~ The Dutch Series of Cards #01 & 02 ~
~ The First Series of Postcards ~
The Berlin and Titanic Disaster Funds
The Great Eastern Railway Company's steamer S.S. Berlin sailed from Parkeston Quay, Harwich at 22:00 on the evening of Wednesday the 20th February 1907. There was a severe storm blowing, and as the ship was entering the New Waterway, she was struck by an exceptionally heavy wave, thrown onto the North Mole at the port's entrance, and began to leak.
Captain Precious ordered full astern, but without effect and then the engines stopped and the ship was blacked out, the Chief Engineer came up to the bridge and reported that the engine room had flooded and the boilers' fires had gone out. Lifeboats and a tug tried to rescue people from the ship but were unable to get close enough.
She then she broke in two, the fore part sinking and all but one of the passengers there were drowned in the freezing sea. Fifteen people were eventually rescued from the pier, but 128 were lost, and the sinking of the S.S. Berlin remains the worst disaster in the history of Harwich to Hook of Holland North Sea crossing.
The Great Eastern Railway Company's steamer S.S. Berlin sailed from Parkeston Quay, Harwich at 22:00 on the evening of Wednesday the 20th February 1907. There was a severe storm blowing, and as the ship was entering the New Waterway, she was struck by an exceptionally heavy wave, thrown onto the North Mole at the port's entrance, and began to leak.
Captain Precious ordered full astern, but without effect and then the engines stopped and the ship was blacked out, the Chief Engineer came up to the bridge and reported that the engine room had flooded and the boilers' fires had gone out. Lifeboats and a tug tried to rescue people from the ship but were unable to get close enough.
She then she broke in two, the fore part sinking and all but one of the passengers there were drowned in the freezing sea. Fifteen people were eventually rescued from the pier, but 128 were lost, and the sinking of the S.S. Berlin remains the worst disaster in the history of Harwich to Hook of Holland North Sea crossing.
~ No 01 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
From left to right: Captain Martijn Sperling, Leendert Sparling, George Moerkerke and Cornelis Sparling.
~ No 02 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
“M. Sperling and sailors attempted to approach the pier in order to continue walking to reach the wreck, in which they succeeded.”
~ No 03 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
~ No 04 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
~ 04 ~ S.S. Berlin at the Hoek van Holland (1906) H&D FW ~
~ No 05 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
In the middle the then 19 year old rescuer Leendert Sparling. Behind Leendert is his cousin, Martijn Sperling and in the front left, the man with the beard, George Moerkerke. The man on the right is Captain J. van Rees of the “Wodan”, the man on the back left is the father Sparling.
~ No 06 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
“The introduction of a rescued person.”
~ No 07 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
“Frightened spectators awaiting the rescue work.”
~ No 08 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
Commemorative cards were issued showing Prince Hendrik and the rescuers. The Prince's comment: “Those brave men, they are alive! Hurrah!".
~ No 09 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
“To our Prince. The People have seen Your heart.”
~ No 10 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
~ No 11 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
“The giant storm on the first day.”
~ No 12 ~ The S.S. Berlin Wreck Disaster (1907) Dutch Series #01 - H&D FW ~
~ The Second Series of Postcards ~
~ 01 ~ Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Boat (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 02 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Broken (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 03 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Rescue Boat I (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 04 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Rescue Boat II (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 05 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Rescue Boat III (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 06 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Pier I (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 07 ~ Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Pier II (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 08 ~ Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Pier III (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 09 ~ Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Rescue in action (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
The rescue of the last three women on the night of Friday 22 to Saturday 23 February 1907.
~ 10 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin ~ Four Heroes ~ (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
From left to right: the rescuers Leendert Sparling(Brothers), George Moerkerke, Cornelis Sparling (Bothers) and Martijn Sperling.
~ 11 ~ Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin 3 Lifeboat Crew (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 12 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin Victims (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
~ 13 Schipbreuk S.S. Berlin The Morgue (1907) 2nd Series H&D FW ~
A sad sad day for shipping and more importantly all those that lost their lives that day
A telegram from the Hook of Holland says:-
There now remain but 88 bodies to be recovered from the wreck of the Berlin. Fifteen persons have been saved and 60 bodies found, of which only one, that of a woman, is still unidentified. Salvage operations have begun, but the divers found the sea too disturbed to allow them to work on the sunken portion of the wreck.
