Deventer Van, Hendrik Leonhard

Hendrik Leonhard “Henk” van Deventer was born on 18 June 1917 in the city of The Hague.  His father was Hendrik Wilhelm Johannes Jacobus  van Deventer. (30 Nov.1887 – 21 May 1982) and worked  for the National Government as  a Civil Servant involved in the supervision of National Health.  His mothers name was Anne Catharina Klaassen (born 06 Sep. 1891). (b)

There were three sons in the family, there was Hendrik himself as the oldest and then two younger brothers: Andre Lodewijk Wilhelm (03 May 1922 born in the Hague) and Wilhelm Hendrik Johan (10 September 1930 also born in The Hague) In 1915 an earlier child  (also Henrdrik Leonardus) had been still born.  The second son received the name  Hendrik with the second name Leonhard after his grandfather.

Before he went for his sea education he lived at Elandstraat 1c, The Hague. (This is a first floor apartment which still exists) The road was bordering an estate with streets all named after Dutch Naval heroes. Also his grand father(Hendrik Leonhard van Deventer 02 Sept. 1854 – 16 March 1917) was involved with water and worked as an Inland River Skipper. Having a Rhine River barge with the assumed length of 192 meter and travelling between Rotterdam and Basel. 192 meters is too long for a single self propelled barge but in those days it was normal to run combined barges, e.g. where some where pulled as they did not have own propulsion.

Then there is another “salt water” connection. His grandfather married Berendina Houtman (17 June 1852 – 30 March 1925). She was a descendant of Cornelis Houtman (1565 to 1599) A famous Dutch Explorer who discovered a new route to the (Dutch) East Indies and thus created the Spice Trade for the Dutch. De Houtman was known to have a “chip on his shoulder” and that might have trickled down the ages because when Mrs. Houtman married her beloved Rhine skipper, her family threw her out as she was marrying below the family standards.

All of this might have resulted in him deciding to  go to sea and at the age of 16 he was accepted by the Maritime Academy, the “Kweekschool voor the Zeevaart” in Amsterdam on 02 Sept. 1935 and enrolled in the two year course. As pre education he had 3 years of “Gymnasium” which is the highest school tier in the Netherlands schoolsystem, so sufficient  mathematical knowledge for the 2 year course.

His school records indicate  that his performance was average to good with a special interest in practical activities.  When he ended his study in July 1937 he was rated as number 6 of his class.

In Aug. 1937 he was assigned as a cadet to the Holland America Line and left on 19 August 1937 with the cargo ship ss Binnendyk for the Gulf of Mexico. He remained his whole cadet year  with this ship.

On 17 December 1938 he passed his exam for 3rd. Mate and was released from the Academy on 24 Dec. 1938 with both his school and sailing attests noted as Very Good.

He rejoined Holland America and was assigned to the ms Zaandam (II). This ship was the 2^nd one of a class of 4 passenger cargo ships built for the intermediate service to New York. The large passenger ships were on the “Express Service” with calls at France and England and this intermediate service was meant to sail only between Rotterdam and New York. The first ship was the Noordam (II) of 1938 and the idea was to name the four ships after the compass points. Eventually there was also Zuiderdam (I) and a Westerdam (I) but for unknown reasons the 2nd ship was not an “Oosterdam”  (that would have to wait until 2003) but the 2^nd ship received the name Zaandam (II).  He joined for the 3rd. trialtrip followed by the maiden voyage  and then remained with the ship until the WWII started.

Here he was somewhat lucky as just before the war started he was called for  a commission as Ensign with the Royal Netherlands Navy but never made it as the war broke out. Had he stayed with the Zaandam, then he might have gone down with the ship in 1942. Now he was alive but was stuck in the East of the Netherlands for the duration of the war.

He found himself a job with the “Crisis Controle Dienst or “Crisis Control Department”, founded in 1934 (as Centrale Crises Controle diesnt or CCCD) by the Dutch Government to combat black marketeering during the depression .This entity had been sending out inspectors to check if farmers where reporting the correct number of livestock on their farms.

When the war came, the CCD was still active but now became a tool for the occupier. With everything rationed the occupier was afraid that milk, cheese and meat might end up on the black market or used to feed those in hiding. Surplus livestock was confiscated and used for the greater good of Nazi Germany. Black Marketers were arrested and often executed.

