CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE THE STORY ABOUT SHIPS THAT SUPPLIED ARUBA.
| ESSO NYBORG & ESSO KOBENHAVN |
| I made three Atlantic crossing to Denmark from Aruba on the Esso Nyborg. in 1947, 1949 and 1951. Returning from Denmark to Aruba we traveled on the Esso Kobenhavn. |
| On the Esso Nyborg, my father, mother and I traveled as friends of the Captain, Captain Madson, and had a room, what was really the hospital room, or sick bay, which was on the deck with all the round port holes in mid-ship. There were four bunks in this room, two upper and two lower and it had its own bathroom. I slept in the upper bunks and my mom & dad slept in the lower bunks. In Aruba, before the ship sailed, my father's car was loaded on the forward deck and stowed under the forward, upper deck. In Denmark they unloaded the car onto the dock and we drove off. When we returned to Aruba the process was reversed. The trip usually took about 28 days each way. My dad had a lot of unused vacation time because of the war, so he took 90 days vacations. A month getting to Denmark, a month in Denmark and a month getting back to Aruba. It was on this ship that I learned to speak Danish. I learned most of my Danish from the crew and the first words I learned were of course the equivalent to four letter words in English. It was great making the trip, I had the run of the ship and went everywhere, from the aft propeller shaft bearing and stuffing box to the anchor chain storage in the bow and all points in between. On two occasions I was on deck when a freak wave washed across the deck. Were it not for the guard rails on deck I would have been washed overboard, as it were I was washed into the guard rail. On the last trip when we arrived back at the ship for the return voyage she was riding high in the water having been unloaded. I was thirteen and a couple of the seaman took me down inside one of the empty tanks, that was a very strange feeling standing at the bottom, in water and oil slush inside a BIG empty tank. |
| This Esso Nyborg was built in Denmark and complete in 1942 but not put into commission until 1945. This was because the Danes buried the vital engine parts intended for the ship so the Germans could not put the ship in commission. After the war was over the Danes dug up the engine parts and installed them and soon thereafter the ship was put into commission, hauling much needed fuel and gasoline from Aruba to Denmark. |
| IN THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH THAT IS CAPTAIN MADSON, MY MOTHER, KAMMA JENSEN (center) AND FERN GARBER ON THE BRIDGE OF THE ESSO NYBORG. NOTE THE ENTIRE BRIDGE DECK IS CONSTRUCTED OF WOOD. |
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| The following photographs of the Esso Nyborg were taken from Auke Visser's web site. Check out the bow on this tanker, very classic Scandinavian design I would say. More like a North Sea Trawler than an oil tanker. |
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| I do not remember as much about the Esso Kobenhavn as I do about the Esso Nyborg. The following photos for the Esso Kobenhavn are again taken from Auke Visser's web site. |
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The "ESSO KØBENHAVN" built in 1930 as "PETER HURLE".
The "PETER HURLE" had been used to supply material and supplies to Aruba
before and during the war. This was before she was re-named in
1948, the "ESSO KOBENHAVN" and began sailing between Aruba and Denmark. CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE THE STORY ABOUT SHIPS THAT SUPPLIED ARUBA. |
| VISIT AUKE VISSER'S WEB SITE AT: http://visseraa.topcities.com |