(1888
– 1967)
In
memory to my late father, retired KPM Captain Wim A. van Alebeek (Sr) who
served his country and his men so well and who was such a great example to me.
By that example, I learned to appreciate my colleagues so much better during my
14 years at sea with the KPM and RIL.
Before it all happened
Following the years 1580 and
thereafter, the main motivation of the Dutch was trading and establishing
trading posts. Holland had gained information from the Portuguese how to get to
East Asia around Cape of Good Hope and subsequently it established trading
posts at this Cape of Good Hope and East Asia to sustain and protect its trade.
The Dutch acquired trading posts initially from the Portuguese, the British,
French and the Danish etc.
During 1611 the VOC accepted the
recommendation of one their captains, Hendrik Brouwer, to reduce sailing time
by continuing an eastward course after rounding Cape of Good Hope until they reached
what they believed to be the longitude of Sunda Strait then follow a Northerly
course. This route would save time (about 3 weeks) and money compared to the
route along the East African coast. The eastward course had the benefit of
favourable strong westerly winds. In the absence of accurate chronometers in
those days, longitude was difficult to determine and most VOC captains
continued the easterly course until they spotted the coast of ‘The Great South
Land’ which they called ‘New Holland’.
In 1641 the Dutch took Malacca from
the Portuguese. Holland was also the only foreign trading nation allowed to
stay in Japan. 1652 the Dutch colonized the Cape of Good Hope with first
Governor General Jan van Riebeeck
1656 the Dutch took Colombo form the
Portuguese and in 1663 the whole of Ceylon and all Portuguese trading posts in
India, except Goa. Holland had gained complete control of the Moluccas.
1684 the British, already driven out
of Macassar, now also had to leave Bantam and retire to Bengkoelen on South
West coast of Sumatra. The VOC had become the most powerful political as well
as commercial force in Java which had become the political and trading centre
of the Indies. This remained pretty well the pattern for about another 100
years.
1780 the fourth Anglo-Dutch war broke
out which resulted in a great loss of Dutch merchant vessels. The Dutch trade
between the Indies and Holland came to a standstill. Trading stations in India
and West Coast Sumatra fell into British hands.
1784 the Treaty of Paris ended this
war. The Dutch monopoly system in the East ended and the British challenged the
trades in the Indies once more. This was the death blow for the VOC which was
eventually wound up on 31st Dec 1799.
However, in 1795 the French, under
Napoleon, over-ran Holland and the Dutch king Willem V fled to England - now
his ally against the French.
Whilst in exile in England, he ordered
to place all VOC’s possessions in British hands as a safeguard against French
capture after having received a solemn British pledge to return them to the
Dutch when peace was restored.
1796 Britain took control of the Dutch
colony of the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, all the Dutch posts in India, West
Coast Sumatra, Malacca, Ambon, Banda Islands and the rest of the Moluccas.
1802 the French left The Netherlands
and Dutch possessions except for Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon were returned to
the Dutch by the British. Unfortunately, in 1803 Napoleon escaped from Elba
where he was exiled and the whole Napoleonic turmoil started all over and
continued until this man was finally penned up in St Helena after his final
defeat at Waterloo in 1815.
1824 the British finally left the last
British outpost in the Indies to the Dutch who then could re-establish complete
Dutch supremacy over the entire Netherlands East Indies.
So, more than 200 turbulent years
after the Dutch first arrived in the Indies, they could at last develop the
full potential of their colony. Products such as rubber and quinine (from
Brazil), coffee, tea, sisal, sugar, palm oil, tobacco and other plantations
were developed. Coal, tin and above all: oil were
discovered. To progress the potential of the 13,400 islands in this area, a
good transport system was most necessary. In the mean time, shipping and world
trade were then undergoing a huge transformation following the advent of steam.
This was one of the events which led
to the formation of KPM.
K P M (in English:
Royal Packet Navigation Company)
This company was one of the most
fascinating shipping companies the world has ever seen.
Commencing
operations in 1891, with four small ships: the “Camphuys”, “De Carpentier, “van
Diemen” and the “Coen”.
Unlike other shipping companies who
operated solely for commercial reason - the KPM was formed for 3 purposes:
Naturally, KPM had a Government
contract spelling out the terms and conditions under which it had to carry out
these de facto government functions with benefits for both parties.