Taking a job as with the CCD could be considered “helping the enemy” but could also be used for helping the Dutch population. Van Deventer was assigned to the section East Arnhem which had many farms, but close to Arnhem, also forests which were very popular with the army for excercises. (The Allied Forces would learn this later to their regret when “Operation Market Garden” came across stiff resistance from German forces recuperating there and the “Operation” had to be aborted)

Van Deventer solved this problem of not colluding with the Occupier, very simply by letting the farmers, due for inspection, know that he was coming the next day. They could then remove “the surplus” out of sight for the day of inspection.  He would arrive on his bicycle and then the “carousel” system was implemented. When it was not possible to hide the “larger surplus /above quota”,  e.g. cow(s), horses and sheep, they were walked out of the stables at the back and around  the farm while Van Deventer walked into front of the stables counted what was there  and then left through the back door while farmer and animals re-entered through the front door. So he did not see anything and could truthfully note the numbers that he had officially observed. This worked both ways. Too many horses and the count went down. Not enough horses to balance the books and one or more horses made another circle through the stalls.

Because of his function for the CCD he had a travel pass issued by the Germans so he could travel freely through the area of his responsibility to reach the farms due for inspection. The pass also covered his bicycle, to avoid confiscation, as this as the only way to get around for his work. This also gave him the chance to “spy” on the locations of the enemies Anti – Aircraft gun emplacements and tank locations which were hidden, well camouflaged, in the fields and forests. Being a navigator he used his nautical skills to pin point these locations very exactly. By means of a pocket chronometer and a pocket sextant (most likely a “bubble” sextant which works without the need of a clear horizon for a measurement) he was able to note the locations down in Latitude and Longitude. (Not unlike air pilots did in the days before GPS).

The story goes that he even managed to do this once through the toilet window at a farm.  This information was then delivered to a contact person of the Dutch Resistance who then forwarded the details to the Canadians who as part of the Allied Forces had been given oversight of The Netherlands. It was not unusual for Allied Airplanes to show up the next day to bombard or strafe the reported location.  He was never caught and must indirectly helped to provide food on the table for many who were hiding in the surrounding areas and he also might have saved some Allied airplanes from being shot down.

While of his travels he met his future wife Petronella Josephina “Nelly” Goris (born 02 March 1923 – passed away in 2013). She was  employed in a distribution office for food and other ration coupons and  she was also “creatively” dealing with her work. In the end they both came under suspicion and escaped across the river to liberated territory around the city of Nijmegen.

Although  The Netherlands was fully liberated on 10 May 1945, he could not yet return to sea directly, as he first had to proof that he had not been “collaborating” with the enemy due to being employed by the CCD.  This took until 19 June 1946 before he had all his clearance stamps. Then he could also marry without any problems, what then happened on 01 August 1946 in the City of Nijmegen.

The above scan from the Dutch Seamans book is of interest as not many people know what was involved directly after the war to proof to be a “good Dutchman” again, when having worked through the war.

1. Top stamp, Office of the National Security Service.
2. Middle Stamp. Border Protection Office Section West.
3. Security of the State (Belgium) Antwerpen 9 March 1947 Passport Control.   (Normally they did not stamp a Seamans’book but the passport, so this must have been a special verification, while the ss Axeldyk sailed from Antwerp to Rotterdam.)
4. Not documented, a letter by the Canadian Army command adivising the support work he did for them during the war.

After some years (1947 – 1950) having lived in the town of Zevenaar, where Nelly worked at the distribution centre, they settled down in the centre of Rotterdam, (Pleinweg 212c, this was a 3rd floot apartment above a shop, which still exists), but they moved in 1959 to Ede, as she could not really get used to the big city and its very “outspoken citizens”. Also it was much better for the childeren to grow up in a small town like EDE, surrounded by forests and farmland. The story goes that Van Deventer biked around the province of Gelderland (Arnhem and Nijmegen where both located in Gelderland), biked through Ede and decided that that was it.  The Dutch Government had appointed several towns in the East of the Netherlands to absorb the “overflow” from the larger cities in the West of the Netherlands and had built a large estate in the old farm town with(for those days) large and modern townhouses that could be bought for a very good price. The town was very popular with HAL officers (and those of other company’s such as Rotterdam Lloyd) as it had an excellent train connection with Rotterdam. The funny part is that their house was in the Wilterdinkstraat again leaning onto  an Estate named after Dutch sea heroes and now his own house was again next to a similar estate.

