JOHANNESBURG 1949 – 1950
I was
transferred from Cape Town to Johannesburg to run the passage department for
Holland Afrika Lijn ships. We also handled Dutch Government emigrant ships
Groote Beer, Waterman and Zuiderkruis which called regularly because the
Government was actively stimulating migration especially to South Africa,
Australia and Canada. The above ships were converted Victory ships and could
carry up to 800 passengers. Returning to Europe about 400 berths were sold in
less crowded configuration..
In addition
we, the Johannesburg office, were agents for R.I.L. (Royal Interocean Lines)
passenger ships cruising to the Far East and South America, Christensen
Canadian African Lines to East coast Canada with freighters (12
passengers) and last but not least:
K.L.M. although when I arrived they had just opened their own office.
Financially
South Africa had done quite well out of the war and the demand for passages to
Europe was very strong. In fact demand
exceeded supply.
In those days
junior staff travelled by train. 24 hours Cape Town/ Johannesburg, quite
comfortable. The Company had put me up at the Young Men’s Christian Association
because my predecessor, Willem Postma, stayed there. He got a job with one of
our big exporters at double the pay and half the hours.
At the Y.M. I
met a Dutchman about my age, Karl Tulp, who played hockey. So I joined in. It
was the first time for me to play a
sport after leaving the HBS in 1946. Had
only played hockey at school. I was nor became very good at it but we did enjoy
ourselves on Sunday mornings playing all over Johannesburg and the once a week
training session. Wanderers ? Some
Jewish club with excellent facilities, Northcliff? Then the Japies from the mines in Benoni
& Krugersdorp ? Bit rough but good fun.
In those days in South Africa no competitive
sports were allowed to be played on Sunday, compliments of the Dutch Reformed
Church. As hockey was not considered a real sport like Rugby, we were allowed
to play league matches on the Sabbath!
Karl and I
got on so well that we decided to share digs. Jansen/Tulp in the Young Men’s
Christian Association!. We only went to church for weddings! Other people’s!
I had stayed
very comfortably with private people in Cape Town and after an advertisement in
the local press we got a room in Auckland Park. Dreadful red brick house but
the lady of the house did her best to make us comfortable. Also had a younger
son.
After a short
while, we decided we wanted to be closer to town and also have a bit more
privacy. So we moved to a small unit in Joubert Park, walking distance to the
office in the centre of Johannesburg, Loveday Street opposite the Rand Club!
Karl used to come to my office after work and
together with Dick van der Griendt, the cargo canvasser in the office; we spent
many an evening having the odd glass of Castle Lager and brandy/ginger ales and
plenty of laughs because Dick was a great character.
He came to
South Africa via the Willem Barendsz, a Dutch whaler which went on expeditions
to the Antarctic to supplement the shortage of food in Holland. The W.B. called
at Cape Town on the way South and North and our Dikkie decided he liked what he
saw. Especially on the beaches over weekends!
He went to
the H.A.L. office which was close to the docks. Although they were completely
different types, our Manager. Henstra, took a liking to him. Perhaps because
the majority of staff where old dickheads who had survived the war in South
Africa and did not have much commercial instinct.
So Dick was
sent to Johannesburg where the bulk of our heavy cargo was generated by the
Mining Houses. He took over from a chap Haakman, ex Purser who had found
greener pastures in a travel agency. Dick was good-looking, raconteur
extra-ordinaire and the girls swooned over him! Real salesman. Laugh!!!
The Manager
was Mijnheer Dirk Gnodde. Arrived
promptly 9 o'clock every morning (never earlier or later) donned his small hat
to the ladies on the staff, murmured “Good Morning” not to be seen again when
he left at 12.30 for lunch at the Rand Club, handily opposite the office in
Loveday street. The tips he got there from his broker mates probably made him a
lot more money than his job. Mrs Gnodde was a local girl. Very nice and so were
their son and daughter.
Promptly back
at 2 he left exactly at 5 wishing us all a pleasant evening. Never said boo or
baa. Ideal Manager for people like me who likes to be left alone. We worked on Saturdays.
He didn’t. Wise man! But make no mistake he knew a lot of people and, more
importantly, they knew him.
The other
expatriate was Herman Huyskamp. Son of the Europe "aquisiteur" of the
Holland Afrika Lijn in Amsterdam. Old man H. was a close friend of the two
Dutch directors Mook and Pelt. I think they all lived close together in Bussum!
Herman's father was a real Bon-Vivant who wore gaiters or spats in Wintertime
and mixed up his Dutch with lots French
and German words. Always made quite an entrance in the Amsterdam office. Must
have been a cosy job after the war with shipping space at a premium. Come to
think of it he probably had more money than the Directors because he had
unlimited foreign exchange which was extremely scarce in 1947. Suspicious mind!
Herman went
to a very good Swiss high school and was fluent in German and Schweitzer
Deutsch! Like his old man quite an actor who gave us plenty of laughs. Mean as
hell too. Normally smoked a pipe which was a real stinker because he used
mattress filling! Dog mattresses! Smoked O.P. cigarettes -“Other People’s”, a
well known disease in those meagre years - especially mine! But he was a great
guy, who also told good stories and had us in stitches many times. Laughed
loudest himself!
Herman did have
a rough time financially. He left Holland for South Africa shortly after me,
duly engaged to a beautiful Dutch girl from the circle of the wealthy friends
of Herman’s parents. On the ship coming out Herman met the love of his life:
Tina. She was indeed a true beauty and extremely nice girl and he promptly
wrote a Dear Greet (or whatever she was called) letter.