Other circumstances which made it
unique in the world of shipping:
How did the KPM develop
In the beginning of the 20th
century, shipping had to respond to the many demands of world trade. Europe’s
demand for: oil (for its newly invented combustion engine), rubber, copra and
palm oil (for the soap & cosmetics industry) and edible oil, gums and
resins (for paint & Lacquer industry).
Netherlands East Indies, with its
fertile volcanic soils, ideal climate conditions provided: coffee, cocoa, tea,
pepper, nutmeg, cloves and other spices, sugar, salt, rice, salt, tin, kapok,
sisal, ebony timber, sandalwood, sago, tapioca and coal for a rapidly
increasing trade.
However, the inter-island trade
demanded a multitude of special and different types of ships for various routes
between the islands to carry the many kinds of cargoes; also passengers and
livestock. Ships had to be of certain length, width, beam and draft to service
places up river and remote areas.
1907 KPM had built up their fleet to
46 ships.
In 1908 KPM opened their service,
Java-Australia Line with 2 of their new ships: “ Le
Maire” and “van Spilbergen”. Five years later these 2 ships were replaced by:
“Houtman” and “Tasman”. These ships had a considerable amount of refrigerated
space, both cooler and freezer and were larger (5000 BRT) and faster (14 knots)
KPM had been one of the first shipping
companies in the world to recognize the advantages of oil fuel and converted a
number of their ships to this new fuel. By 1913, KPM switched 31 of her ships
to oil fuel (45 were still coal-fired).
By 1914, KPM fleet had increased to 96
ships (164,529 GRT)
World War I posed a huge problem as
world shipping was virtually destroyed. KPM’s expansion ground to a halt and
the company was forced to embark on a drastic cost cutting drive. All salaries,
including those of the Directors, were reduced by 10% and the freight rates
increased by 25% . But there were no staff
retrenchments.
The tide turned in 1922 – early 1923.
In 1927 KPM had a fleet of 146 ships
(276,105 GRT) and orders were placed for 31 new ships of all types and sizes
including the 11000 GRT “Nieuw Holland” and “Nieuw Zeeland” – the great white
yachts for the Java-Australia Line service.
Then came the
great depression of the 1930’s. This caused 15% of the fleet to be laid up. KPM
had to go through a cost-cutting program once again. Also this time there were
no staff retrenchments.
During this time the company used one
of its laid up ships, the “Houtman”, as a special
Trade Ship for Eastern and Australian goods and products and invited
representatives from exporters in these areas to travel in this ship to South
and East Africa, Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius, in an attempt to establish
new markets. This was in 1931 when there was no regular service between South
Africa and South East Asia. So successful was this venture that it led to a
regular monthly service. Initially this service was established with four 5000
Ton ships (“Tasman”, “Bontekoe”, “Houtman” and “Swartenhondt”).
1933 proved to be the last and worst
year of the Depression when, 17 KPM ships (13% of the fleet) were laid up.
In the meantime the myriad of services
between the islands of NEI were expanded and restructured to serve even the
most remote areas of this archipelago. For example, where islands lacked a
jetty or any other berthing facility, the ships would anchor as close as
possible, and use lifeboats (which were big enough), towed by ship’s motorboat
to carry cargo to and from the beach during the day. The ship would sail at
dinnertime to arrive the next morning at daybreak at the next island. Even for
a small amount of cargo, the islanders could rely on a regular service. The
officers were generally Dutch, petty officers and crews were Indonesian (some of
Chinese descent). Ships on some of the island trades carried their own boat
workers onboard, called badjo’s. Badjo’s were famous for their physical
strength, hard work and simple living style.
1937 saw the arrival of the
magnificent new, 14000 Ton, 17 Knots, flagships of the KPM fleet: “Boissevain”,
“Ruys” and “Tegelberg” which were deployed on the South Africa – South East
Asia service.
Shortly afterwards two fast 6,500 Ton
cargo ships with limited passenger accommodation (“Straat Soenda” and “Straat
Malakka”) also joined the KPM fleet. This brought to total number of ships to
150 (340,000 GRT) and made
her the largest
shipping line of The Netherlands in number of ships and tonnage.
