BORN TO THE LIFE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 110, 31 December 1931, Page 5

BORN TO THE LIFE

(Press Assn.

DUTCH TUG CREWS INSURANCE COMPANIES' - CONFIDENCE GAINED SAYS CAPTAIN TO LOOK FOR MORE WORK

— By Telegraph — Copyright).

WELLINGTON, Wednes. In an interview, Captain B. Weltverede of the Zwarte Zee, one of the tugs which brought the Jubilee floating dock to Wellington, said that his firm, the Schmit Salvage and Towing Company of Rotterdam, had lost only two tugs in its long career. Captain Welteverede's father, who was one of the first tug masters in the company's employ, was drowned in the English Channel 28 years ago. When asked how the Dutch managed to get all the big jobs, Captain Weltevrede replied, "We are used to the work and the insurance people trust us better than anybody else. We have good tugs and.good equipment. Not one of the ropes parted on the voyage out here. Everyone is praetically born to the li'fe, and we are just one big family and all work together. "The confidence of the insurance compa'nies made a big difference to the premiums," he added. Captain Weltevrede mentioned that the biggest competitors of the Schmit tugs were Germans, who since the

war had been running a fleet of fast motor tugs. . The present intention is that the Dutch tugs will remain in Wellington for eig'ht or ten days, and then go home hy different routes over the early stages. The Zwart-e Zee is going round the North of Australia, and the Witte Zee round the South. "You never know when there may be something to do," added Captain Weltevrede with a smile, "there may he a steamer down South. You have plenty of bad weather. Others are unlucky we are lucky, and you never know."