Eventually there were 3 Childeren: son Ron (1947) , daugther Erna (1950) and son Ruud (1960)

Holland America had lost of about 50% of their ships during the war and was very busy with getting new ones. Some of them came from the Dutch Government who had been shopping around before the war ended and some came out of the war surplus of American Liberty and Victory ships of which there were plenty available after the war. The Dutch Government assigned one of their own newbuilds to Holland America Line, a cargo ship named the ss Groningen ( This was one of a whole series of ships all named after the Dutch Provinces). Crews were needed and 4^th. Officer Van Deventer had his job back, which included now travelling by ship to New York and from there by train to the shipyard in Chester to collected the ship which at that time was still owned by the Government. On 07 October 1946 the ship was taken over and under the command of a HAL captain (Captain Pieter Verhoog) the ss Groningen sailed for Rotterdam where it arrived on 05 November and was then duly bought by the HAL and renamed in ss Andyk (II) the next day.

Van Deventer did not stay with the ship but was transferred to the ss Leerdam (II) who sailed a few days later from Rotterdam. Now the HAL “senority rotation” system started to kick in, whereby you rotated from the oldest / most junior ship to the more senior (passenger)ships. Then with promotion to the next rank, the rotation started again.

That rotation would bring him as 2nd officer to the Flagship Nieuw Amsterdam (II) in  1948 indicating that he was ready for his next rank -seniority wise- as long as he had his First Mate’s ticket. That he obtained in September 1950 and was nearly at once promoted to Chief Officer.

Again a rotation should have started but due to the influx of new ships, either bought or built, that did not happen and he went from the cargo ships Aardyk & Arnedyk directly to the passengerships ms Westerdam and ss Maasdam.

This ship was involved with North Atlantic crossings in the summer and made a large number of cruises in the winter. These were from New York and mainly went to Nassau and Bermuda (Hamilton or St.Georges) for seven day cruises or when longer to the West Indies, often as far as Cartagena in Colombia.

While on the ss Maasdam (III) he was present when the ship had a collision with the Swedigh cargo ship, the ms Tofevo while outbound from New York. Van Deventer was not involved with the navigation when it happened as the Captain was on duty during the fog navigation. But as Chief Officer he was deeply involved in the repair work at the shipyard when the ss Maasdam returned to New York on 3 October 1954 for repair work.  The Maasdam had hit the Tofevo full in the side and te damage was considerable.

Because the bow had set in so much, it was necessary to rebuilt the whole bow section to bring back the structural integrity of the hull of the ship, so it would be able to withstand the North Atlantic Weather.

Just before in May 1954 he had also been present when the Maasdam was the first HAL ship to receive stabelizers. First there had been a Dutch prototype, invented by the Royal Netherlands Navy, which consisted out of a tipping fin at each side of the ship, forward of the midships. During testing, it became apparent that these fins sent the bow even deeper into the water as the ship normally already did by itself. (The Ryndam and Maasdam were known among the passengers as “the Submarines” as they tended to to dive into every wave that was out there).

These fins were removed at once and then Sperry Stabelizers were installed, which had already proven themselves after having been installed in 1951 on the intermediate liners Parthia & Media of Cunard. The fins worked well and then the rest of the passenger fleet  also received them.

Stabelizers (one on each side) are operated by a gyroscope which measures the angle of the “upright” ship with the horizon. When that angle changes, it gives a signal to the fin motors to counter angle the rolling of the ship. The above photo was taken during the trial trip. During the testing there is the exercise to turn the signal around to see how much the stabelizer can make the ship roll instead of stopping the rolling. As one can see from the photo the stablizer induced roll brought the sb. fin well clear of the water. Then the signal is reversed again to see how fast the stabelizers can reduce the roll initiated. Normally stabelizers reduce the ships rolling by about 90%, as long the fins have enough flow, which is normally with speeds over 10 knots.

