Old ROTTERDAM's Mast Saved by HAL Captain
Old ROTTERDAM's Mast Saved by HAL Captain September 28: When VEENDAM called at Los Angeles on September 28, an interesting maritime reunion in the making was revealed. In 1981, then chief officer Albert J. Schoonderbeek and Second Bo'sun Nico Pangamanan of the 1959-built SS ROTTERDAM removed the top nine feet of the ship's mast. The ship was sailing to Ketchikan, Alaska where low-hanging power lines at Seymour Narrows required the reduction in mast height. The mast was stowed on board until 1997 (when Nico Pangamanan had made Bo'sun), when they landed the mast at Ketchikan. The port agent had asked if it could become a flag pole, but for some reason this never happened and the mast ended up in a storage yard for many years. Returning to Ketchikan as captain of the MV VEENDAM, Albert J. Schoonderbeek and his Bo'sun, Nico Pangamanan, recovered the mast, intending to return it to the former Holland America Line flagship ROTTERDAM, now undergoing restoration in Germany. When VEENDAM arrives in Europe in 2007, the mast will be offloaded and returned to the ship from which it came. Click on Shipping News Photos page for photo of VEENDAM departing Los Angeles and an image of the mast and its saviours. Source: http://www.maritimematters.com/shipnews.html

How interesting Willem. I wonder how many people who have been to Ketchikan knew that it hels a hidden treasure?