Jochems, Anthony Bernardinus.

Captain Antonie Bernardinus Jochems was born on 26 January 1881 in the town of Vianen in the center of the Netherlands. He was normally called  “Toon” as a shortcut for Antonie.

His father was Gerrit Jochems, Salesman at Vianen and his mother was named Johanna Brentjes. She passed away on 12 November 1889 (age 51). His father remarried op 04 May 1893 with Wulf Quint (age 57) (b,e)

Jochems had a brother Gerrit Mattheus Jochems (1871 – 1923) a sister Elisabeth Pietronella Jochems (04 april 1874 – 1938), another brother Pieter Jochems (05 Feb. 1876 – 16 April 1877) and after this child died, the name then went to the next brother Pieter Jochems (23 April 1878 – 1926) (e)

In the memoirs of Capt. Pauw  there is a remark that there was a brother who was doctor for the Royal Netherlands Navy in Semarang (Dutch East Indies) and who would entertain Holland America  officers when they came to Semarang with their ships.

Thus there puzzle  of why Toon Jochems decided to go to sea.

Looking at all the “Jochems” in Vianen and how they shared for males & females the same names and/ or derivations of those names, it seems that this was a fairly close knit community who knew each other well.

There was Ruth Jochems (1808 – 1878), not direct family a far as is known now,  but part of this wider groups of relatives, all living in Vianen.  His fathers name was Anthony and he settled down as a teacher in the town of Tiel. He was also involved in teaching at the Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart in Amsterdam, although he had never been to sea and did not know anything about the sea either. He became the commander of the Kweekschool between 1840 and 1865. He then had to retire due to rheumatism caused by the dampness of his accomodation at the Kweekschool. (a)

The brother of Ruth was Dirk Bernardus Jochems (1823 – 1878). He enrolled  in the “Kweekschool” in 1836 when his brother was teacher there. He went to  sea from 1839 until after 1860. He was a captain in the days of the sailing ships and his last known command (in 1860) was the barque “Australia” that sailed from Amsterdam to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. This man had a son also called Dirk Bernadus     (09 July 1885 – 21 Sept. 1943), who joined the Royal Netherlands Navy as a doctor and dermatologist and was stationed in the Dutch East Indies. (d)

This must have been the man Capt. Paus wrote about. Not a brother but a nephew.

So Toon Jochems must have been influenced somehow by relatives and that must have made him choose the school and the career.

On 24 August 1896 Toon Jochems entered the “Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart” in Amsterdam for the 3 years course, which meant he did not have mathematics from a prior schooling. (Otherwise you could save one or two years). His scores were good all the way through the 3 years  especially in Gymnastics, Shooting and Weaponry (sword) handling.  On 16 July 1898 he received the 2nd prize for his Thesis “Practical Shipbuilding”.

On 31 August 1899 the school received confirmation that he had been accepted as cadet with the Holland America Line on board the ss Spaarndam (I). (Captain Stenger) for a wage of 10 Dutch Florins a month.  He returned to the “Kweekschool” on 17 September 1900 with a very good report.  On 14 December 1900 he passed his exam for 3rd mate with the notification for speaking 3 languages. On 17 December 1900 he wass dismissed from the Academy with an attest for very good behavior and a very good end report. (b)

On 21 December 1900 he returned to Holland America to advise the company that he had passed his 3rd mate license and is placed on board the ss Statendam (I) as fourth officer commencing on 2 January 1901.

He then remained engaged on the passenger ships until he is promoted on 19 October 1905 to acting 2nd officer on board the ss Soestdijk (I). From then onwards the regular promotion system kicks in with gaining seniority in each rank through ship rotation; ending up on the largest passenger ship in the current rank and then starting out again in the next rank on the smallest / oldest cargo ship.

On 29 October 1911 he is promoted to Captain of the ss Andijk (I).  A cargo only ship engaged in the service between Rotterdam and the ports of the American East coast.

