1917 - 1922 | Construction and Netherlands Steamship Company

NOTE: Some of this is identical to what is written on Wikipedia, as both were written by the author of this website, stardust5980 (aka celesteshipping5980).

Conception and Construction

- In 1916, the NV Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij 'Bestevaer' (C. Goudriaan & Co.), known in English as the Netherlands Steamship Company, recognised the unique trading conditions they had as a result of Dutch neutrality in World War One and were looking to take advantage of them. The director of the company thus placed an order with Waterhuizen-based shipyard Gebroeders Van Diepen for three auxiliary schooners, meaning they would each be fitted with an inboard 125-horsepower two-stroke diesel engine manufactured by the Machine Factory Steyaard & Jannette Walen, in Rotterdam, to supplement their complement of sail, enabling efficient, reliable operation as opposed to sail-only ships. The three ships would go on to be named De Lauwers, De Dollart, and De Wadden. The director of the Netherlands Steamship Company put a deed before a notary named C.A. Struik Dalm on December 23rd, 1916, which was then approved on February 27th, 1917 in compliance with article 44 of the Royal Decree of June 21st, 1836, declaring that the Netherlands Steamship Company was now the sole owner of the ship. On the same day, the director would apply to register the ship with the Lord Custodian of the Mortgage Certificates Office. On July 4th, 1917 she was officially delivered to the Netherlands Steamship Company and she was registered on July 10th, 1917, being given the official number 5797 AMST, and the callsign QBPS. Her yard number was 490, and she entered service in July 1917. The ship also has an IMO number, 5087352.

Her crew consisted of five men and a boy, and since she could sail a marine engineer was not required.

Measuring 251 gross tons, 190 net tons, and 335 deadweight tons, De Wadden was a small ship, sitting at 116 feet and 8 inches (35.58 meters) long, with a beam of 24 feet and 5 inches (7.44 meters), and a depth of 10 feet and 2 inches (3.10 meters). Her displacement totaled about 400 tons, and she had a single large cargo hold supplemented by two wide hatches, capable of carrying up to 335 tons. Her engine could propel her up to a speed of 5 or 8 knots, using her single, four-bladed screw.

Service

- One of her routes was known to run between Rotterdam to Bergen, advertised in March 1918. She left Rotterdam, bound for Bergen on March 16th, 1918,  stopping in at least Ijmuiden and Västervik on the way. Upon returning to Ijmuiden she was carrying a full load of sawn timber destined for Amsterdam. De Wadden managed to survive the war unscathed alongside De Lauwers, however, De Dollart would be sunk by German submarine U-82. 

A year after the war ended on December 22, 1919, while on a voyage from Rotterdam to London, she was assisted into Great Yarmouth with engine damage and a damaged anchor pillar. 

Sale

- De Wadden continued her Netherlands Steamship Company service until 1922 when after the war's shipping boom had calmed, she was no longer required by her owners. They put the ship up for sale that year, and on February 27th, 1922, the sale and transfer of the ship to a new owner was approved in compliance with article 12 of the Royal Decree of June 21st, 1836 by the same Mortgage Certificates Office that registered the ship five years before. With that, the ship now had a brand new owner, a man by the name of Richard Hall. For information on his tenure please see 1922-1961.[1][2][3][4][5]

References

1.   "First World War: Britain's surviving vessels". First World War: Britain’s surviving vessels. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

2.   "Stichting Maritiem Historische Data - Schip". www.marhisdata.nl. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

3.   "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

4.  "De Wadden | National Historic Ships". www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk.  Retrieved 2023-12-16.

5. https://shipinfo.net/find_vessel_DE%20WADDEN_IMO-5087352_MMSI-0 Retrieved 2024-01-06.

6. https://www.rtvnoord.nl/nieuws/1039728/sloop-dreigt-voor-stuk-groninger-scheepvaartgeschiedenis-dit-is-doodzonde Retrieved 2024-01-06.