Captain Gerhardus Vis

Johanes van de Vijver was born on 14 May September 1934 in the town of Breda in the south of the Netherlands. His father was Klaas van de Vijver and worked for the Dutch Railways. His mothers name was Bastina van der Pijl.

 

He was taken in by the Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart in Amsterdam on 05 September 1934 and at that time living in Haarlam at “van Zeggelenplein 68”. (The house still exists)

His records shows that he was enrolled in the two year course where he was a good pupil with average marks. In July 1936 he joined for his cadet period The “Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland” (SMN) or Netherland line on the service Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies. On 18 March 1938 he returns to the Kweekschool and passes for his 3rd Mates license on 02 april 1938. He is then discharged from the school with VERY to EXCELLENT results.

The ss Poelau Roebiah of the Netherland Line. She and her sisters had been designed with a large capacity of deck passengers for the Hajih trade  to Mecca.

Chief Officer with the Holland America Line in the 1950’s  and was later promoted to Captain. Sofar I have only been able to trace one short voyage as a captain on the ss akkrumdyk.

The ss akkrumdyk was one of a seies of 10 A class cargo ships, all Victories, which the company bought in rapid succession after the 2nd world war.

Not much of him is known yet (lack of records) but he lived in Amsterdam (Leiduinstraat 43) in the 1950.

Sailing List:

Date:                               Function            Ship                              Wage/Remarks.

29 Jul. 1936                 Cadet                  Saleier (SMN)         Until 22 April 1937

14 May 1937               Cadet                   Poelau Roebiah (SMN)  Until 08 Aug. 1937

11 Aug. 1937                 Cadet                 Poelah Roebiah  (SMN) Until 22 August 1937

GAP.

18 Mar. 1953              Captain              Akkrumdyk              two coastal voyages until 30 March

GAP.

21 Jan. 1955                Chief Officer    Nieuw Amsterdam

End of Records.

Sources:

(a) Compartimenten book Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart as kept by the Archivdes of the City of Rotterdam.

(b) Company Fleet records as kept by the Municpal archvis of the City  of Rotterdam

(c) Captain Albert’s Voyage database and photo collection.

Last updated: 25 January 2025.