World War II
The first 9 months of World War II had
little direct effect on KPM’s operations as it did not service Europe and North
America. But on 10th of May 1940 Germany attacked and occupied The
Netherlands. Once again Holland was at war with all her available assets
committed totally to the Allied Cause!
Holland’s most desperately needed
asset was, of course, her large modern Merchant Navy, the fourth largest of the
Allied Nations, after Britain, USA and Norway. And the largest Line of the
Dutch merchant Navy was the KPM.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on
7th December 1941 unleashed a savage war in South East Asia and the
Pacific – on land and sea –which was to last for 3 ½ years. The real Japanese
objectives were Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies, rich in oil, tin,
bauxite, rubber and other commodities Japan needed badly.
Exactly 70 days after the attack on
Pearl Harbour, Singapore fell on the 15th February 1942. KPM was
deeply involved with the war effort for the Allied Forces and had already lost
by that time about 22 ships including the “Op Ten Noort” which had just been
converted into a hospital ship and the “Rooseboom”, which sank crammed with
over 500 civilians and servicemen, only 6 of whom survived. The latter was the
greatest loss of life on any Dutch ship lost anywhere in the world during WWII.
On the 7th of March 1942
the last port of the Netherlands East Indies, Tjilatjap, in the middle of the
South Coast of Java, fell to the Japanese forces and with this Japan had
complete control of Netherlands East Indies. By this time KPM had lost 79
ships, over half of its entire fleet.
The Netherlands East Indies had held
out just three more weeks after Singapore fell on the 15th February,
1942. It had cost the Dutch colony – and the KPM – dearly. But it had bought
that much priceless time, when scales were tipped so heavily against the Allied
forces.
Arguably, those three weeks delay in
the Japanese advance could have been just long enough to help the heroic
handful of Australian diggers to stop them a little later on the Kokoda Trail.
Or give the Americans just enough time to regroup their shattered Pacific Fleet
and win the Crucial battle of the Coral Sea?
KPM had decided to place half of their
escaping fleet (28 ships) in Australia and the other half in Bombay, India (24
ships) with the largest ships (8 of them) operated from the UK. However as it
turned out, probably most of its fleet were based in Australia to assist in the
war effort, particularly in NG.
KPM ships were highly suited to do the
work in NG, being small and equipped to enter confined and shallow waters,
getting close to the shores and going up rivers etc. Although its officers were
not necessarily familiar with these areas, they were trained and experienced to
navigate in the tropics and poorly charted waters. KPM ships remained to be
manned by KPM crews throughout the war. These crews consisted of a approximately 600 Dutch officers and 2000 loyal Indonesian
men in total.
Examples of some KPM
actions during WWII
The ship “Patras”,
was probably one of the first KPM ships in our general area of the SW Pacific.
She carried a special Australian force and their equipment from Darwin and
landed them safely at Ambon, escorted by HMAS “Adelaide” on the 13th
December 1941, just 6 days after Pearl Harbour. After that, she survived a near
fatal submarine attack at Banjoewangi and made it to Colombo. From there, she
was sent to the South West Pacific Area, surviving the entire NG campaign
without any further damage of casualties.
To quote from one of Royal Australian
Navy accounts “RAN 1942 – 45” states:
“Almost without exception, the merchant ships of “Lilliput” were Dutch. Not until the final stages, in June 1943, did the first American Liberty class ship – “Key Pittman” (7,181 Tons) – enter Oro Bay.”
And again:
“Lilliput itself remained a monument to the fine
service of the Dutch ships which, almost without exception, constituted it’s transport side. Their contribution was invaluable and
during the period of Lilliput, they were irreplaceable.”
Not to forget the “Arunta” and
Australian corvettes, which provided the escorts,
these were also irreplaceable at that time.
“Operation Lilliput” refers to the
collective Dutch convoys to supply the Allied offensive in NG (Buna-Gona-Sanada
area) with: troops, weapons and supplies in late 1942. For more information see
website: http://www.awm.gov.au/alliesinadversity/seafaring/lilliput.asp
Although no statistics were kept in
those days, it is estimated that during the most critical period of the NG
campaign – 1942/43 – the KPM ships delivered about one million tons of military
supplies to the front lines: tanks, trucks, lighters, explosives, munitions,
avgas in drums, bombs and what have you. And also about 100,000 troops.