Van Devener remained on the ss Maasdam  until August 1955 when he was promoted to Captain.

 

On 14 September 1955 he was given command of the ss Blommersdyk (II) which was the oldest ship in the fleet.  This was a sistership of the ss Binnendyk where he did his cadetship in 1937.

His next ship was the ss Duivendyk which was originally a German ship. Built in 1930 for the Hamburg America Linie as a passenger cargoship ss Vancouver with a passenger acommodation for 35. When the war broke out, she was laid up in Caracas Baai in Curacao and seized by the Dutch authorities when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. In July 1946 she was handed over to the HAL as compensation for lost tonnage. The passenger accommodation made here eminently usefull for the North Pacific service to Vancouver and hence she received a name starting with a D, as all the regular ships on this service had D-names.

Then the senority rotation started and slowly but steadily he moved onto ships with more and more passengers. But not before he had done a spell in 1956 on the Aagtedyk (II) which sailed in VNS charter (United Steam) and made 6 months roundtrip voyages from Rotterdam to the  Far East, going as far as Bombay.  This was repeated in 1958 when he sailed as a passenger with the ss Nieuw Amsterdam (II) to New York to take command of the ss Arkeldyk, which was employed on the New York- British Indies Line of Holland America. He made two voyages on this ship (voy. 68 & 69) and that meant he was away from home from June 1958 until April 1959, so nearly a year.  This voyage went as far as Singapore and calls included Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) and ports in Indonesia. Once back in New York he sailed home again with the ss Nieuw Amsterdam as a passenger.

Officers and sailors coming home from such a long time away, where then assigned to the ships sailing to New York and nearby ports on what was normally a month long voyage. Giving more time at home in between voyages. Van Deventer had the peculiar situation that he ended up on the ss Ryndam (II) for one voyage, although he was not senior enough for that ship. But Captain Van Dalen, the Master of the Rynam was ill and the ship had to sail.

By the mid 60’s Captain van Deventer had met an English widow called “Gloria” which caused him spent less and less time in the Netherlands. Initially his Dutch wife did not want to divorce him but in 1973 Dutch Parliament passed a divorce law which offered a lot of protection to wifes and children left behind and then she agreed.

His English “wife”, had 2 daughters and he settled down in Whitstable near Canterbury.

Then it was back to the cargships until 1963 when he was senior enough to be assigned to the passenger cargo ships sailing to Vancouver via the Panama Canal and he was given command of the ss Dinteldyk (II) This ship made 2 month roundtrips and had a capacity for  60 passengers in a one class accomodation. He remained with this ship for 6 months.

In the mean time Holland America had been extending their fleet with  a new K-class and a G-class series  of cargo ships and from then onwards his career was focussed on these ships, which mainly were in service to New York and the Gulf of Mexico ports.

In 1970 he was assigned for 2 months to a strange addition to the Holland America Line fleet, the ms Prinses Margriet. This was a ship (together with her sister the Prinses Irene) had been designed for the service to Montreal and the Great Lakes for a HAL subsidiary (50% ownership) called the “Oranje” or Orange Line as all its ships were named after members of the Dutch Royal Family of the “House of Orange”.

That service faltered and Holland America saw a possibility to operate a passenger cargo service from New York to the Caribbean. She remained in service until the end of 1970 and was never renamed as Prinses Margriet was (and still is now in 2026) the God mother of the Dutch Merchant Marine.

Also since 1967, Holland America had participated in the ACL or Atlantic Container Line. A consortium of several European company’s who saw their North Atlantic service diminishing and the containers taking over. Thus in 1967 HAL participated with two ships, the ms Atlantic Star and the ss Atlantic Crown. On 15 October 1970 Captain Van Deventer was assigned to the Atlantic Crown. He would return to these two ships on rotation.

