SS Maasdam: the Battle of the Atlantic and a Dutch Sailor's Diary
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Volume XXV • Number 2 • 2007 Historical Magazine of The Archives Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 page 7 page 26 (616) 526-6313 Origins is designed to publicize 2 From the Editor 12 Our Trip to North America, and advance the objectives of Part IV; Summer 1949 4 SS Maasdam: The Battle of the The Archives. These goals Atlantic and a Dutch Sailor’s G. J. Buth, Nieuwe Tonge include the gathering, Diary organization, and study of 20 The Story of Chinese in the historical materials produced by David L. Baatenburg CRC the day-to-day activities of the Peter Szto Christian Reformed Church, its institutions, communities, and people. Richard H. Harms Editor Hendrina Van Spronsen Circulation Manager Conrad J. Bult Book Reviewer Tracey L. Gebbia Designer H.J. Brinks Harry Boonstra Janet Sheeres Associate Editors James C. Schaap Robert P. Swierenga Contributing Editors page 30 page 38 HeuleGordon Inc. Printer 28 Disloyal Dutch? Herman 43 Book Notes Hoeksema and the Flag in 44 Book Review Church Controversy during Robert Schoone-Jongen World War I 46 For the Future Cover photo: Robert P. Swierenga upcoming Origins articles Dirk Baatenberg de Jong’s shore leave pass used while the SS Maasdam was 36 Johnny Vander Meer: 47 Contributors docked in the New York Harbor. The Dutch Master Calvin Cevaal from the editor . Omaha, Peter Szto traces his parents’ names. These data come from the ministry in New York and the path records in the Archives of Heritage some Chinese-Americans followed to Hall, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, join the Reformed faith. Dr. Robert Michigan, and are available at http:// Swierenga, a frequent contributor to www.calvin.edu/hh/family_history_re- Origins, describes the controversy sources/Rilland_church.htm.D in one Holland, Michigan, church Time to Renew Your Subscription during the super-patriotic fervor News from the Archives As we have in past years, we use this that swept the United States during During the summer we organized and section of the column to notify you WW I. Cal Cevaal, another previous opened for research approximately that it is time to renew your subscrip- contributor to Origins, recounts the thirty-fi ve cubic feet of manuscript tion. An envelope for this is included baseball career of John Vander Meer, material in ten collections. Among in this issue; this saves the cost of a the only professional baseball player these materials are the papers of Dr. separate mailing for renewal notices. to pitch consecutive no-hitters. And Robert Recker and those of Dr. Carl Subscriptions remain $10 (US) per lastly, we have the next installment of Kromminga, ministers in the Chris- year. Gifts in addition to the $10 are the account by Dutch visitors to the tian Reformed Church and professors acknowledged as charitable gifts to Midwest during 1949.D at Calvin Theological Seminary. The Origins and we are grateful for this Recker papers detail his ministry in generosity.D Available On-Line and teaching of missions. Krommin- During the summer we compiled the ga’s material contains much on the This Issue membership records of the short-lived history of the denomination, his writ- As past articles in Origins have shown, (January to December 1893) Rilland, ing for The Young Calvinist, and the family has been an important compo- Colorado, Christian Reformed Church various courses he led at the seminary nent of the immigrant experience and near present-day Alamosa, Colorado. during a 36-year teaching career. We in this issue two sons write about their These Dutch immigrants were part also completed the reorganization of fathers. Grand Rapids attorney David of a larger group that were victims of the Walter Lagerwey papers, who was Baatenberg relates his father’s experi- a land swindle detailed by Peter de a leading educator of Dutch in the ence of being on a torpedoed ship early Klerk in “The Alamosa Disaster: The United States at the college level. This during WW II and the life-long impact Boldest of Swindles,” Origins (Spring collection contains both his extensive this had on his father. A member of the 1986): 22-26. Families are listed research material as well as his cur- faculty of the University of Nebraska— under both the mothers’ and fathers’ riculum fi les. 2 Volume XXV • Number 2 • 2007 Among the archival material pro- Dakota; Birnamwood, Wisconsin; collaborative effort by Origins and cessed were records from the denom- and Prairie View, Kansas, Christian the Historical Series of the Reformed inational Chaplaincy Ministries, back Reformed Churches were translated, Church in America (see book review to the 1970s, but the bulk of the and by the time this issue goes to section). Published by William B. records date to the 1990s, including