Tirion; Cornelis Hubertus

Cornelis Hubertus Tirion was born in  Rotterdam on 21 December 1888, the Netherlands, as the son of Mr. Johan Richardus Tirion, listed as being a carpenter and Mrs. Margaretha Gijsbers.

Tracking the family through the Rotterdam City population registers gives the following:  the family came from the town of  Teteringen  (Province of North Brabant near the city of Breda) with one child and settled down in Rotterdam in April 1888.  In November 1889 the family moved to Buenos Aires and lived in the town of Ensenada where a son Hubertus Johannes was born. We assume that the father was sent out as carpenter for a project. Something that happened again in 1895.

On 27 January 1891 the family returned to Rotterdam and then left again on 16 August 1895 for Johannesburg, South Africa.  Sometime later they must have returned as our Captain attended the Nautical College in Rotterdam and not the one in Cape Town. The father passed away in The Netherlands in Rotterdam on 05 Sept. 1928 (c)

From the above we can deduct that there was at least one older  brother.

Mother passed away in 1905 and the family seemed to have been living in The Hague by that time.

In 1907 Tirion must have done his cadet ship in order to be able to go for his 3rd mate’s license but this was not with Holland America.  There are no Rotterdam Maritime school records from before 1933 so we can not trace this. But he  passed his 3^rd mates license on 22 February 1908.

The assumption is that he sailed at least one more year for another company before he was taken on by Holland America in 1909. The company by then needed new officers as it was in the process of taken over the ships from the shipping  company Furness and Withy, Rotterdam branch, as part of the “Burg or Neptune Line” acquisition  for the route to Newport News.

He joined the Holland America Line as 4^th. Officer on 29 December 1909 and was assigned to the ss Potsdam as a 4th. officer. After one contract he was given leave to join the army, most likely on conscription orders . Upon return 5 weeks later he is assigned to the ss Noordam (I) a sister of the Potsdam with both ships sailing on the North Atlantic service to New York.

From September 1910 to August 1916 he was assigned to a whole series of cargo ships until he appears as 2nd officer on board the ss Rijndam (I). (Also a sister of the Potsdam) From then on he alternates between the passenger ships and the cargo ships, until given command of the ss Binnendijk on 23 June 1926.

In the meantime he had married on 28 July 1920 Adriana Magdalena Koopman (Born on 09 December 1898) daughter of Casper Koopman and Magdalena Alleman.  (She passed  away on 02 February 1944 at Renkum)

For the rest nothing is known of his private life.

NOTE: If there are any family members out there or other people who have information about Captain Tirion (even if it is only a photo) please contact me on Captalbert1@aol.com. 

He remained assigned to the cargo ships with the exception of a 3 month period starting in January 1929 on the ss Maasdam (III). This as a more senior captain was somehow not available.

On 16 March 1930 he was in command of the ss Blijdendyk (I) when the  ship caught fire and burns out during the following days. The ship was on its way from Tandjong Priok (the port of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies) to Boston and New York. On board was a cargo of sisal, palm oil and assorted general cargo. While going through the Gulf of Suez, fire was detected in Hatch V and VI in the aft part of the ship. The fire spread very quickly and Tirion decided to abandon ship. The burning hulk was a day later put ashore by a salvage vessel. Here it burned out completely. The steel remains were later scrapped in Italy. All crew were taken on board by a passing tugboat. Captain and crew travelled home from Suez with the ss Schiekerk (VNS / United steam) and rejoined Holland America.

The fire is later investigated by the Dutch Board of Inquiry (Raad voor de Scheepvaart) and although the captain could not be blamed for anything, the Board was of the opinion if the captain had beached the ship himself at an earlier moment, things might have turned out differently.  There has always been a tendecny of the Dutch board of Inquiry to find fault whenever it could and in general Holland America was never much impressed by the Boards decisions, and whatever it thought, and thus it put captain Tirion simply back in command. Now on the ss Gaasterdijk (I) which sailed to the Gulf of Mexico.

Then the depression started to bite and the company was laying many of it ships up, and was dismissing many of its officers and crew. The system was here that in each rank, the juniors went first or those who were not married, or those who had no childern. It is assumed that Captain Tirion fell in the last category – no childern.  He was sent ashore 12 November 1931 with 70% salary. Eventually he was one of the 4 captains who were “retired” on 01 January 1932. His payments continued to 01 April 1932 and were then reduced to a “standby money” sum. It is unclear what this entitled.

It seems that the separation between man and company must have been quite amicable as in the company archives there is a thank you letter from the company, dated 04 January 1932, thanking him for his visit and his contributions to the company.  The company was not exactly happy with dismissing him but the times at hand left no other option.

Sofar I have not been able to find any records about what he did after having been made redundant as in 1932 he would have been only 44 years old. 16 years short of  the “compulsory Sailors retirement date”.