That rotation also brought him to the ms Bilderdyk (II). There was the demise of the conventional cargo ship trade to ports like Savannah and New Orleans where “Lash” ships and “Seabees” started to dominate,  Thus Holland America had ordered two LASH ships. (Lighter On Board Ships). The ms Bilderdyk (II) entered service in 1971 but her sister was sold to the German company HAPAG-LLoyd and entered service as the ms Munchen. On 16 December 1972 he took command of the Bilderdyk for the first time and also would return to her several times on rotation. This ship carried 87 cargo barges on board and the idea behind the concept was to crane the barges of the ship while at anchor in a port. Then these barges would go up river to a shipper, while other barges that had come down river where hoisted on board and taken to Europe. The ship normally called at Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Savanah, Houston, and New Orleans, making a 4 to 5 week roundtrip. The barges had the advantage that cargo once loaded at the shippers dock, could be sealed so there was no pilferage or damage during transfer in ports. And it reduced port time considerably, from sometimes several days to a few hours.  The main products carried were paper products, grain and steel.

In 1974 Holland America decided to sell the whole cargo division to the Swedish company Bostrom, with a hand over on 1 January 1975. All Holland America Captains, Officers and Crew were given the option to decide whether to stay with the passengerships or go with the cargoships and started working for ICT. (Intercontinental Transport)  of Rotterdam. Operational name Incotrans. The ships remained under Dutch flag and Dutch Labor laws applied.  A good reason to go to ICT was that the pension plan was somewhat better than with HAL and also the basic wages. It is believed that this was the reason that Captain van Deventer decided to stay with the cargoships.

When Bostrom terminated its Dutch Branch in the 1980’s, the archives were not donated to a Maritime Museum but destroyed. Hence there are no company sailing records from that period.

ED: I am still on the hunt for information as around this time the Dutch newspapers also published less and less sailing dates. So if there is a reader out there who has pertinent information about the sailing dates of the ex HAL ships, with or without Captain van Deventer in command, please contact me on CaptAlbert1@aol.com.

In 1977 Captain Van Deventer retired and remained in England.  In 1997 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer and passed away on 12 August 1999 at the age of 82. He was buried in the local cementary at Whitstable.

Family and colleagues who knew him well, discribed him as a capable seaman but a very difficult person to work with. Also he was known to have a great interest in the Ladies and did not neccessarily restrict himself to a proper married life.

Sailing List: (c,d)

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

16 Aug. 1937      Cadet Officer                     Binnendijk                          30,–

01 Oct. 1937       According to new regulation                                      35,–

03 Jun. 1938       Cadet Officer                     Binnendijk       Until 19 Aug.

15 Dec. 1938      Passed exam for 3^rd. Mate License

28 Dec. 1938      4th. Officer                        Zaandam              29 Dec. 1938      3^rd. Trial Trip

07 Jan. 1939       4^th. Officer                         Zaandam               30 Jan. 1939       Maiden voyage

04 Feb. 1939       4^th. Officer                         Zaandam             27 Feb. 1939

04 Mar. 1939      4^th. Officer                         Zaandam             27 Mar. 1939

01 Apr. 1939       4^th. Officer                         Zaandam               24 Apr. 1939

29 Apr. 1939       4^th. officer                          Zaandam              22 May 1939

27 May. 1939     4^th. Officer                         Zaandam               19 Jun. 1939

24 Jun. 1939       4^th. Officer                         Zaandam               17 Jul. 1939

22 Jul. 1939         4^th. Officer                         Zaandam               14 Aug. 1939

16 Sep. 1939       4^th. Officer                         Zaandam                18 Oct. 1939

26 Oct. 1939       4^th. Officer                         Zaandam                05 Dec. 1939

08 Dec. 1939      4^th. Officer                         Zaandam                  15 Jan. 1940

19 Jan. 1940       4^th. Officer                         Zaandam                   28 Feb. 1940

xx.xxx.1940         Called up for Royal Navy Reserve training but not assigned as the war broke out.

xx.xxx 1940           To school for his 2^nd Mate’s license

26 Oct. 1941       Announced in the Newspapers as having passed for 2^nd Mate’s License, but questionable if this true as he sat again for his exam in 1947/48