It would be impossible to overestimate
the contributions of these KPM officers and crews during the war years in the
South West Pacific. They deserve the very highest praise and appreciation.
Following is the extract from a US
Army communiqué:
“Thank God for the Dutch ships. Their Officers and crews gave the utmost cooperation, working at high pressure for 24 hours on end; we would have been nowhere at all without them.”
KPM ships were also involved in other
areas of the Allied war effort. For example 5 of the 7 Dutch Merchant Navy
troopships were KPM’s biggest ships.
One of these, the “Nieuw Zeeland” took
Australian troops from Melbourne (1st October 1940) to the Middle
East. She then left Alexandria on 11th November 1940 – the first
Allied Troopship into Piraeus. In February, 1941 she was bottled up in the Suez
Canal for 10 days when the Luftwaffe dropped magnetic mines along the Canal. In
May 1941 she carried British and NZ troops and their equipment, including 25
Ton tanks from Alexandria to Crete, arriving in Suda Bay in darkness – no lights,
no pilot, and a number of burnt out ships aground in the harbour plus a “warm
welcoming” attack from the Luftwaffe. After disembarking the troops and their
equipment, she left Suda Bay for Port Said with 2500 Greek, British and NZ
casualties on board. On the following voyage she rescued 183 survivors from the
“Georgic” on fire and badly damaged in the Gulf of Suez. On the 11th
November 1942, after landing troops taking part in the Allied invasion of North
Africa, the “Nieuw Zealand” was sunk by a German U-boat (U 380) of Arzeu.
The other four KPM ships: “Tegelberg”,
“Ruys”, :Straat Soenda” and “Straat Malakka” survived
the war after successful carriage of troops and war equipment.
The Last Straw
After WWII the KPM had a huge task in
rebuilding its infrastructure in NEI. Tg Priok (port of Batavia) and other
ports in this region had been flattened. Despite the opposition from the
“Revolutionaries”, the KPM started to rebuilt it’s
shattered pre-war shipping network in Indonesia. Its officers found that the
Indonesian islanders were glad to see them back and once again get regular food
and material supplies for their every day life.
However, the Netherlands found out
soon that the rebuilding of its Colony had to be done without any assistance of
its former allies in WWII; they were very much on their own.
KPM could see the writing on the wall
and tried to establish the vital inter-island shipping connections with native
entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, this was not a success as there was little
sustainable enthusiasm among the locals.
Following the Japanese surrender,
those KPM ships, which were in a fit state, returned to their old home ports. But about half a dozen or so were badly in need of
dry docking and repairs which they could not get in Netherlands East Indies for
some considerable time.
In Australia, the Waterside Workers
Federation and their communist mates (few of whose members would have seen a
shot fired in anger throughout the entire war), nobly took up the quest for
independence by the “downtrodden” Indonesians and placed a black ban on the KPM
ships in Australia. The Australian Government of the day chose to do nothing
about this ban. The unionists will probably never understand nor admit that
they did a disservice to the Indonesian people - the people they were trying to
help - and their own nation.
The KPM ships, which were urgently
needed in the rebuilding of the Netherlands East Indies, were stuck in
Brisbane. A small plan was put in place: the ships managed to take bunkers
secretly at night and one day sailed in the middle of the night, of course,
without lines-men, pilots or tugboats. All of them reached their home port
safely.
As the black ban remained in force,
the Java-Australia Line service could not be resumed. Only in January 1948 was
the black ban finally lifted and the KPM resumed the Java-Australia Line
service.
With an eye to the future, KPM merged
with the Java-China-Japan Line, based in Hong Kong, forming the new company
KJCPL, on the 1st January 1947. The latter company became later
known under the trading name Royal Interocean Lines which was better known in
Australia and other parts of the world. KPM, still operating under its old
name, had by 1950 a fleet of 107 ships of which most of the larger ones were
under charter to RIL.
In 1967, KPM stopped its operations,
bringing to a close the 76 year history of this remarkable shipping company.
Wim J.A. van Alebeek
Perth WA
July 2006
Acknowledgement
Most of what is written here is
information or are excerpts from the book:
“KPM 1888 – 1967 A MOST REMARKABLE
SHIPPING COMPANY”, written by Lieuwe Pronk. A magnificent
book, containing many valuable historical facts.