Captain Tirion passed away  in Wolfheze (a small town near Arnhem in the East of the Netherlands) on 20 Aug. 1968.  (c)

Sailing List: (a)

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

29 Dec. 1909       4^th. Officer                          Potsdam                              30,–

06 Aug. 1910       Temporary dismissed for the armed forces.

19 Sep. 1910       4^th. Officer                            Noordam                             30,–

24 Sep. 1910       3^rd. Officer                          Zijldijk                                  50,–

01 Jan.  1911       3^rd Officer                            Zijldijk                                  60,–

21 Jun.  1910       3^rd Officer                            Gorredijk                             60,–

12 Jan.  1912       Temporary ashore for study.

02 Feb. 1912       3^rd. Officer                          Amsteldijk                          60,–

22 Mar. 1912       Temporary ashore for study 2^nd mate license. Passed on 26 june 1912.

23 Jun.  1912       3^rd Officer                            Zaandijk                               70,–

27 Jan.  1912       3^rd. Officer                          Andijk                                   100,–

07 Jul.   1912.     2^nd Officer                           Soestdijk                             100,–

27 Aug. 1913       Temporary ashore for military service.

01 Oct.  1913       2^nd Officer                           Zijldijk                                  100,–

26 Nov. 1913       2^nd Officer                           Zijldijk                                  110,–

23 Mar. 1914       Temporary shore due to illness

12 Jun.  1914       2^nd Officer                           Amsterdijk                         110,–

02 Aug. 1914       Temporary ashore for the armed forces mobilsation of the Netherlands

10 Sep. 1914       2^nd Officer                           Zijldijk                                  120,–

08 May 1915       2nd Officer                         Zijldijk                                  130,–

11 Aug. 1916       2^nd Officer                           Rijndam                               130,–

08 Jun.  1917       Temporary dismissed for study. Passed first mate’s license on 26 Sep. 1917

19 Oct.  1917       2^nd. Officer                          Rotterdam                          130,–

07 Jan.1918         2^nd Officer                           Poeldijk                                  130,–

28 Feb. 1918       2^nd Officer                           Andijk                                   130,–

24 Dec. 1918       2^nd. Officer                          Rotterdam                          130,–

18 Jan.  1919       2^nd Officer                           Amsteldijk                          130,–

10 Feb. 1919       2^nd Officer                           Noordam                             130,–

01 Jul.   1919       2^nd Officer                           Noordam                             215,–

07 Aug. 1919       2^nd Officer                           Rijndam                               215,–

With the Noordam to New York as passenger.

13 Jan.  1920       2^nd Officer                           Rotterdam                          215,–

01 Jun.  1920       Chief Officer                      Veendijk                             300,–    At New York

01 Jan. 1920       wages increased to                                                         330,–

15 Oct.  1920      wages increased to                                                         350,–

30 Aug. 1920       arrives home with the ss Noordam for leave.

31 Aug. 1921       Temporary ashore.

04 Sep. 1921       Wages reduced to                                                           334,-

03 Oct.  1921       Chief Officer                      Blijdendijk                          334,–    With Harwich boat to Belfast.

16 Oct.  1921       wages reduced to                                                            328,–

16 Mar. 1922       wages reduced to                                                            315,–

22 Jun.  1922       Temporary shore                                                             315,–

28 Jun.  1922       Chief Officer                      Spaarndam                         315,–

26 Oct.  1923       Chief Officer                      Rijndam                               315,-

23 Jan.  1924       Chief Officer                      Blijdendijk                          315,–

09 Mar. 1924       Chief Officer                      Volendam                           315,–

29 Jan.  1926       Chief Officer                      Veendam                            315,–

23 Jun.  1926       Act. Captain                       Binnendijk                          560,–

12 Sep. 1927       Act. Captain                       Poeldijk                                  560,–                    with the train to A’dam

10 May.1928       Temporary ashore                                                           560,–                    Regular leave.

21 May.  1928       Act. Captain                       Poeldijk                              560,–                    with the train to A’dam.

07 Sep.   1928       Temporary ashore                                                           560,–

14 Sep. 1928       Act. Captain                       Poeldijk                                560,–

20 Sep. 1928       Act. Captain                       Moerdijk                             560,–                    With the train to  Antwerp

25 Jan.  1929       Captain                                 Maasdam                            560,–

01 Jan. 1929        Wages increased to                                                        580,–

18 Mar. 1929       Captain                                  Andijk                                   580,–

23 Jun.  1929       3^rd wage increase                                                             600,–

02 Nov. 1929       Captain                                   Ashore                                  580,–

15 Nov. 1929       Sails with Nieuw Amsterdam to join Blijdendijk   for the East Indies service.

01 Jan. 1929        Wages increased to                                                            580,–

29 Nov.1929       Captain                                    Blijdendijk                          580,–

16 Mar. 1930       Captain                                Ashore at Suez. Burned out Blijdendijk. (*)

12 May  1930       Captain                                                                                    580,–

Sails home with the ss Schiekerk  to Antwerp and arrives  in Rotterdam

03 Jul.   1930       Ashore                                                                                        600,–

26 Jul.   1930       Captain                                   Gaasterdijk                          600,–

03 Nov. 1930       Ashore                                                                                         600,–

26 Nov. 1930       Captain                                    Westerdijk                         600,–

18 Dec. 1930       Captain                                    Blommersdijk                   600,–                    At New York

In 3 years (until 18 march 1931) sailed 2 years and 4 months

03 Jul.   1931       Temporary ashore                                                           600,–

12 Nov. 1931       Wages reduced to                                                           430,–

And put on 70% standby money.

01 Apr.  1932       Dismissed and put on standby money.

Sources:

(a)  Stamboek  personnel department Holland Amerika Lijn Archives as held by the Municipal Archives of the City of Rotterdam.

(b) Movement books held by – as above,

(c) E.A Kruidhof.

(d) Photos from Capt. Albert Collection.

Last Updated:  30 August 2025