01 Oct. 1946       4^th. Officer     Groningen / nmdyk                06 Nov. 1946

11 Nov. 1946      4th. Officer                        Leerdam                     22 Feb. 1947

With Westerdam on 01 March to USA to collect new ship

01 Mar. 1947      3^rd. Officer                         Axeldijk                      18 Mar. 1947

03 Jun. 1947       3^rd. Officer                         Axeldijk                      20 Aug. 1947

22 Aug. 1947      3^rd. Officer                         Axeldijk                     22 Oct. 1947

To School to obtain 2nd mates license

07 Jan. 1948       Obtains 2^nd Mates License

22 Jan. 1948       2nd. Officer                   Nieuw Amsterdam  11 Feb. 1948

12 Feb. 1948       2^nd. Officer                   Nieuw Amsterdam  03 Mar. 1948

04 Mar. 1948      2nd. Officer                    Nieuw Amsterdam  24 Mar.1948

25 Mar. 1948      2nd. Officer                    Nieuw Amsterdam  05 Apr. 1948

19 Apr. 1948       2nd. Officer                   Nieuw Amsterdam  13 Jun. 1948

13 Jun. 1948       2nd. Officer                    Nieuw Amsterdam   10 Jul. 1948

13 Jul. 1948         2nd. Officer                    Nieuw Amsterdam   31 Jul. 1948

02 Aug. 1948      2nd. Officer                  Nieuw Amsterdam   21 Aug. 1948

30 Aug. 1948      2nd. Officer                       Sloterdijk                   25 Aug. 1949 at New York

25 Aug. 1949      2nd Officer                         Leerdam                    27 Sep. 1949 NY – Rdam

17 Oct. 1949      2nd. Officer                        Axeldijk                      09 Dec. 1949

13 Dec. 1949      2^nd. Officer                         Axeldijk                     08 Feb. 1950

16 Feb. 1950       2^nd. Officer                         Axeldijk                     25 Mar. 1950

To School to obtain First Mates license

28 Sep. 1950       Obtains First Mate Certificate (Captains license in the Dutch system)

07 Nov. 1950      2nd Off/ Ch. Officer      Aardijk                         06 Apr.1951

09 Apr. 1951       Chief Officer                      Aardijk                        02 Jun. 1951

08 Jun. 1951       Chief Officer                      Aardijk                       04 Aug. 1951

08 Aug. 1951      Chief Officer                      Aardijk                       10 Oct. 1951

24 Oct. 1951       Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                   20 Dec. 1951

27 Dec. 1951      Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                    20 Feb. 1952

22 Feb. 1952       Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                    19 Apr. 1952

21 Apr. 1952       Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                     17 Jun. 1952

23 Jun. 1952       Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                     05 Dec.1952

10 Dec. 1952      Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                    02 Feb. 1953

06 Feb. 1953       Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                   06 Mar. 1953

28 Feb. 1953       Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                   08 Apr. 1953

17 Apr. 1953       Chief Officer                      Arnedijk                  24 May. 1953

09 Jul. 1953         Chief Officer                      Westerdam           03 Aug. 1953

07 Aug. 1953      Chief Officer                      Westerdam            31 Aug. 1953

09 Sep, 1953       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 01 Oct. 1953

05 Oct. 1953       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 09 Nov. 1953

10 Nov. 1953      Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 03 Dec. 1953

09 Dec. 1953      Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 25 Mar. 1954

02 Apr. 1954       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                  23 Apr. 1954

30 Apr. 1954       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                29 May. 1954

01 Jun. 1954       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 23 Jun. 1954

25 Jun. 1954       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                   19 Jul. 1954

20 Aug. 1954      Chief Officer                      Maasdam                  17 Sep. 1954

20 Sep. 1954       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 05 Nov. 1954

08 Nov. 1954      Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 03 Dec. 1954

08 Dec. 1954      Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 05 Mar. 1955

10 Mar. 1955      Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 01 Apr. 1955

20 May. 1955     Chief Officer                      Maasdam                  25 Jun. 1955

28 Jun. 1955       Chief Officer                      Maasdam                    21 Jul. 1955

25 Jul. 1955         Chief Officer                      Maasdam                 22 Aug. 1955

27 Aug. 1955      Chief Officer                        Maasdam               CANCELLED

End of Seaman’s book entries & promotion to captain.

14 Sep.1955         Captain                             Blommersdyk            14 Nov.1955

GAP. Most likely ashore for medial reasons, gall bladder operation.

