Busser, Theodoor

Theodoor Busser was born on 27 February 1910 in the town of Veenendaal (*), East of the City of Utrecht, He was the son of Mr. Theodoor Busser who was noted by the Maritime Academy as being a Caretaker working in Arnhem, where they were living at Binnensingel 5.   His mothers maiden name was Anna Keijman. (c)  The Dutch Registration Records noted for siblings:

a. That on 22 November 1905, a son was born called Jan Busser.

b. That on 30 November 1906 a one month old son, called Gerrit, passed away.

c. That there was a 1 year daughter named Anna who passed away on  23 November 1917.

d. That there was another daughter called Hendrika (born 22 Oct. 1905), who married on 16 May 1934 in Arnhem with a baker.

Before going to the Maritime Academy he sailed for 5 months as a sailor with the cargo company A.T de Poorter of Rotterdam.

(*) In some records this is given as the town of Ede. In that period, Veenendaal was a hamlet within the municipality of Ede but was later made independant as parts of the lands west of the hamlet already fell under the jurisdiction of the Province of Utrecht. The whole area called “Veenendaal”was eventually merged and the Eastern half, which included the town itself (and part of the province of Gelderland) was handed over in 1960 to the province of Utrecht.

On 5 September 1927 he was admitted to the  Maritime Academy in Amsterdam, the “Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart” for the two year course. This meant that he had some mathematical background but not enough to be accepted for the one year course. His grades during those 2 years were all middle of the road and the ranking number in his class for skills went from 15 in the first six months to 8 in the last six months. (d)

On 05 Sept. 1929 he was placed as cadet on board the ss Binnendyk until 23 October and then from 14 November1929 on board the ss Nieuw Amsterdam (I). This ship took him to New York for a placement on board the ss Blijdendyk (I) on 29 November.

The Blijdendyk was engaged on the “British Indish” Line to the Dutch East Indies and beyond and she foundered afer a fire at Suez during that voyage.  He then travelled by train to Alexandria where he joined the ss Rotterdam (IV) which called at this port during the spring cruise of 1930 to the Holy Land.  The ship arrived back in Rotterdam on 08 April and Busser was sent home on (paid) leave from April 10 until May the 6th. Then he was assigned to the ss Andyk (I) and made one voyage with her from Rotterdam to Bombay and back.  On 1 September 1930 he was dismissed as he had completed hs cadet year. His company report was “very good”.  On 13 December 1930 he passed his exam for 3rd. mate and was on 15 January 1931 discharged from the school with a good report for skills, behavior and the sea going year.

But the depression was now setting in and Holland America had no work for him. So on 14 December he was put on the list of “Applicants” and he had to wait for better times.  While waiting, his country called him and on 25 Febr. 1931 he went for military service as a soldier.

GAP = It is not yet known what he did in the years 1931 – 1932 – 1933, until there were openings again with HAL.

0n 7 June 1934 he was accepted for a temporary assignment as 4th. officer onboard the ss Veendam (II), followed by another assignment on the ms Delftdijk on 28 September 1934. In October of the same year his wages were reduced from fl 94.50 to fl 92,– due to the depression.

On 22 January 1935, while still on the Delftdijk he was promoted to Acting 3rd. officer at a wage fo fl. 118,–, but was put back to 4th. officer again on the 14th. of May. On that date he joined the ss Maasdam (III) still as 4th. officer but was promoted to acting 3rd. officer on 17 January 1936.

He was transferred to the ss Beemsterdyk on 10 September 1936 and 6 days later his wages were raised with fl 3.75. but eight days later he was back ashore again for a short leave as on 09 October 1936 he was recalled for militairy service. That lasted for less then a month as on 01 November he was given study leave for his 2nd mates ticket. It is then noted on 03 Feb. 1937 that he was turned down for two months (for exam) (This normally indicated in HAL language that a re-exam had to take place. Not an un-usual occurrence as the exam board people could be quite nasty)

But on 08 April 1937 he did pass his exam and signed on 4 days later as 3rd. officer on board the ss Veendam (II). This ship sailed on the 19th. of April but Busser was suddenly promoted to  acting 2nd Officer and sailed instead, on the same day, with the ss Boschdyk.  Holland America was bringing more and more laid up tonnage back in service and thus promotion was possible again.  Hence 2 months later he was already assigned to the passengership ss Volendam (I)  and later to the passengercargo ship the ss Edam (IV)

GAP. ED: In 1937 the company switched to a different administration system and personnel records from 1937 onwards are held by the HAL pension fund and they do not give access fo historians.   Hence we have to wait until we find other sources that cover this period.

