Monday V-dam, Tuesday 6 Oct still stuck in D-dam

Written by Jack van Ommen on October 6th, 2009

I got a break yesterday from staring at the broken down engine in Durgerdam. This evening Mr. Diesel is going to take a look at the problem.

This morning I have been sorting close to 400 pictures Marrie Nieuwboer-van Halteren copied for me of the entire restauration process of the “Groote Beer” ( see https://cometosea.us/albums/GrooteBeer.htm ) This in addtion of the ones I have taken/collected over the years. I met up with  an American lady, Christine, at the historic Nieuwboer Botter shipyard in Spakenburg, who remembers the G.B. from the time the G.B. came to New England in 1953. She was able to fill in many of the blanks, particularly about the first American owner, Charles Donnelly. We all went from the Spakenburg yard to see the G.B. at her moorage in Volendam. The owner, Jan Willem de la Porte, was away. I am going to beg him to be along on one of the next sailing opportunities. Henk van Halteren tells me that it’s an experience you will not forget once this lumbering giant gets going. Stick around for the pictures….

 

2 Comments so far ↓

  1. paul bannon says:

    Was the Groote Beer owned by Goering at one time? And wasn’t this boat in Seattle for awhile, and then San Francisco?

  2. Jack van Ommen says:

    Hello Paul,
    The answers are no and yes, yes. That was a fable attached to it most likely by the first American owner,to raise the value.
    You can read more about the Groote Beer at https://cometosea.us/albums/GrooteBeer.htm Keep an eye on my blog. I might give a presentation in Seattle this spring about the subject.