Durban, South Africa, quayside
18 December 1941 A large convoy of troopships like WS. 12z is a very large burden on a port. Especially if those troops are granted shore leave for a few days. Therefore in South Africa the ships are divided between...
Durban
Durban, quayside, halfway unloaded
22 December 1941 Durban is overrun by troops – for many of them their first time abroad- who are having their last few days to relax in a beautiful war free town. For most it will be their last leave...
Basra (Iraq). Wheat, heat and Van Houten’s
22 May 1942. In the sweltering heat of the Persian Gulf Abbekerk slowly sails up the river Shatt-al-Arab (Arvand Rood). This large river finds its origin in the coming together of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and forms the divide...
Abadan, Persia (Iran) contribution to the Persian Corridor
28 May 1942. In Abadan finally the locomotives are unloaded. Third mate Visser looks at it with mixed feelings. First we unloaded the wooden beams and sleepers, and again inevitable some hit the locomotives while hauled out. Then we docked...
Under way along the Horn of Africa
4 June 1942. Walter MacNab (1918-2015) is one of four DEMS gunners on Abbekerk. He and three colleagues man the two Lewis machine guns on the bridge. Being a Gunner was rather boring at times and we were poorly paid but...
Mozambique Channel: Near collision with enemy submarine
11 June 1942. Without cargo, Abbekerk now sails at high speed down the African coast, destination Durban, unaware of the Japanese activities around Madagascar. The crew starting to get more worried about German submarines. It was a long distance to...
Durban. Blackout and cockroaches
18 June 1942. ‘And yet again back in Durban’ Adriaan Kik writes in his memoires. But Durban has changed dramatically compared to 7 months earlier when it appeared to be a city in peacetime. It changed because of the fear for a...
Cape of Good Hope. Join the Navy and see the world!
3 July 1942. As Abbekerk leaves Durban, there had been no shore leave for the engine room staff, again. After Bunbury to Abadan (where I spent one evening ashore) then to Durban (no shore leave at all) and now to Trinidad....
Southern Atlantic. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothes
9 July 1942. Around noon, Abbekerk’s lookout spots a dot at the horizon. A bit later a large warship on full speed approaches Abbekerk, all guns pointed at the freighter. In the Southern Atlantic we were stopped by a British...
Port of Spain, Trinidad. In too deep
23 July 1942. After a three week journey Abbekerk anchors in the bay of Port of Spain, Trinidad. Idyllic and surreal in crystal clear water, white sand beaches and palm trees on the shore. Blue skies and lovely temperatures. Luckily...
Peter