From 16 December 1939 to 28 January 1940 he was assigned again to the ss Volendam.

GAP.

In 1940 he is still listed as being single and living with his parents at Burgemeester Weertsstraat 139 Arnhem. (This house does no longer exists) With the commencement of the war he started sending a fl 55,– monthly alotttment to his father.

The Nieuw Amsterdam (II) had left Rotterdam for the last time on 22 September 1939 for its last trans atlantic crossing and from the on made cruises from New York. Busser was  assigned as 2nd officer on

the ss Nieuw Amsterdam (II) from 10 May 1940. (ED: so if is as of yet unknown how the made it to the ship). He would stay there until  18 April 1943. The ship was at that time docked in San Franciso.  Study leave  was granted on 16 October 1943 and eventually he travelled by train to New York where he arrived on 29 November 1943.  The Dutch Government had set up a sort of Navigation School system outside the occupied Netherlands to serve the Dutch Merchant fleets as best as possible. Hence there were small schools in the major ports where the fleet called, such as New York, Liverpool, London etc.

On 07 May 1944 he returned to the Nieuw Amsterdam as 2nd officer  and is then transferred to the ss Leerdam (II) in New York on 23 June 1944 due to being promoted to Chief Officer.

Here he remained until 21 October 1944 and then disembarked  in Liverpool.  He walked around the docks and boarded the  ss Fort Orange moored in the same port. This was a victory class ship owned by the Dutch Government and managed by HAL.  He remained with this ship until the end of World War II. Last entry date in his war records is arriving at Charleston USA on 03 November 1945.

GAP.

On 10 September 1946 he married at Renkum (just outside the city of Arnhem. Miss Catharina de Bie.

GAP.

Noted as being Chief Officer on board the ms Noordam on 02 September 1950.

On 06 April 1951 he was appointed captain of the ss Blommersdyk(II). Holland America had these B class ships built in the 1920’s and in good company policy he was assigned as the newest captain to the oldest ship in the fleet.

On 07 July 1951  a son was born called Gert Busser. (e) Such is the sailors life that Busser Sr. could not be present for the birth but only saw his son for the first time in September 1951 when he was relieved from the  ss Blommersdyk.

In those days, family was not allowed to (officially) sail with husband and father, although officers were quite creative in finding ways around it, when far away from the office.  Between 31 March 1953 and 24 February 1954 Capt. Busser was away for “his turn” of sailing a year on the “outer lines ships”.  So he was assigned to the ss Aagtedyk sailing for the Holland Interamerica Line between New York and the East coast of South America. (New York – Port of Spain, Rio de Janeiro, Santos – Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Paranagua, Rio, Vittoria. Bahia de Salvador, NY = 10 week roundtrip). This was a joint venture with the Rotterdam company Van Nievelt Goudriaan which was specialized in South American  ports but did not have any presence in New York and surrounding ports.

That company provided a complimentary ticket on board one of their ships (the ss Alioth) to take mother and child to Buenos Aires where they could meet up with Capt. Busser and the ss Aagtedyk.  The son advised that during this crossing he was officially baptised by Neptunus and was issued a certificate which he then used during his Royal Netherlands Navy time as proof to avoid having to go a second time through “the procedure”. (e)

 

 

From there he went to the Amsteldyk (II) and the Aardyk .Holland America had bought 10 Victory class ships out of the US surplus fleet and now had to promote all their experienced officers much faster than had been expected. Until 1959 he mainly sailed on these A class ships interwoven with spells on the ss Blijdendyk (II) (The ex ss Fort Orange) and the ss Eemdyk (III).

