Ted Polet books

WRITING IS FUN

Ted Polet

1970s SHIPPING NEWS

My ships and voyages

During the 1970s I obtained my Mate's ticket and sailed for Nedlloyd Lines, a Dutch shipping company. In those days Nedlloyd was a big company with at least 100 ships at sea, an amalgamation of the Nederland Line, the Rotterdam Lloyd and the United Dutch Shipping Company (Verenigde Nederlandse Scheepvaartmaatschappij, VNS).

There were a few smaller partner companies, and later even we absorbed the big Royal Interocean Lines company.

These were my ships:

  • mv. Oostkerk - June-December '73, Europe, Persian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, Mediterranean, Europe
  • mv. Nijkerk - January-June '74, Europa - Indonesia - Europe
  • mv. Spaarnekerk - July-August '74, Europe - South Africa - Europe
  • mv. Maaslloyd - July-October '75, Europe - Persian Gulf - Europe
  • mv. Amstelpark - December '75-July '76, Poland, Baltimore USA, Persian Gulf, Australia, Red Sea (flown home)
  • mv. Schielloyd - October-December '76, Europe - South Africa and Mozambique, Europe
  • mv. Nedlloyd Kyoto - September-October '77, Europe - Red Sea - Europe
  • mv. Nedlloyd Nile - December '77-May '78, Europe - West Africa (3 trips)

1973 - The trip in the mv Oostkerk

My first voyage in 1973 was bound for the Persian Gulf, which at the time hadn't yet been devastated by a bloody revolution and three wars in succession. We departed from Rotterdam, sailing to Hamburg and London before setting off to South Africa. The Suez Canal had been closed due to war damage since 1968, so we had to circumnavigate all of Africa. Read on...

More sea passages to follow...

 

     

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