The Waterman was one of the three former American Victory ships acquired by the Dutch Government after the Second World War. Together with the Groote Beer and Zuiderkruis, she became part of the Kleine Drie—the “Little Three”—that carried Dutch emigrants to Australia and other destinations during the main period of post-war migration.
The ship’s first voyage to Australia as a fully converted emigration vessel began in November 1951. Over the following decade, Waterman carried thousands of passengers across the world, becoming part of the migration history of many Dutch-Australian families.
Built as La Grande Victory
The ship was constructed as La Grande Victory by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation at Portland, Oregon. Her keel was laid on 6 December 1944, she was launched on 16 January 1945 and delivered to the United States War Shipping Administration on 28 February 1945.
She was a VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship, a class developed as a faster and more advanced successor to the wartime Liberty ships. Although the Victory design was intended principally for cargo transport, La Grande Victory was among the vessels fitted to carry military personnel.
As a troopship, she could accommodate approximately 1,600 people in large shared spaces containing tiered bunks. Facilities were practical and designed for military transport rather than the privacy or comfort expected by civilian passengers.
The ship was managed by the Shepard Steamship Company but saw relatively limited wartime service before being laid up in 1946.
Dutch Government service
The Dutch Government purchased La Grande Victory from the United States in 1947 and renamed her Waterman, the Dutch name for the constellation Aquarius.
She came under the management of the Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd and was initially used to transport Dutch troops to the Netherlands East Indies. Return voyages carried servicemen, repatriates and families from Indonesia to the Netherlands.
This military and repatriation service reflected the upheaval surrounding Indonesian independence. Following the transfer of sovereignty in December 1949 and the gradual withdrawal of Dutch forces, the need for troop transports declined. At the same time, the Dutch Government required ships to support its expanding post-war emigration programme.
Conversion into an emigration ship
In 1951, Waterman underwent extensive reconstruction as a single-class emigration vessel. The conversion was part of the same programme applied to her sister ships Groote Beer and Zuiderkruis.
Dutch shipping engineer Cornelis Bijvoet, technical adviser to the Ministry of Shipping, was closely involved in planning and supervising the work. An additional deck was constructed, the bridge was raised and moved forward, and the original troop accommodation was replaced by passenger cabins and smaller dormitories.
Following conversion, Waterman could accommodate approximately 830 passengers. Cabins generally held between five and eight people and were fitted with washbasins providing hot and cold water. Some larger dormitories remained for passengers travelling alone.
The reconstructed ship included:
- dining rooms and lounges;
- a cinema;
- recreation and writing rooms;
- children’s rooms and a nursery;
- hospital and medical facilities;
- laundries and ironing rooms;
- a baby washroom;
- a hairdresser, shop and bar;
- open deck and sports areas.
The standard was modest compared with that of the larger Dutch passenger liners, but the conversion represented an enormous improvement over the vessel’s troopship configuration.
The work attracted attention beyond the Netherlands. At the completion of Waterman in November 1951, Director-General of Shipping J.J. Oyevaar stated that foreign trade journals had written with admiration about the conversion of Waterman and Zuiderkruis into emigrant ships. Bijvoet was appointed an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in recognition of his work.
First voyage to Australia
Waterman departed Rotterdam on 14 November 1951 on her first voyage after conversion. She sailed through the Mediterranean and Suez Canal, reached Fremantle on 9 December and arrived in Sydney on 17 December.
For the passengers, the voyage represented the dividing line between their lives in the Netherlands and an uncertain future in Australia. At Sydney, many were transferred to migrant reception centres, including the centre at Bathurst, before finding employment and permanent accommodation.
One passenger, Arno van der Plaat, was sixteen when his family travelled on this first voyage. He remembered the family gathering at the Rotterdam docks and being allocated their accommodation:
Mum and the youngest child shared a cabin with another mother and child, but Dad and the boys were in a large dormitory for males with triple-high bunks and space for luggage underneath. Other than that, everything was high class—a dining room with three sittings a day. We had never been so spoiled.
The family spent Christmas at the Bathurst Migrant Reception and Training Centre. By the end of January, Arno, his father and his older brother had been sent to work on a rural property near Cooma.
Emigration voyages
Throughout the 1950s, Waterman carried emigrants to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and South Africa. The National Archives of Australia identifies her as one of the ships specially chartered to carry migrants from the Netherlands to Australia.[1]
Australian voyages generally called at Fremantle before continuing to Melbourne and Sydney. Some passengers disembarked in Western Australia, while others remained aboard for the eastern states. Photographs preserved by Museums Victoria show Tine Roelie Beatrix Gravemaker and friends aboard Waterman during their 1956 migration voyage. The collection includes scenes in the dining room, beside a ship’s lifebuoy and during a port call at Aden.[2]
Life aboard developed around the routines of communal travel. Meals were served in sittings, while films, concerts, religious services, deck games and children’s activities helped pass the weeks at sea. Passengers celebrated special occasions and formed friendships that sometimes continued after arrival.
