Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (HAL?)

[Shiraz49]

In the process of trying to translate my grandparents travel diary of their round the world voyage onboard "MS Johan van Oldenbarnevelt" back in 1960 (they stopped over to visit us in Australia for around 2 months). Translation will be difficult both in understanding his writing and my limited german language skills.

 

At the time it was part of the what is now HAL fleet (I think) before being sold to a geek shipping company and sadly catching fire with the loss of 100 lives (may they RIP).

 

Just wondering if there are deck plans of the ship from around that period (1960's), they had stateroom 69on the outward leg of their voyage and stateroom 20 on the homeward leg.

Any info of that period appreciated,

Cheers Tom

 

 

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[rkacruiser]

16 hours ago, Shiraz49 said:

In the process of trying to translate my grandparents travel diary of their round the world voyage onboard "MS Johan van Oldenbarnevelt" back in 1960 (they stopped over to visit us in Australia for around 2 months). Translation will be difficult both in understanding his writing and my limited german language skills.

 

At the time it was part of the what is now HAL fleet (I think) before being sold to a geek shipping company and sadly catching fire with the loss of 100 lives (may they RIP).

 

Just wondering if there are deck plans of the ship from around that period (1960's), they had stateroom 69on the outward leg of their voyage and stateroom 20 on the homeward leg.

Any info of that period appreciated,

Cheers Tom

 

 

262DC7C1-BF05-429C-A624-6FF8F5E36053_1_201_a.heic 1.92 MB · 0 downloads

 

You have quite a challenge ahead of you!  I would give your Grandparents an "A" in penmanship, though.  The handwriting appears much more readable than many I have seen, including my own.

 

As to the deck plans, I suggest that contacts with maritime memorabilia dealers might unearth a deck plan of the ship.  Posting your request on the HAL Message Board may also be productive.  Good luck to you!  

[norboy76]

Info and history on this ship: Hope that helps. I have a postcard and playing cards for the line showing her. I also have a postcard as the Lakonia. So she started with the Nederland Line, then chartered to Holland America, then went back to the Nederland Line, then sold to the Greek Line

 

The 19,787 grt, 609.2-ft steamship Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was built in 1929 by Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij, Amsterdam for the Nederland Line. She had accommodation for 338-1st, 281-2nd and 64-3rd class passengers. The ship was chartered to Holland America Line in the summer 1939 and from 1940 - 1945 she was used as an Allied troopship. After the war she returned to the Nederland Line and refitted as a one class vessel. In 1958-59 she was rebuilt at Amsterdam to 20,314 tons and the result was an increase of accommodations to 1,210 one-class passengers.

In March 1963 she was sold to the Greek Line and renamed Lakonia and offered a popular service from Southampton to the Canary Islands. She departed on her first voyage as Lakonia on April 24, 1963. On December 19th, she departed Southampton carrying 646 passengers and 376 crewmen on board for an 11 day Christmas Cruise of the Canary Islands; on the night of the 22^nd. the southbound Lakonia met with disaster. At around 11:00 p.m., 200 miles NNE of Madeira, a steward noticed thick smoke seeping under the door of the ship's hairdressing salon. Upon opening the door, he found the room completely ablaze, and the fire rushed into the hallway. An attempt to fight the flames with fire extinguishers proved to be futile; the flames spreading too fast to be contained and soon had over taken the ship. A total of 128 people died in the Lakonia disaster, of which 95 were passengers and 33 were crew members. 53 people were killed in the actual fire. The rest died from exposure, drowning and injuries sustained while diving overboard. The hulk was taken in tow but she sank on December 29, 1963, 250 miles SW of Gibraltar.

Edited July 29, 2022 by norboy76
updated info

[Shiraz49]

Thanks for your feedback rkccruiser & norboy76, much appreciated.

Would be easier if my German where better, surprising how quickly language skills come back .... managed quite well on a return to Germany after an absence of 65 years, reading however is a bit more difficult.

Just another couple of extracts .... haven't worked out what the Florida/Cuba coast implications are, the other is his representation on roasting a pig in a fire pit (referred to as a hangi in Aust/NZ).

 

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[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, Shiraz49 said:

haven't worked out what the Florida/Cuba coast implications are, the other is his representation on roasting a pig in a fire pit (referred to as a hangi in Aust/NZ).

 

 

I will make a guess that the Florida/Cuba implications have something to do with the distance from Port Everglades and whatever the site is in the middle of Florida.  Maybe Orlando?  If so, why?      As to the hangi description, maybe this was something that he attended on an island during the cruise?  But, something like that is not what I would ordinarily associate with a Caribbean island.