Today I was fortunate enough to be able to take pictures of no less than two steam ships, both heading northbound on te Walcheren Canal, near Flushing. The first:

Dockyard III – (R. Hettich, Bruinisse, ex Dockyard III, Gebroeders Bever*) heading towards her homeport, Bruinisse.

She was built in 1941, as one of a series of harbour tugs for Murmansk. Due to the outbreak of WWII and the subsequent Cold War most of the tugs couldn’t be delivered and were taken into service by the builder’s, RDM. Dockyard III, by the way, spent the whole time during the occupation of The Netherlands under water. After her service by RDM, she was sold and renamed Gebroeders Bever*. In 2017, after a long inactive period, she was sold for scrap, but saved by some young guys just before she was broken up. After some restoration work she was deemed fit for duty and used on excursions.

* Gebroeders Bever were two fictional characters in the Dutch children’s series Fabeltjeskrant (on ITV called “The Daily Fable”). They were the two mechanics in the series and symbolize both hard work and inventiveness…