Conditions could nevertheless be crowded, particularly for passengers in larger shared rooms. Seasickness, heat and rough weather were common, and the limited privacy could be difficult during a voyage lasting several weeks.
Collision in the Atlantic
On 14 March 1957, while sailing from Rotterdam to Halifax, Waterman collided with the Italian ship Merit in the Atlantic Ocean.
The collision damaged Waterman and forced her to return to Rotterdam. Passengers bound for Canada experienced a considerable delay before they could resume their voyage. There was no major loss of life, but the incident became one of the most dramatic episodes in the ship’s emigration career.
After repairs, Waterman returned to service and continued carrying passengers across the Atlantic and to Australia.
Changing patterns of travel
By the beginning of the 1960s, Dutch emigration by sea was declining. The post-war economic position of the Netherlands had improved, while air travel was becoming faster and more affordable.
In response, Waterman was transferred to Scheepvaart Maatschappij Trans-Ocean in 1961. Her accommodation was upgraded to attract tourists and other fare-paying passengers as the traditional emigrant market diminished.
In 1962, Waterman and Groote Beer were used as floating hotels at Fremantle during the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth. This unusual charter demonstrated how the role of the former emigration vessels was changing.
Waterman made her final voyage to Australia and New Zealand in 1963.
Later years and fate
The ship was sold to Greek shipowner John Latsis in December 1963 and renamed Margarita. She subsequently operated in the Mediterranean and was used to carry pilgrims travelling to Jeddah for the pilgrimage to Mecca.
After several years in Greek service, the former Waterman was withdrawn and sold for demolition. She was scrapped at Onomichi, Japan, in 1970.
Her career had lasted only 25 years, but it encompassed several important historical periods. Built for wartime transport, she served Dutch military and repatriation requirements before becoming a vessel of mass emigration.
For the Dutch families who travelled aboard her, Waterman is remembered as the ship that carried them from the Netherlands towards a new life in Australia.
Passenger memories and DACC material
Retain the existing personal stories and documents after the main article under this heading:
- Janssen-Verheul family
- Linda Rien Devos
- Arno van der Plaat
- Verbeek family
- Martina Oprey and her journal, Going to Australia
Related DACC articles
- The Dutch Victory ships: Groote Beer, Waterman and Zuiderkruis
- SS Groote Beer – From troop transport to Dutch emigration ship
- Cornelis Bijvoet, shipping engineer and architect of Dutch emigration ships
Sources
- Museums Victoria – Accommodation Plan: SS Groote Beer, SS Waterman and SS Zuiderkruis, 1957
- Museums Victoria – Tine Roelie Beatrix Gravemaker and friends aboard SS Waterman, 1956
- National Archives of Australia – Records relating to Dutch migration held in Sydney
- DACC – Cornelis Bijvoet, shipping engineer and architect of Dutch emigration ships
- Library of Congress – Victory ship design and development
Passenger Stories
The Janssen Verheul family
The Janssen Verheul family emigrated from Holland July, 1960. “We drove by taxi from Amsterdam to Rotterdam to board the ship SS Waterman. Sailing was an adventure for us children; dining three times a day, exploring the ship, and the sea. Heavy seas could have washed us overboard, the crew locked the access after we three unsupervised kids came in. After a week we had to exit the ship at midnight at Halifax, then back on to Montreal. A train took us to Chatham where Rita and Ted Verheul took us in.” More info
Linda Rien Devos
Arrived Sydney, Australia May 1960. on the SS Waterman. Mum, Dad and 11 children.
Arno van der Plaat
“Our family asembled on the docks in Rotterdam on the morning of the 14th of November 1951 as we had been staying with relatives for the last two weeks, after the good byes we went on board the SS Waterman and were allocated our lodgings, Mum and the youngest child share a cabin with another mother and child but we Dad and the boys were in a large dormitory for Males with triple high bunks with space for luggage under the bunks but other then that everything was high class, a dining room with three sittings a day we had never been so spoiled. entertainment we made between us and awe had a Saint Nikolaas feest and others as the conditions allowed, frankly it was perfect, we enjoyed it
Arriving in Sydney on December 1951, we were then transferred to the Bathurst Migrant Reception Center, which, despite its fancy name, was a challenging experience. Nonetheless, we endured for five weeks, even celebrating Christmas during our stay. Our family consisted of seven members: our parents and five sons.
Towards the end of January, on my 16th birthday, my father, older brother, and I were sent to work on a rural property near Cooma, NSW. Meanwhile, my mother and the remaining three children stayed in the camp until Easter when it closed down. Now (2024), seventy-two years later, we still reside in the same area.
Additionally, I have chronicled our family’s journey in several volumes, detailing our immigration, reasons for immigrating, arrival in Australia, and our experiences in the country over the years.”
Verbeek Family
Gerritje (Gerda) Verbeek just completed the ‘Equator Dip’ crossing the Equator on board the SS Waterman en route to Australia with her parents Jan and Anna and brother George in 1951.
Martina Oprey
Martina Oprey emigrated to Australia on the SS Waterman in 1961. She shared her memories of the migration journey, captured in journal entries, with us in 2024. See the PDF “Going to Australia” below.
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