In January 1918 he was sent to the Dutch East Indies to collect the German cargo ships “ss Gernis” which had laid been laid up un for the duration of the war and had been confiscated by the Dutch Government. They allocated the ship  to the Holland America Line to replace the sunken  ss Noorderdijk (I) (Torpedoed in Feb. 1917). the ship was renamed by the company to ss Noorderdijk (II).

As the British rejected the Dutch claim on this ship, Captain Jochems had to wait two years before he was allowed to sail, leaving the port of Padang  in February 1920. He arrived in Rotterdam on 26 June 1920. So he had been away from home for 2 years and 6 months. He was given 6 weeks of leave and then sailed with the Noorderdijk to India as part of the new service under the VNS banner. The voyage took seven months and he was back in Rotterdam on  07th. of April the next year.

After 14 days of leave his next voyage with the same ship was to Vancouver on the new West Coast service of the company. Normally the company put crew, after a long East Indies voyage, on the shorter North Atlantic trips. this was a 2 months duration so in between voyages the crew would have more time at home. But as Captain Jochems was not married, that did not seem to apply to him. Unless he had volunteered ofcourse.

On 28 February 1918 – He was awarded the Silver medal of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) for the quality of this weather observations and journal  keeping. The KNMI medals were normally issued in April or June but at that time Captain Jochems was still in the Dutch East Indies so the presentation must have taken place later.

By 1922 his seniority had advanced enough that he is given command of various passenger/cargo vessels and the small passenger ships such as the ss Edam (IV) and ss Spaarndam (II).

On 23 April 1923 he received the gold medal of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Society (KNMI)  for the quality of the meteo-journals kept by him and on his ships.

Then there is another citation in the newspapers for a medal in 1929, so maybe he got another one.

K.B. no. 20 van 1 maart 1929 – Gouden medaille
320, A.B. Jochems, gezagvoerder bij de Holland – Amerika Lijn. (bijlage blz 109). (This information comes from a Government website so maybe he got indeed a 3rd. medal)

On 01 January 1932 at the age of 50 years he is made redundant (together with several other HAL cargo captains)  due to the deepening worldwide depression which forced Holland America to lay up and scrap a large number of company ships.

During the depression Holland America operated a system for redundancy whereby  single men (such as the captain) were dismissed first, then men with no children, and if more were needed then those with the lowest seniority. Captain Jochems was not married and hence he was a prime candidate for the first wave of redundancies

Sofar it is unknown what he did after leaving the company. The family (d) is compling a family tree and tracing the various persons including Capt. Jochems, so hopefully we will be able to find what he did between 1932 and 1944.

It is known that he married on 04 December 1943 at The Hague with Maria Catharina Helena Koegler (Born 29 Jan. 1887 at The Hague) (e)

Captain Jochems passed away on 21 August 1944 at The Hague after a long illness.  He was cremated in the town of Velsen.

Sailing list:

Date:                    Function:                            Ship:                           Wages/remarks.

29 Aug. 1899      Cadet                                  Spaarndam                         10,–

19 Dec. 1899      Cadet                                  Werkendam                       10,–

18 Mar. 1900      Cadet                                  Spaarndam                         15,–

10 Sep.  1900      Temporary dismissed to go to school for 3^rd mate license. Passed on  13 December and reported back to the company on 21 Dec. 1900

