Hi Nelson and others,
When Abbekerk left Singapore Januari 30 she sailed for Oosthaven, which was unusual as other ships (and convoys) mostly sailed for Palembang and Jakarta.
I just found out that - fully loaded - Abbekerk was over 9 meters deep in the water. According to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musi_River_(Indonesia) nowadays Musi River is dredged to be kept on 6,5 meters deep. I think its safe to assume that Abbekerk, even only 3/4 loaded, was simply to big for the Musi River.
If her cargo of ammunition and explosive was needed on Sumatra, Oosthaven was a logical destination. But so far all I know is that her 4 Bofors guns were unload in Oosthaven and send "up north" (and only after her being in Oosthaven already for a week) and that she unloaded part of her cargo only to get rid of it and have it sunk to the bottom on barges.
Leaves us with some questions:
-Was more of her cargo brought ashore and may be transported north or used to demolish Oosthaven harbour later?
-Why did she spend two weeks there (1-2 to 16/17-2)
-did she carry evacuees from Singapore and Oosthaven?
Peter
Peter
http://abbekerk.wordpress.com