press the minutes of the Central Av- Eerdmans, it is available for $28, but information on the individuals who enue CRC in Holland, Michigan, will to subscribers for $22 at the Origins served as chaplains. Also among the also have been translated. Indexing offi ce.D denominational records opened to of The Banner continues, with two research are those from two discon- volunteers now hard at work having Staff tinued ministries: Comstock Park, completed approximately two-thirds Richard Harms is the curator of the Michigan, CRC (1930-2007, with of the years 1985-1995. Another vol- Archives; Hendrina Van Spronsen organization of the congregation in unteer continues collating and key- is the offi ce coordinator; Wendy 1957), and Portage, Michigan, CRC ing into a database the information Blankespoor is librarian and catalog- (1966-1995); as well as records from on post World War II Dutch immi- ing archivist; Melanie Vander Wal is a still active congregation, Lombard, grants in Canada. And still another departmental assistant; Dr. Robert Illinois, CRC, which began in Chica- volunteer continues indexing our Bolt is fi eld agent and assistant archi- go in 1912. Lastly, thanks to a special collection of family histories. vist. Our capable student assistants endowment, we were able to pro- Since spring we have accepted fi f- are Lisa Van Drunen, Cyndi Veenstra, duce a typescript of John Vogelzang’s ty-eight cubic feet of records. Among and Dana Verhulst. Our volunteers nearly 500,000-word autobiogra- the larger transfers were twenty-nine include Willene De Groot, Rev. Henry phy originally written on fi fty-four cubic feet from the Health, Physical De Mots, Ed Gerritsen, Fred Greida- rolls of shelf paper, which details Education, Recreation, Dance, and nus, Ralph Haan, Dr. Henry Ippel, his life from his birth in Overijsel, Sports Department of the college; Helen Meulink, Rev. Gerrit Sheeres, the Netherlands, emigration to the four cubic feet from CRCNA Chap- Janet S. Sheeres, and Rev. Leonard Untied States in 1907 with his bride, laincy offi ce; the records of the De- Sweetman.D and life in Holland, Michigan, where troit Campus Chaplaincy effort, and he established a successful hardware the discontinued Comstock Park, business. Michigan, CRC. Our volunteers continue their nu- Henry J. Kuiper: Shaping the Chris- merous projects. The minutes from tian Reformed Church, 1907-1962, Manhattan, Montana; Bemis, South by James A. DeJong is the second Richard H. Harms 3 SS Maasdam: The Battle of the Atlantic and a Dutch Sailor’s Diary David L. Baatenburg he only thing that ever really through 31 August 1942, German Tfrightened me during the war was and Italian submarines sank a total of the U-boat peril. 1,904 Allied and neutral ships.2 —Winston S. Churchill One of the Allied counter-measures was the convoy system with destroyer The Allied war effort during WW II escort to help protect merchant ships. depended upon the maintenance of The risk to merchant ships in convoy the Atlantic lifeline linking North and to those who sailed on them is America with the British Isles. Much not well reported. Dirk Baatenburg of the food and raw materials, and all de Jong, my father, sailed in several of the oil, were imported. Rather than convoys. This is an account of one— attacking the Royal Navy—the largest Convoy HX 133—particularly the in the world at the start of the War— sinking on Thursday, 26 June 1941, of Germany sought to defeat Britain by the Holland America Line’s Maasdam. attacking the merchant shipping that Maasdam, the third of fi ve with supported the island nation.1 The this name in the Holland America principal weapon used to accomplish Line, was an 8,812-ton ship that was that goal was the U-boat. The Battle of launched 21 October 1920, with a the Atlantic, the longest continuous length of 466 and a beam of 58 feet. campaign of World War II, took the Constructed at Rotterdam, she was lives of between 75,000 and 85,000 originally designed as a combina- Allied seamen. And, for the three tion cargo and passenger vessel with years beginning 3 September 1939 accommodations for 14 fi rst-class, David L. Baatenburg is partner in the Grand Rapids law fi rm of Muller, Mull- er, Richmond, Harms & Myers. He was a history major in college particularly interested in WW II and will “watch pretty much anything that appears on TV that chronicles that war.” The rebuilt SS Maasdam, with one smokestack, entering the Havana, Cuba, harbor just before the outbreak of World War II. Photo courtesy of the author. 4 Volume XXV • Number 2 • 2007 temporarily, but the intense heat from the incendiary device he carried for only a few seconds damaged his eyes badly enough to require medical at- tention. The treating physician told my father that if he had carried the superheated bomb only a few more seconds he would have been perma- nently blinded.