SHIPS HIT NETHERLANDS 30 - DUTCH SHIPS LOST/DAMAGED/CAPTURED
30)ZAANDAM U-174
Photo. www.photoship.co.uk
Built: 1939
Tonnage: 10,909 / 10,150 tons
Cargo: 7,000 tons Copper and Chrome ore, 600 tons general cargo
Route: Beira - Capetown - New York
Sunk 2 NOV 42 by U-174 on pos 01º25'N 36º22'W
135 Dead
164 Survivors
Laid down as Schiedam, completed in January 1939 as Zaandam
At 18.17 hours on 2 November 1942 the unescorted Zaandam (Master Jacob Matthias Stamperius) was hit on the port side in the engine room by one torpedo from U-174 about 300 miles north of Cape Sao Roque, Brazil. At 18.28 hours, a coup de grâce hit on the port side between #2 and #3 holds and caused the ship to sink by the bow within two minutes. The ship carried 112 crew members, 18 armed guards and 169 passengers, mostly crew members and armed guards of the Coloradan, Examelia, Chickasaw City, Swiftsure and Firethorn. The survivors abandoned ship in three lifeboats and two rafts and were questioned by the Germans.
On 7 November, 106 men in two lifeboats were picked up by the Gulfstate, but two of them died of injuries and a third later died ashore after he was transferred with three other badly wounded survivors toUSS Winslow (DD 359) one day after being rescued and landed at Belem, Brazil. On 10 November, a leaking lifeboat with 60 survivors made landfall near Barreirinhas, Brazil where two men died of exposure and were later buried there. Three survivors on a raft were picked up on 24 January 1943 after being 83 days (!) adrift by USS PC-576, which was escorting convoy TB-3 from Trinidad to Brazil. They were fed with liquid food for two days and landed at Pernambuco, where they spent six weeks in hospital. The master, 55 crew members, ten armed guards and 69 passengers were lost.
By Zaandam (Dutch Motor passenger ship) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net
83 DAYS ON A RAFT MS ZAANDAM SURVIVORS
A raft with 16 survivors aboard, unseen by the 3 lifeboats, was still floating in the area of the sinking. One of the 16 men, Cornelius Van Der Sloat, a 40-year-old Oiler from the Zaandam, sighted another raft empty of people. As the raft he was on was overcrowded, he jumped overboard and swam to the empty raft. Within the next two hours he was joined by three other survivors.
They were Ensign James Maddox, the 30-year-old Officer in charge of the Zaandam Armed Guard contingent.; George Beezely, a U.S. Navy Armed Guard from the SS Examelia; and Nicko Hoogendam, a 17-year-old A.B. from the M. V. Firethorn Basil Izzi, a 20-year-old U.S. Navy Armed Guard stationed aboard the Zaandam, had jumped overboard after the 2nd torpedo struck.
He had been clinging to various pieces of wreckage for nearly two days. Near the end of the 2nd day he spotted a raft with 4 men aboard. He swam to the raft and was pulled aboard. This made a total of five men on the raft. On the 60th day, Beezley became ill. In spite of the good care of the others he died on the 66th day. He was buried at sea with Ensign Maddox conducting the service. On the 73rd day, Maddox became ill and died. As the days passed, the situation became critical for the three survivors. On the 83rd day they heard the noise of an airplane engine.
The plane was seen but it disappeared later. At this time they lost hope that they had been seen. But on the next day, the 83rd, smoke was seen on the horizon. Soon a convoy was seen escorted by Navy ships. On board of one of the escorts, the PC 576, the raft was spotted by a lookout, Seaman 3c B. DeWitte. Soon the PC 576 was alongside the raft and took the 3 survivors aboard.
Van Der Sloat was the only one who could still stand and walk. They were fed liquid food for 2 days. They were landed at Pernambuco, Brazil where they spent 6 weeks in a hospital. They were then flown to Miami and then to the U.S. Navy hospital in Bethesda where they fully recovered. For having spotted the raft, Seaman DeWitte was promoted to S1c.
Aerial view of the village of Barreirinhas. A desert landscape.
The boats #1 and #4 containing 106 survivors were picked up at 10h00 on 07/November by the US steam tanker Gulfstate (2 died later aboard). 4 badly wounded survivors were transferred to USS Winslow (DD 359) on the next day and were landed at Belem, Brazil. The damaged Boat #2 containing 60 survivors landed on 10/November near the town of Barreirinhas, state of Maranhão, Brazil where two men died of exposure and were later buried there.
A raft with 3 men (one from Firethorn and two from Zaandam) aboard was found after 84 days (!) by USS PC 576, one of the escorts of a convoy. They were fed with liquid food for 2 days and landed at Recife, where they spent 6 weeks in naval hospital. The Dutch master J.P. Wepster was lost with his ship. The picture below shows the miserable conditions the survivors were found.
Picture by www.arendnet.com