But the
parents and close friends (Holland Africa Directors) decided that Herman should
have asked their permission to marry so shortly after his arrival. Our
contracts in fact stipulated that. As punishment they did not pay him a
marriage allowance. Although only £ 10.- or so on a stipend of £ 40 this did
make a difference. Tina was a librarian.
I remember because my girlfriend in Holland was as well.
Herman
married Tina and they lived with her parents in Germiston about 25 miles
outside Johannesburg. I went to their wedding which was a very pleasant affair.
Remained good friends for the rest of our lives. In 2001 Herman suddenly passed
away whilst living comfortable, retired, in Stellenbosch, South Africa
One day on
Tina’s birthday, he had bought a large box of brandy schnapps, a Swiss delicacy
made by a German pattisier. Remember Herman spoke fluent German! He was not
mean, More like Scrooch in the Dickens story. So, the box remained tightly
closed during out tea break. Herman left at 5 sharp to join the festivities in
time whilst Dick and I worked on until Karel Tulp came at 6. Herman had to make
an hour’s bus trip to his house. So……..when we saw the schnapps box still in
the office we reckoned he would get home by six and most unlikely travel
another two hours back to the office.
So, mentally
wishing Tina a happy birthday we polished off the delicacies! When Herman came
to the office the next morning his face was not happy! “Where are the
brandy-schnapps, Jansen!” The only consolation for Herman was that the overdose
of the fairly heavy delicacies had affected our stomachs and kept us awake most
of the night!
I spent a
year and a half in Johannesburg in which we did a hell of a lot of things. Karl
bought an old 1932 Austin Ten. Quite a spacious car. Overhauled the engine
himself putting in new rings and bearings and although he hardly had any tools
it went very well. Crash gear box. Only trouble was: no brakes! We used to pile
ten hockey players into the things and roared all over the place. Panic
stations at stoplights which in accordance with Murphy’s law went red just
before we came to them! Two fellow in the back pulling the handbrake and Tulp
standing on the footbrake for all he was worth!
From Joubert
Park we went to house warm the villa of Karl’s boss Mr Hall. Charming people
and a beautiful house. Lived it up a bit with plenty of servants. Then we split
again when I went to stay at Orange
Grove with Dick. Small house in the garden of an architect Breedveld who used to work for Philips. In
fact he said he designed their logo which lasted for many years. Nice People
but I was not all that happy staying with Dick who used to bring home some
trolls and we actually slept in the very large lounge of the unit, so I could
hear what went on !
So I
advertised again for the Dutch gentleman who was looking for digs with rich
private people. It worked again. I got fantastic accommodation with some old people in Houghton. Ex mining
engineer. Huge room with a bathroom like a swimming pool. And a granddaughter
Geraldine. The hottest bit of crumpet South of the equator. Nice girl !
As stand-by
for the odd dinner I used to take out my secretary Toos Veerman. About 4 years
older than I but she was also very nice. Good secretary as well. I think she
ultimately married some Portuguese chap but I lost touch.
Karl and I
made a trip round South Africa. Durban East London Port Elizabeth Cape Town and
back through the Karroo. In my old 1935 Humber. Lots of space but maximum 50
miles per hour. It got us there. In Durban we stayed with relatives of Karl and
in the Transkei we slept under a bridge near a river. You would not do that
today. I remember names like Qumbu, Umtata and Idutywa.
In Cape town
we stayed with my ex landlady Mrs Plantinga (Poppy).
I also went
to the Kruger Park with Karl in his Dodge. K. had come on in the world and
worked as sales rep with Hall Longmore in Krugersdorp. Makers of large steel
pipes/tubes.
My stay in
Johannesburg was especially pleasant thanks to a bevy of beautiful, eager girls
over and above the earlier mentioned Geraldine and Toosje. Nice selection!
Maureen Tyson who drove her father's Buick straight 8 1948 model with great
verve. Great girl but she had so much Hydrogen Peroxide in her hair that it
felt like barbed wire. Anyhow, it wasn't always her hair I was after.
We used to go
out dancing at High Cliff North, a great place on a cliff overlooking the
suburbs. Maureen Tyson had a girl friend Pat Nicholson. Her father was an
Englishman. Brewer, nice people, great girl as well. Regrettably I only found
out a bit late just before I left for P.E.!
One of our
other pleasures was Sunday supper with the Kamps family. He was Bruynzeel rep
and his goal was to have large posters on every building site in the Rand to
advertise they were using Bruynzeel doors. He just about succeeded! They had
six or seven children so two more mouths to feed on a Sunday was no problem !
His wife was a petit woman whilst Kamps was an ox of a man. Booming voice but
always in a good mood and ready to listen to our bachelor stories!
In December,
1950 I was suddenly transferred to Port Elizabeth and promoted to No. 2 in the
newly opened Holland Africa Line office in Jety street next to the P.E. icon,
the Campanile tower. I was sorry to
leave Johannesburg because of the friends I had made. Three of my lady friends
were at the station and Geraldine with her long legs ran all the way to the end
of the platform waving and blowing kisses. She nearly ran off the platform but
managed to stop at the last moment! Poor girl!
But for me a
new world opened in P.E. More some other time!
Anton Jansen
December 2008
Wyoming NSW
Australia
!