22 Jan.  1901      4^th. Officer                         Statendam                         30,–

15 May 1901       Temporary dismissed

09 Jul.    1901      4^th. Officer                         Rotterdam                         30,–

12 Sep.  1900      4^th. Officer                         Maasdam                           30,–

10 Oct.  1900      4^th. Officer                         Rijndam                              30,–

09 Apr.  1901      4^th. Officer                         Potsdam                             30,–

01 Oct.  1902      3^rd. Officer                          Potsdam                             50,–

24 Feb.  1903      3^rd. Officer                          Statendam                         50,–

17 Dec. 1903      Temporary dismissed to go to school for 2^nd mates license passed 11 March. 1904.

05 Apr.  1904      Act. 2^nd Officer                  Noordam                            60,–

30 Aug. 1905      Temporary dismissed to go to school.

13 Sep.1905        Act. 2^nd Officer                  Rijndam                              60,–

19 Oct. 1905      Act. 2^nd Officer                  Soestdijk                             60,–

25 Apr.  1906      Act. 2^nd Officer                  Amsteldijk                          60,–

08 Jun.  1906      2^nd Officer                          Noordam                            60,–

11 July   1906      Temporary dismissed to go to school for 1 st mates license.

14 Nov. 1906      Did not pass exam.

03 Dec. 1906      2^nd Officer                           Potsdam                             60,–

07 Dec. 1907 Temporary dismissed to go to school for first mates license. Passed 11 Mar. 1908

18 Mar. 1908      2^nd officer                           Potsdam                             60,–

06 Aug. 1918      Act. Chief Officer              Amsteldijk                          90,–

17 Sep.  1908      2^nd Officer                           Statendam                         70,–

02 Jan. 1909      2^nd Officer                           Nieuw Amsterdam           70,–

01 Mar. 1909      2^nd Officer                          Potsdam                             70,–

19 Apr.  1909      Chief Officer                      Gorredijk                            100,-

23 Feb. 1910      Chief Officer                      Rijndam                              100,–

01 Jan. 1920      Due to wage review                                                          175,–

21 July   1911      Chief Officer                      Rotterdam                         190,–

29 Oct. 1911      Temporary promoted to Captain with the command over the Andijk

29 Oct. 1911      Captain                               Andijk                                  250,–

01 Jan.  1916      wage increase                                                                275,–

30 Jun.  1917      Temporary ashore for leave

21 Sep. 1917      Captain                               Andijk                                  275,-

28 Dec. 1917      Temporary ashore for leave

07 Jan. 1918      Captain                               Noorderdijk                       275,–

01 Aug. 1918      Wage increased  to                                                       325,–

01 Jul.    1919      Wage increased to                                                         675,–

01 Jan. 1920      Wage increased to                                                            700,–

15 Oct. 1920      Wage increased to                                                           725,–

16 Oct. 1921       Wage decrease to                                                            660,–

10 May  1922      Wage decrease to                                                            635,–

08 Nov. 1922     Captain                               Edam                                   635,–

26 Apr. 1923      Temporary ashore                                                         635,–

28 Aug. 1923      Captain                               Spaarndam                         635,–

14 Nov. 1923      Captain                               Veendam                            635,–    in Spain

02 Jan. 1924      Captain                               Kinderdijk                           635,–

03 Jun.  1924      Captain                               Maasdam                           635,–

14 Nov. 1924      Captain                              Drechtdijk                           635,–    at Antwerp.

26 Jul.    1925      Temporary ashore                                                         635,–

17 Aug. 1925      Captain                               Edam                                635,–

09 Nov. 1925      Captain                               Binnendijk                     635,–

01 Apr.  1926      Temporary ashore

07 May  1926      Captain                               Drechtdijk                     635,–

28 Dec. 1926      Temporary ashore

22 Jan. 1927      Captain                               Edam                                   635,–

01 Apr. 1927      Wage increased to                                                      655,–

01 Jan. 1929      Wage increased to                                                       675,–

07 Aug. 1929      Temporary ashore, regular leave

17 Oct. 1929      Captain                               Edam                                   675,–

01 Jan. 1930      Wage increased                                                             695,–

13 Sep.  1930      Temporary shore                                                         695,–

Sailed in 3 years:  2 years and 2 months

21 Apr.  1931      Captain                               Damsterdijk                  695,–

22 Nov. 1931      Wage decreased to                                                    556,–

03 Dec. 1931      Temporary ashore                                                       556,–

01 Jan. 1932      Dismissed and put on standby money.

Sources:

a. Stamboek and Mouvement boeken  from the Holland America Line archives as held by the Municipal archives of the City of Rotterdam.

b. Comportementen boeken of the Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart held by the City Archives of Amsterdam.

c. Author’s archive and photo colection.

d. Mrs. Pauline Oosterman (niece).

e. E.A. Kruidhof.

Last updated: 22 January 2025.