About this site

Why a web site about shipwrecks?

 

Some people admire the view of a once beautiful ship slowly decaying on a lonely beach, but, for others it’s just an eyesore – a heap of rust spoiling nature. Obviously, I belong to the first category.

I became interested for the first time about shipwrecks when I lived in Aden (Yemen) close to a port with abandoned ships. This was in 1984. Now nearly 30 years later, I still like shipwrecks and why is that?  It is mainly the fun of adventurous travelling to find them which keeps the excitement in me going.

Shipwrecks can be found on deserted beaches, on coral reefs in the middle of the ocean, at restricted diamond areas, uninhabited islands or other remote & uncivilized places. So the trip to a wreck is often more interesting than the wreck itself. Fortunately, shipwrecks are not yet included in tours operators’ programme.

The story behind the wrecks is divers. There are war casualties (the Japanese wrecks in Indonesia), victims of bad weather or navigational error. Some ships were abandoned on the beach or in the port, one was left in the port loaded with toxic waste (Gambia), others are on scrap yards (Alang Beach, India).

This web site for my own practical purposes solves the problem of safe-keeping  pictures  stored in bulging shoe boxes and overflowing hard disk. In so doing, I also take the pleasure of sharing the excitement of treasure-hunting shipwrecks.

 

Anton Rijsdijk

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

Special thanks to:

Ms. Nemia Temporal and all my other friends and travel companions for their endless patience with me, while I was taking pictures of wrecks

Wil Hendriks (Foto de Zavel, http://www.zavel.nl/contact.html ) for the processing of all my slide films

Mr. Fedde vd Bosch for his South Africa shipwreck database

Mr. Koos Los for his research

Mr. Jaco Boschhoff (SouthAfricanMaritimeMuseum) for his help on SA shipwrecks

Mr. Cees de Keijzer for his picture of  the M.S. Telamon

Mr. Dirk Pilkes for his picture and history of the “Van Ghent”

Mr. Marc Montocchio for his information  about the “Tekumseh”

Mr. Robert de Lange for his information on S.A. shipwrecks

Ms. Charnellle Sauer for her pictures and support

Mr. Henry Brayshaw for his pictures and comments