijd om Australie. We willen dit uitgeven bij de onthulling van een gedenkplaat hier in Adelaide voor al diegenen die een bijdrage in WW2 geleverd hebben.
Ik neem aan dat U geen bezwaar heeft tegen het vermelden van enige feiten in uw website in het boekje.

Groeten,

Jan Vel

The german heavy armed merchant cruiser Atlantis, skippered by Bernhard Rogge, assumed the identity of the MV Abbekerk around May 21, 1940. The Atlantis had been posing as the Japanese Kasii Maru but allied wireless declared a Japanese merchant ship had been identified as a possible raider operating around Ceylon. Rogge made the changes and continued to operate in the the indian ocean before moving to the sunda strait. He kept the MV Abbekerk disguise for some months. The Atlantis was eventually sunk in November 1941 while on it’s way back to Germany. Refer to Rogge’s book ‘Under Ten Flags’

Hi Mr. Kik / Goedenavond meneer Kik,

As a Dutch Japanese Navy freak I would like to direct your attention to the following:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/PB-106_t.htm

and especially the 10 January 1942 entry, of course! 🙂

Being one of the very few Dutch frequenting Nihon Kaigun (www.combinedfleet.com) and j.aircraft.com, it was my pleasure and privilege to provide a substantial lot of the information for the ‘Shokaitei!’ (captured patrol boats) section, Dutch chapter, of the magnificient Nihon Kaigun website. Besides, I took a look on the NEI Forum after a too long absence there – and I saw your message about ABBEKERK.

The next minute, so to say, the connection was made.
I have a deep appreciation for your site and your father’s memoirs (one immediately recognizes the
Sailor pure and simple – his story is to-the-point and honest). It seems there are not many like him left today… this self-promoted clubman-seat Admiral does not count himself among them, for instance).

Als Nederlandse Japanse marine-gek zou ik graag Uw aandacht vestigen op de volgende link:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/PB-106_t.htm

en dan vooral het onder het kopje ’10 januari 1942′ vermelde! 🙂

Als één van de weinige Nederlanders, die Nihon Kaigun (www.combinedfleet.com) en j.aircraft.com frequenteren, was het mij een genoegen en een voorrecht een groot deel van de informatie te leveren voor het ‘Shokaitei!’ (veroverde patrouilleboten) hoofdstuk, Nederlands onderdeel, van de magnifieke Nihon Kaigun website. Ook nam ik, na veel te lange afwezigheid, weer eens een kijkje op het Nederlands-Indisch forum – en toen zag ik Uw bericht over de ABBEKERK website.

Het volgende ogenblik was de link gelegd, zou men kunnen zeggen. Ik heb een grote waardering voor Uw website en de memoires van Uw vader (men herkent meteen de Zeeman, puur en eenvoudig – zijn verhaal is relevant en recht-door-zee). Het lijkt alsof er tegenwoordig niet velen meer zijn als hij… deze zelf-benoemde leunstoel-Admiraal rekent zichzelf daar vooral niet toe).

Kind regards, / Met vriendelijke groet,

Adm Gurita (A. Gritter)

I was a Marblehead casualty and sailed in the
Abbekerk from Tjilatjap to Fremantle, she was a fast
ship and a clean ship. I was quite relieved to get
out of Java just ahead of the Japs.

Oscar Rudie