Then with increasing seniority he ended up on the D class ships (Dongedyk and Dinteldyk) which were all serving on the route from Rotterdam to Vancouver via the Panama Canal.

Then followed 6 months on the ss Groote Beer which included a 3 month voyage to “down under” and back.  On 14 June 1962 he transfered to the ss Ryndam (II) sailing on the Rotterdam to Montreal service. Here he remained until May 1965.

The below photo is of interest, as not many people realize (apart from the Titanic) that in summer time icebergs can be a big and scary problem. If the current is strong they can drift down far south from the Labarador area and to the shipping lanes. When then there is fog as well, ships captains are not very much as ease wheng going through the area.

This photo shows Captain Busser on the Starboard bridgewing of the ss Ryndam (II) keeping well clear as a North Atlantic iceberg tends to be cone shaped under water and can thus extend quite far away from the small top visible above the surface,

On 31 October 1964 he received the silver medal of the KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Society) presented by Prinses Margriet of the Netherlands for services to the KNMI by sending weather reports.

On the 29th. of June 1965 he was assigned to the ss Statendam (IV) which had been built in 1957, with the cruising business already very much in mind. As the company by 1956 already realized that eventually the airplane would dominate the North Atlantic. Hence the majority of the ships voyages were cruises.

In 1965 only 6 Round trips were made beween Rotterdam and New york, but 10 cruises.

This included cruise 78 which went from Rotterdam (01 Sept) via the Panama Canal, Los Angeles and Singapore  all the way to Sydney, Australia and then back via the South Pacific Islands. The ship was back in Rotterdam on 06 December.   Son Gerd indicated that this cruising work was not the favourite part of Captain’s Bussers job and it is believed he therefore chose early retirement as he is not noted in the voyage books anymore after 25 May 1966.    At that moment he was still 4 years short of the compulsory retirement age at 60.

(ED: looking at the sailing schedules of those days, Commodore Auke de Jong retired from the ss Rotterdam (V) in 1968 and the natural flow of seniority postings would have meant that Captain Busser would then have been assigned to the Flagship as the senior master of the company).

Captain Busser passed away on 24 July 1978 at the age of 68.

Sailing List: (b.a)

Date:               Function:                    Ship:                           Wages and/or remarks.

02Sept. 1929   Cadet Officer              Binnendijk                       52,–

25 Oct. 1929   Temporary ashore                                                    52,–

Scheduled for Dutch Indies

14 Nov. 1929  Cadet Officer              Nieuw Amsterdam        52,–

For transfer to ss Blijdendijk in New York.

29 Nov. 1929  Cadet Officer              Blijdendijk                            52,–              At New York

16 Mar. 1930  Ashore in Suez due to fire on board Blijdendijk with the train from Suez to Alexandria and on arrival assigned to ss Rotterdam

21 Mar. 1930  Cadet Officer              Rotterdam                              52,–

10 Apr. 1930   Temporary ashore                                                            52,–

On leave from the Dutch East Indies period,

06 May. 1930  Cadet Officer              Andijk                                            52,–

01 Sep. 1930   Temporary ashore to go to school to study for 3^rd mates license

13 Dec. 1930   Passed exam for 3^rd Mates license

14 Dec. 1930   Added to the list of Applicants

25 Feb. 1931   In military service for first training.

Dismissed due to situation of the time.

07 Jun. 1934   4^th. Officer                  Veendam                                           94,50  temporary contract

