My Aunt brought out a box with old photographs and soon we lost ourselves into the past..The pictures we found in the box had belonged to my Aunt's mother my grandmother, and of course my mother's mother. Before we knew it was time for us to hit the road again, back to Zandvoort. When we said our goodbye's my aunt said to Ruud;"'you can fix pictures, why do you not take the pictures with you" .So we put them in an large envelope and off we went back to Zandvoort.This was April and just a week ago Ruud said lets have a look at the pictures your Aunt Anneke gave us and I see what I can do with them. Now it is October and last night he gave me some of the pictures he had fixed up. One picture was of a grave. So I look at it and see the name Sietze Stenekes. Now my grandmother's maiden name was Stenekes, so I did not think much of it and thought this must be a brother of my Oma (grand mother). Than I am looking again at the picture, and I start to stare.This is what I am reading on his tomb; died serving his Fatherland on November 10, 1942. Than I see the place where he was buried and thought that this is one of those town's in the province of Friesland. Last night it was already 11 o'clock and I got curious. So I googled the name of the town: Barreirinhas, and his name Sietze Stenekes. Well I was in shock. I read that my Oma's (grandmother) had served on a ship the M.S.Zaandam and that my uncle had died when they were torpedoed by a Japanese submarine the U 174. Then I started to read the story and I got goose pimpels, and I like to share it with you.We never knew about this tragedy. People did not seem to talk about it. They got on with their lives and looked at the future. But Oh... how they must have hurt and feel the pain. I am glad that I found this story, so this legacy can live forever in our families and in the future generations. Rest in peace great-uncle Sietze.Not forgotten, your story will be told.
Barreirinhas is a place in Brasil.
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| Died serving his Fatherland on November,10 1942, in Barreirinhas. |
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| Rest in Peace. |
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| Barreirinhas where they finally stranded. |
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| This is Barreirinhas, it's what they must have seen. The beach they kissed. |
The History of the M.S."Zaandam" (1939-1942)
This is the book Destination New York. It's a reconstruction of a short but unbelievable tale of history of the ship "Zaandam" during WW2.
The book tells the extraordinary story of the captain, crew members and passengers of the Dutch passenger ship Zaandam of the Holland -America-Line9hal) in the beginning of World War Two.
In the fall of 1939 the Dutch vessels brought in more passengers, far above their regular capacities. Hundreds slept on mattresses in cabins and public rooms.This process brought to The Netherlands the first hot breath of the war and the newspaper publicity on the arrivals of the ships in the United States was tremendous.Movie stars, diplomats,prominent business men and even royalty, were forced to travel under makeshift conditions due to the overcrowding. Several ships were stopped at sea by fighting countries, some by German U-boats and other by British war ships.
On route to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
During the German invasion of The Netherlands on May 10,1940, the Zaandam was somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean on its way from New York to Cape Town with passengers and cargo. The final destination was Batavia (Djakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Captain Stamperius had received orders to bring his vessel in the New York-Java Line service. Far from home, but quite safe, ship and crew sailed the year that followed in the Pacific Ocean.On the ship was my great-uncle, sailor Sietze Stenekes.
Equipped with arms
The situation in the Pacific changed on December 7th, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. This attack was also the start of their military operations in South East Asia. It was the second major catastrophe for The Netherlands, because the Japanese were on their way to conquer the Dutch East Indies.
The day after Pearl Harbor was attacked; the Zaandam was almost ready to depart from San Francisco for Singapore with a hundred passengers and a full cargo.Sailing orders were cancelled and on the 14th the Dutch Government requisitioned the ship's services and transferred her to the Commandant of Sea Forces at Batavia.
This was the day that the first U-boat the 016 was lost and run on a mine. The submarine my uncle was on. The first casualty in our family, with more tragedies to come.
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| All men aboard died, but one. |
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| Tobias van Driel. |
On December 22 a bedraggled Dutch sailor was found by an Australian patrol, trudging toward Singapore in the helpless procession of native refugees fleeing the advancing Japanese. Brought to Naval headquarters, Cornelis de Wolf had an incredible story to tell.
He later visited my Aunt Eke van Driel-Sijtsma at her home in Soerabaya, and told her that her husband had not suffered. When the 016 ran on a mine the ship exploded and sank quickly .A very sad message to deliver to a women who was 4 months pregnant with her second child in the middle of all this chaos and the Japanese advancing to Java.Her husband gone, and one child who was going to have his 4th birthday in May when the baby was due, she was utterly lost. Thank goodness she had her sister, who had come from Bandoeng to be with her. Together they might come through all of this sadness and madness. They had no idea what was to come, and that they would be locked up for three and a half year by the Japanese. They survived, but the war would never leave them.
The "Zaandam" in the meantime sailed on December 26th, with her cargo, but during the delay, a four inch gun and two anti-aircraft guns were installed on board, as well as protection for the bridge and the radio room. Third officer Willem Broekhof was trained in San Francisco and became the gunnery-officer.Two sailors were trained as gunners. While on their way twelve more crew members were trained it turned out that this had been a wise decision,
The route was via New Zealand and the south of Australia to Oosthaven on Sumatra. In the meantime the Japanese
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