[2] The French shipyard Société des Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire (ACL) offered for 4,900,000 guilders.

This was such a significant amount that the SMN decided to give the order to Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire.

Naud continued by naming some of the ships built by ACL Saint-Nazaire, mentioning the dreadnought France, and the ocean liners Sphinx, Compiègne, Chantilly and Fontainebleau of Messageries Maritimes, and Lipari of Chargeurs Réunis.

Mr. Tegelberg of the SMN told reporters that the delivery of a ship in such an unfinished state was: 'indeed an exceptional case of a special character'.

Tests in a ship model basin pointed out that her hull would generate a too pronounced bow wave at speeds of over 16.5 knots.

[22] Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft was powered by two two-stroke 8-cylinder diesel engines manufactured by Sulzer of Winterthur, Switzerland.

[17] While she steamed from Saint-Nazaire to be completed in Amsterdam, she was claimed to have made 17 knots, but higher speeds were quite normal for a ship that was not finished and not fully loaded.

[20] This was high for such big machines, but the trial run as well the first trip proved that the careful balancing that had been done prevented vibrations.

The entrance to Belawan was a bit shallow, and so the final big fuel intake before sailing to the Netherlands was done at Sabang.

The only people using it were soldiers below the rank of sergeant, and in case the government put them on board, temporary lodgings were made for them.

[17] The decoration of the first class saloons was designed by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, who had also done previous ships of the SMN.

She had already been loaded with the cargo for the East Indies, when a very select company started to board: Prince Henry of the Netherlands was the most prominent guest, he was accompanied by the Colonial minister J.C. Koningsberger, the vice-president of the Council of State Wilhelmus Frederik van Leeuwen, Jhr.

[23] At 11:30 on Friday night, the Wijsmuller tug Nestor arrived to pull the ship from the lock to open sea.

Another guard had entered the ship in the previous evening at about 10:15 pm in order to power up the dynamo, the fans and the ventilation system.

It was not stopped by closed doors and bulkheads, and was aided by an eastern wind blowing through the open corridors, creating a chimney effect.

At 4:00 am tugboats start to pull the burning ship eastwards to the compass buoys near Schellingwoude, on the north side of the IJ.

[40] On 25 November the insurers agreed to pay the full amount of 6,000,000 guilders to the SMN, and declared that they did not want to have the wreck.

On 10 December at 10:00 am the wreck was brought into the Prins Hendrik dok of the Amsterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij to make her fit for transport.

The more powerful tugboats from Wijsmuller Hector, Drenthe and Utrecht took over the wreck, and shortly before 3:00 pm it left the IJmuiden locks.

Meanwhile, fog limited sight to only a few hundred meters, and the wreck had two red lights in the foremast advertising her condition.

[57] In the office of Simons Scheepssloperij Mayor I. van Es held a complimentary speech praising the courage of the company in buying the wreck and creating much-needed work during the crisis.

Mr. Simons had just thanked the mayor for his kind words, when a young girl entered the office yelling: Father they are taking him away again!.

Mr. Simons immediately went outside and discovered that while the ship was entering port, the harbormaster, Mr. Verschoor van Nisse, had made objections, and had ordered the wreck to be anchored somewhat more upstream near buoy 28.

With the aid of the tugboats Titan and Minerva the wreck was brought somewhat further into the harbor, but by 18:30 the water had fallen further and these attempts had to be suspended.

[57] A slightly less sensational version of the events was that the harbormaster had sounded the harbor and had advised beforehand that the wrecks should wait for high tide at buoy 28.

From 23 December the wreck would be open to visitors for two weeks, from 10 in the morning till 4:00 pm, including second Christmas day, but excluding Sundays.

[37] On 20 January 1933 a judicial authority, the Maritime Council (Raad voor de Scheepvaart) heard witnesses about the cause of the fire in Amsterdam.

The administrative officers sent in a letter declaring that multiple had taken place due to the fans in the smoking saloon and in cabins, but that these had been quenched by hand fire extinguishers.

[64] Electrician Cornelissen that in the engine room he engaged the dynamo, and the transformer for the ventilation system, so all fans in the holds and thermo tanks were on.

These had three fuses to protect against overcurrent, when these broke at a slightly different time, intense heat could be generated, and a fire could erupt.