28 Sep. 1934   4^th. Officer                  Delftdijk                                             94,50

01 Oct. 1934   Wage decrease to                                                                     92,–

22 Jan. 1935    Act. 3^rd Officer           Delftdijk                                             118,–

14 May. 1935  4^th. Officer                  Delftdijk                                                 92,–

23 Dec. 1935   4^th. Officer                  Maasdam                                               92,–

17 Jan. 1936    Act. 3^rd. Officer          Maasdam                                           118,–

10 Sep. 1936   Act. 3^rd. Officer          Beemsterdijk                                   118,–

16 Sep. 1936   Wage increase                                                                          121,75

24 Sep. 1936   Temporary ashore                                                                  121,75 regular leave

09 Oct. 1936   In military service

01 Nov. 1936  Studying for 2^nd mates license

03 Feb. 1937   Turned down for two months (for exam)

08 Apr. 1937   Passed exam for 2^nd mates license

12 Apr. 1937   3^rd. Officer                  Veendam                                          121,75

19 Apr. 1937   Act. 2^nd Officer           Boschdijk                                        166,–

Promoted to Act. 2^nd officer

10 Jul. 1937    Act. 2^nd Officer           Volendam                                         166,–

01 Oct. 1937   According to new regulation                                              185,–

27 Nov. 1937  2nd Officer                  Edam                                                       185,–

GAP due to end of records in the HAL archives.

16 Dec. 1939      2nd Officer          Volendam                     until 28 Jan. 1940

GAP

10 May. 1940     2^nd Officer           Nieuw Adam              until 18 April 1943

On leave until 16 October 1943) then with the train to New York (arrival 29 November) to study for his Chief Mates / Captains ticket.

07 May 1944       2^nd officer            Nieuw Adam             until 23 June 1944

23 Jun. 1944       Chief Officer       Leerdam                      until 21 Oct. 1944

21 Oct.1944        Chief Officer       Leerdam                       until ??

GAP

xx.xxx.xxx             Chief Officer        Axeldijk                         until ??

02 Sep.1950        Chief Officer       Noordam                       until ??

GAP

06 Apr.1951        Captain                Blommersdijk               until 21 Sep. 1951

01 Oct.1951        Captain                Amsteldijk                    until 08 Oct. 1951  (coastal voyage)

10 Oct. 1951       Captain                Aardijk                             until 04 Apr. 1952

21 Apr. 1952       Captain                Arnedijk                          until 16 Aug. 1952

10 Sep.1952        Captain                Arkeldijk                         until 21 Feb. 1953

31 Mar. 1953      Captain                Aagtedijk                        until 24 Feb. 1954

19 May.1954      Captain                Blijdendijk                       until 08 Jul. 1954

28 Aug. 1954      Captain                Akkrumdijk                   until 03 Mar. 1955

07 Mar.1955       Captain                Aagtedijk                       until 21 Mar. 1956

03 Mar. 1956      Captain                Travels with MS Noordam to New York arrives 12 March

13 Mar.1955       Captain                Aalsdijk                          until  21 Jan. 1957

26 Jan. 1957       Captain                Travels with ms Noordam back to Rotterdam

01 Apr. 1957       Captain                Eemdijk                           until 23 Feb. 1958

11 May.1958      Captain                Almdijk                            until 23 Apr. 1959

26 May.1959      Captain                Dongedijk                       until 08 Sep. 1960

17 Oct. 1960       Captain                Dinteldijk                        until 05 Jan. 1961

14 Feb. 1961       Captain                Dinteldijk                      until 24 May. 1961

25 Jul. 1961         Captain                Korendijk                      until 11 Sep. 1961

19 Oct.1961        Captain                Groote Beer                until 13 Jun. 1962

14 Jun.1962        Captain                Rijndam                          until 22 Dec. 1962

GAP Long leave or ill, no records yet

02 Mar.1963       Captain                Rijndam                         until 18 May. 1963

GAP Long leave or ill, no records yet

11 Jul.1963          Captain                Rijndam                          until 30 Jul. 1963

06 Nov.1964       Captain                Rijndam                           until 16 Jun. 1965

Unknown yet when he went on leave in this period.

29 Jun. 1965       Captain                Statendam                     until 31 Dec. 1965

01 Jan.1966       Captain                Statendam                     until 25 May 1966

End of records.

Sources:

a. Photos and information: Captain Alberts Database.

b. Stamboek en Mouvement books from the HAL archives as held by the Municipel Archives of the City of Rotterdam.

c. Wie was Wie. Dutch Genealogy website.

d. Comportementboeken, Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart, Amsterdam as held by the City Archives of the City of Amsterdam.

e. Mr. Gert Busser. Son of Capt. Busser and in later life Medical Doctor with the Royal Netherlands Navy.

 

 

 

 

Last Updated:  08 Feb. 2026.