Goslar (ship)

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Goslar II.JPG
Goslar in the Suriname River
History
NameGoslar
OwnerNorddeutscher Lloyd
Port of registryNazi Germany Bremen
BuilderBlohm & Voss, Hamburg
Launched3 October 1929
In service30 November 1929
FateScuttled 10 May 1940
General characteristics
TypeTurbine Steamboat
Tonnage6,040 GRT
Length143.25 metres
Crew64

Goslar is a German turbine steamboat, and was in service as a freighter. She was built in 1929 in Hamburg. On 5 September 1939, she surrendered in Suriname. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the ship was scuttled by her crew.[1] Attempts to remove the wreck in 1955 failed, and has resulted in the ship breaking in two parts.[2]

History[]

The ship was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg in 1929 for the Norddeutscher Lloyd.[3]

On August 24, 1939, the ship had left Galveston in the United States.[3] On 3 September, Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany.[4] Captain Berkhoff did not want to continue his journey to Europe, and wanted to surrendered his ship to a neutral country.[1] On 5 September, Goslar entered the Suriname River under American flag.[3] Berkhoff and his crew asked for asylum.[3] A large part of the crew were Chinese citizens who were returned to their home country, leaving only the German crew[5] of 15 people.[1]

On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the police were ordered to intern all Germans in the colony. The crew of Goslar did not want the ship to be confiscated, therefore, they moved the coal to one side, and blew a hole in the ship's bottom, causing Goslar to sink.[1] The crew was arrested, and were briefly interned at Fort Zeelandia in Paramaribo, before being sent to the Copieweg internment camp where they spent the rest of the war.[6][7][5] By 11 May, the ship was on her side, however she caused no obstruction to the river traffic.[8] On 15 May, Nicolaas van Beek, the police commissioner in charge, was suspended.[8] In 1944, the freighter Juno carrying bauxite collided with Goslar.[2]

Salvage attempts[]

2017 news story about the 2016 plans (partially in English)

Attempts to remove the wreck in 1955 failed, and resulted in the ship breaking in two parts.[2] In 1965, Salzgitter AG tried to salvage the ship, but to no avail.[9] In 2016, Sediba NV offered to salvage the ship for free in order to make a two hour documentary, however those plans have not come to fruition either.[10]

Escape attempt[]

In Augustus 1941, Boyksen and Scharfenberg, two crew members, and Schubert (the former owner of the Beekhuizen plantation) attempted escape from Copieweg.[11] They planned to go to French Guiana which was allied with Germany at the time. They had stolen a canoe, and on September 7, 1941, managed to reach the Marowijne River which forms the border with French Guiana, however they were spotted by Soea who gathered an armed group, and captured the three Germans.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e "DE GOSLAR". Don Sandro (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Boekrecensie: De Goslar-affaire – Parbode Sneak Peek". Parbode (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d E. van Laar and W.L. Man A Hing. "De roemloze ondergang van het stoomschip 'Goslar' part 1". Werkgroep Caraibische Letteren (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Britain and France declare war on Germany". The History Channel. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b E. van Laar and W.L. Man A Hing. "De roemloze ondergang van het stoomschip 'Goslar' part 2". Werkgroep Caraibische Letteren (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  6. ^ Captain, Esther (2010). "De interneringen in Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen". Oorlogserfgoed overzee : de erfenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Aruba, Curaçao, Indonesië en Suriname (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Bakker. ISBN 9789035135840.
  7. ^ van der Horst, Liesbeth (2004). Wereldoorlog in de West : Suriname, de Nederlandse Antillen en Aruba, 1940-1945 (in Dutch). Hilversum: Verloren. pp. 69–74. ISBN 9789065507945.
  8. ^ a b E. van Laar and W.L. Man A Hing. "De roemloze ondergang van het stoomschip 'Goslar' part 3". Werkgroep Caraibische Letteren (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  9. ^ E. van Laar and W.L. Man A Hing. "De roemloze ondergang van het stoomschip 'Goslar' part 4". Werkgroep Caraibische Letteren (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Documentaire over de berging van de Goslar". Waterkant (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Drie geïnterneerden ontsnapt". De West (in Dutch). Paramaribo. August 27, 1941.

Bibliography[]

  • Nizaar Makdoembaks (2017). De Goslar-affaire (in Dutch). Zierikzee: De Woordenwinkel. ISBN 978-90-76286-28-0.

Coordinates: 5°49′05″N 55°09′32″W / 5.81808°N 55.15900°W / 5.81808; -55.15900

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