Page 22 - Willem Barentsz

End of Dutch whaling.

In 1964 it was decided to stop whaling. The fishing rights for the next season were sold to Japan.
Because the fishing rights were attached to the ship, it was sold pro forma. She spent another year in
the port of Amsterdam under the Japanese flag. In mid-1965, the Dutch flag was hoisted again.
Attempts to use the ship as a factory ship for fishing from the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe
failed. In South Africa there was still a possibility and so the ship went to South Africa as a floating
factory for fishmeal and fish oil.

On October 27, 1965, exactly the day on which the first "Willem Barendsz" left for the South for the
first time, the Dutch flag was lowered. Dutch whaling had become history. Many today will ask, "How
could one do this kind of work?" I can imagine that question now. At the beginning of this story I
already said that its purpose was to provide the starving Dutch population with fats. Fortunately, both
the purpose and the standards have shifted since that time. Perhaps what applied to the real Willem
Barendsz may also apply here:

"They did not count the outcome,
But count the goal alone"

Gerard Boonstra.

Sources:

Oud Roest nr 13 2001 Oud Roest 48 2013 (Foundation for Historical Material Radio Holland)

The Dutch Whaling Company by W.J.J. Boot
De eerste Walvisvaart van de “Willem Barendsz”. Dr. A. Melchior.

Intercom Volume 12 No. 8 December 1986 and Volume 13 No. 1 February 1987. (Staff magazine
Scheveningenradio/PCH)

Notes:

Gerard Boonstra was a colleague at Scheveningen Radio. He was already retired at the time but was
an on-call worker to fill leave and holidays for the permanent employees. After Radio Holland, Gerard
worked for years at the Dutch Fisheries Research.

As a child I sometimes saw the Willem Barendsz in Amsterdam during the summer. Later when I was
R/O on the Loppersum/PFQI I saw the Willem Barendsz in Cape Town in 1973. Our 1st mate had also
sailed on the Willem Barendsz and after calling the Willem Barendsz it turned out that there were still
a few acquaintances of his on board. Under the South African flag, some of the Dutch had continued
to sail on the WB. The Loppersum also belonged to Vinke & Co. At that time the Willem Barendsz had
just been sold to South Korea and was going to leave the next day.

In 1974 I saw the then sold Willem Barendsz in Busan, South Korea, when I was sailing on the Happy
Pioneer/5LYG. The ship then sailed under the South Korean flag.

Wikipedia:

QUOTE

In 1973, the ship was sold to Korea Wonyang Fisheries Co Ltd in Busan, South Korea, and renamed Yu
Sin (officially: Yu Sin Ho, reform ship). It was converted into a fishmeal processing ship. On May 5,