Stories

Lines to the past

Stories from the past

Compulsory Service for Queen and Country

Under the Compulsory Service at Sea decree, Dutch merchant navy crews were deployed to the Allied war effort. Overnight, they became frontline soldiers. To preserve their extraordinary wartime experiences, interviews were conducted with nine merchant navy veterans in 2009.

Merchant navy families in wartime

What was life like for the families who remained in the Netherlands during the war years? To preserve their war memories for future generations, interviews were conducted with relatives of seamen who were at sea during the war.

Dangers at sea: the merchant navy in WWII

They were at sea when the war broke out: the crew members — sometimes still boys — of the merchant navy. There was no way home. So they continued to sail the oceans for Queen and Country. With constant danger to their own lives. Andere Tijden (Other Times) about the horrors of life at sea during the war.

Dangers at sea: part 2

Bombardments, shelling, shipwrecks ... the lives of the Dutch merchant navy seamen hung by a thread during the war. In Part 2 of "Dangers at Sea," eyewitnesses share their stories of peril and survival.

"My part was much greater"

Berend van Bon (1917-2021) sailed as a mate for Shell when World War II broke out. His tanker was hit in a Japanese air raid and caught fire. He recounts it as if it were yesterday.

The seafaring life of Arie Nijgh

Arie Nijgh (grandfather of our board chair Hubert Nijgh) from Katwijk sailed on the MS DEMPO. Under the compulsory service order, this passenger ship had to transport troops under constant threat from of enemy attack (see also the video below). Only after 68 (!) months at sea did Arie return home. Like most merchant navy veterans, he didn't speak a word about the turbulent war years. His grandson did his research.

History in motion

The passenger ship DEMPO of the Rotterdamsche Lloyd was converted into a troop transport ship. The video shows footage of the ship en route for Operation Torch, the liberation of North Africa. The ms DEMPO sailed in the first assault wave. Video from the Netherlands Institute for Military History from the series 'The merchant navy in the war 1940-1946'.

Video from the Netherlands Institute for Military History from the series 'The merchant navy in the war 1940-1946'.

Video from the Netherlands Institute for Military History from the series 'The merchant navy in the war 1940-1946'

Merchant navy

Commemorations

Lines to the past

Stories keep history alive, so we do not forget

Stories from the past

Compulsory Service for Queen and Country

Merchant navy families in wartime

Dangers at sea: the merchant navy in WWII

Dangers at sea: part 2

"My part was much greater"

The seafaring life of Arie Nijgh

History in motion

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