23 Aug. 1956      Captain                               Aagtedijk                   06 Jun. 1957

06 Jul. 1957         Captain                               Duivendijk                11 Nov 1957

15 Nov.1957        Captain                             Kinderdyk                  08 feb. 1958

26 Feb. 1958       Captain                               Eemdijk                       04 Jun. 1958

26 Jun. 1958       Captain                               Arkeldijk                    14 Apr. 1959

18 May.1959       Captain                              Ryndam                       06 jun. 1959

26 Jul.1959           Captain                              Arnedyk                     27 Sep. 1959

21 Oct . 1959      Captain                               Akkrumdijk              04 Jun. 1960

08 Aug. 1960      Captain                               Kinderdijk                18 Aug. 1960

30 Aug. 1960      Captain                               Andijk                         05 Sep. 1961

Vacation. Relieved for  one voyage.

12 Nov. 1961      Captain                               Andijk                          23 May. 1963

GAP

14 Aug. 1963      Captain                               Kamperdijk              22Aug. 1963

25 Sep. 1963       Captain                               Dinteldijk                  11 Apr. 1964

08 May.1964      Captain                               Dinteldijk                  28 Aug. 1964

GAP stayed most likely with Dinteldyk until 1967, with voyages off in between but exact dates unknown.

28 Oct.1966        Captain                              Dinteldijk                  11 Feb. 1967

15 May. 1967     Captain                               Gorredijk                  12 Aug. 1967

29 Sep. 1967       Captain                               Gorredijk                  20 Nov. 1967

21 Jan. 1968       Captain                               Gorredijk                   21 Mar. 1968

GAP most likely continued on Gorredijk, until transfer to Grebbedijk  but exact dates unknown.

xx.xxx. 1969        Captain                               Grebbedijk                 xx.xxx 1969

06 Mar. 1970      Captain                               Prinses Margriet   01 May. 1970

GAP most likley moved to Atlantic Crown on 21 July but dates unknown.

15 Oct. 1970       Captain                               Atlantic Crown       xx.xxx. 1970

29 Oct.1970      Captain                                Poeldyk                       05 nov. 1970  Coastal voyage.

07 Nov. 1970     Captain                                Atlantic Crown        xx.xxx.1970

28 Dec. 1970      Captain                               Poeldijk                         31 dec. 1970

GAP

28 Jan. 1971       Captain                               Atlantic Star              25 Mar 1971 (approx..)

01 Apr. 1971       Captain                               Grotedyk                    05 Oct. 1971

07 Nov. 1971      Captain                               Atlantic Crown       08 Feb.1972

GAP

xx. Aug. 1972      Captain                               Veendam or Volendam   Cancelled as ships still under US flag.

17 Aug. 1972      Captain                               Atlantic Crown       15 Nov 1972 (approx.)

23 Jan. 1973      Captain                               Bilderdijk                    11 Apr. 1973.

17 May.1973     Captain                                Bilderdijk                   29 Jul.1973

GAP

07 Jul. 1974         Captain                               Gaasterdijk              03 Nov. 1974

GAP

On 01 Jan. 1975 the cargo part of the HAL fleet was sold to Bostrom of Sweden. Captain van Deventer decided to stay with the cargo ships and moved over to ICT (Incotrans) BV. Rotterdam. When Incotrans ended as an independent Dutch company, the archive was destroyed and with it all the records. So sailing periods have to be traced from the company’s in house magazine.

What we have so far:

03.Mar.1975  / Apr/ Jjul/ Sep/Oct/Nov.      Captain on board Gaasterdijk

1976  Feb / Jun / Oct                                              Captain on board Bilderdijk

1977 Feb/ Mar/ Apr/ May                                  Captain on board Gaasterdijk

1977  Jul/Aug                                                            Captain on board Atlantic Star

17 June 1977. Reached the age of 60 years, so he must have retired around this time.

Sources:

a). As Captain van Deventer documented his career with photos and films, the Editor could use an enourmous amount of material, made available by his son Ruud van Deventer. For which which my deepest gratitude. Hence everything used in this biography comes from his archive except were noted differently.

b) School records from the Comportementen books of the “Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart” as held by City Archives of Amsterdam.

c) Capt.Alberts Database and photo archive.

Last updated: 23 Febr. 2026