In the after part they found the body of Mr Gregory, third engineer, lying on top of the cylinders of the flooded engine-room. He had apparently died at his post. The body bears marks of scalds, which are, however, thought to be old ones. The workers on the after part of the wreck have brought ashore a telling proof of the fury of the wind and waves in the shape of battered ventilators and steam pipes, twisted into fantastic shapes.
The sensational statements that the crew locked the passengers in their cabins after the disaster are officially denied by Mr Pieters, the agent of the Great Eastern Company, who also contradicts the statement that Captain Precious handed over the command of the ship to Captain Parkinson, one of the rescued passengers.... The body of W Gregory, the third engineer of the Berlin, was landed at Parkeston Quay early yesterday morning by the steamer AMSTERDAM, but the Great Eastern officials have not been advised of the recovery of Captain Precious's body. The remains of Gregory were dispatched to Hull, where the deceased's relatives reside, and the interment will take place there.
Captain Parkinson, who was saved from the BERLIN, has arrived at Liverpool from Rotterdam. He absolutely declined to make any statement respecting the part he had played in connection with the disaster, remarking, "I am dumb." His attention was drawn to a declaration by the son of the late Captain Precious to the effect that Captain Parkinson had told him his father and the pilot left the bridge to speak to the chief engineer when the ship struck, and requested Captain Parkinson to take command. Asked if this were true, and whether young Precious had told him he would not believe the story if he repeated it ten thousand times, Captain Parkinson said, "I suppose there's a lot of things being said. I have nothing to say. I've told you I'm dumb." [Liverpool Journal of Commerce, Thursday, 28 February 1907.
There now remain but 88 bodies to be recovered from the wreck of the Berlin. Fifteen persons have been saved and 60 bodies found, of which only one, that of a woman, is still unidentified. Salvage operations have begun, but the divers found the sea too disturbed to allow them to work on the sunken portion of the wreck.
In the after part they found the body of Mr Gregory, third engineer, lying on top of the cylinders of the flooded engine-room. He had apparently died at his post. The body bears marks of scalds, which are, however, thought to be old ones. The workers on the after part of the wreck have brought ashore a telling proof of the fury of the wind and waves in the shape of battered ventilators and steam pipes, twisted into fantastic shapes.
The sensational statements that the crew locked the passengers in their cabins after the disaster are officially denied by Mr Pieters, the agent of the Great Eastern Company, who also contradicts the statement that Captain Precious handed over the command of the ship to Captain Parkinson, one of the rescued passengers.... The body of W Gregory, the third engineer of the Berlin, was landed at Parkeston Quay early yesterday morning by the steamer AMSTERDAM, but the Great Eastern officials have not been advised of the recovery of Captain Precious's body. The remains of Gregory were dispatched to Hull, where the deceased's relatives reside, and the interment will take place there.
Captain Parkinson, who was saved from the BERLIN, has arrived at Liverpool from Rotterdam. He absolutely declined to make any statement respecting the part he had played in connection with the disaster, remarking, "I am dumb." His attention was drawn to a declaration by the son of the late Captain Precious to the effect that Captain Parkinson had told him his father and the pilot left the bridge to speak to the chief engineer when the ship struck, and requested Captain Parkinson to take command. Asked if this were true, and whether young Precious had told him he would not believe the story if he repeated it ten thousand times, Captain Parkinson said, "I suppose there's a lot of things being said. I have nothing to say. I've told you I'm dumb." [Liverpool Journal of Commerce, Thursday, 28 February 1907.
~ The Human Cost ~
~ 29 ~ SS Berlin 1907 Medal Set H&D FW ~
~ 30 ~ Wrak Mail from the Harwichboot S.S. Berlin (1907) H&D FW ~
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The covers shown above and below have a blue marker that reads “BESCHADIGD DOOR RAMP HARWICH BOOT” (damaged because of disaster with Harwich boat). It concerns a letter from London (U.K.) to Amsterdam. The flaps of the envelope (Figure 2) had become lose, because the glue had washed away. The reverse was dated February 21, 1907, suggesting the mail had been found damaged, but still mailed on to Amsterdam arrival marking of February 21, 1907.
~ 31 ~ 1907 Cover from the Great Eastern Railway ship S.S. Berlin which sank off the Hook of Holland
Some staining, cachet “BESCHADIGD DOOR RAMP/HARWICH BOOT” applied
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