The Singapore Dock and how maritime history was made.

In 1925 the British Admiralty gave the order to shipyard company "Swan, Hunter an Richardson" in Wallsend on Tyne to build a gigantic dock meant for the British Navy in Singapore who had their base there because the British regarded Singapore as the ‘key to the Far East’.

The shipyard company knew that, they would have to tender the job for the docks shipment to a specialist company. They contacted Dutch towage company "L.Smit &Co’s International" and asked for a quotation. They knew that if Smit could not handle it, the whole project would go back on the shelf.

Smit, responded positively. However they informed the shipyard company that the dock (855feet in length) had to be towed in two parts. Moving it 8500 miles to its destination in one piece would simply be impossible given the weather conditions en route and the difficulties to handle the gigantic structure through the Suez-Canal.

On January 1st 1927 the Admiralty awarded the tender to Smit. The decision was not without controversy – as even Parliament questioned why ‘foreigners’ would do the job of transporting this national object.

The Ministry responsible for the project countered all criticism with the simple argument that in England there were not enough large towing vessels available for the job. With that, the discussion subsided and preparations for the big project got under way.

As Smit planned to tow each part of the dock with four vessels, they were confronted with the problem that they could not use all of their own ships as the company had already other commitments with regular customers. To solve that, they were able to buy over four vessels from their Dutch rival Wijsmuller who was in difficulties at that time. With that sorted out, Smit had special ‘manilla ropes’ made that would be used to tow the 2 dock parts to its destination. The ropes had a diameter of approximately 50 cm, a length of almost 300 meters and weighed up to 3700 kgs each.

Smit finalised the preparations and on a June morning of 1928 the vessels Humber, Java Zee, Oostzee (III,) Zwarte Zee (II ), Witte Zee, Indus, Schelde (III) ,‘Roode Zee (II), left the harbour of Maassluis for England to pick up the two dock sections and ship them in 120 days to Singapore. A journey that would take them from England to Gibraltar, Algiers, Malta, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Colombo and finally Singapore.

After carefully towing the two parts through the Suez-Canal, the transport was forced to wait in Aden as bad weather was reported further down the route. Only after two weeks the journey to Singapore could be continued. It was there on October 12th and 15th that both parts finally arrived and under supervision of the British Admiralty the dock was brought to the harbor of Singapore.

Newspapers reported extensively about the arrival of the gigantic structure and the men who did the job as the transport was regarded as one of the most historic maritime accomplishments of that time.

Not only were the newspapers interested in this but also the Dutch Community living in Singapore. And they celebrated! Where else but at the Hollandse Club!

After a tour through the city and a speech by the Dutch Consul-General, both crews were invited to enjoy cold beers and cigars whilst the Captains and officers were offered a dinner at the club’s premises.

Four days later all vessels left Singapore, either back home or to their next assignment.

More detailed information about this and other historic maritime shipments can be found at www.zeesleepvaart.com

Do you have memories, stories or pictures about the Hollandse Club in Singapore?

Please mail them to hollandseclub_heritage@yahoo.com.sg

Andrew Baartscheer

Heritage Committee

Hollandse Club

Singapore

Source: The Magazine – Hollandse Club

http://www.hollanseclub.org.sg