It was the commercial iron dry dock for the shipping line of Cores de Vries, built by Randolph, Elder and Co. After being assembled in the Indies, she sunk during her trial in Surabaya in 1863.

[5] The Dutch Navy reacted to the demand by sending the iron Onrust Dock of 3,000 tons.

Since 1 January 1869 civilian ships were no longer allowed in the government dry docks of the East Indies.

An exception was made for the ships of the Nederlands Indische Stoomvaart Maatschappij (NISM), which executed a government task.

In 1871 plans were made for what would later become the Nederlands Indische Droogdok Maatschappij (NIDM) or Netherlands Indies Drydock Company.

On 30 September 1872 a meeting for potential Dutch East Indian shareholders was held in Batavia.

[7] The conditions related to: Where the drydock for Batavia would be placed; the viability of a dry dock at Surabaya; the executive of the company and some other points.

[10] By 27 March 1873 the public company that was being formed had made a provisional contract with the British partnership Raalte, Behrend and Co. from Glasgow, which also had the role of contractor.

This company and the investors involved demanded that the dry docks would be made by English shipbuilders.

For Volharding Dock the Tideman system solved another problem: the hull could be completely finished in Britain and sail to the Indies, where only the towers would have to be added.

[15] This did not apply to the bigger Batavia Dock, which would be assembled on a slipway at Amsterdam Island, now named Pulau Untung Jawa.

For the voyage to the East Indies it had been provided with a bow, a rudder, an upper deck and three masts.

The final voyage of Volharding dock to the Dutch East Indies would take 341 days, and was an epic on its own.

The loose bulwark was 3 feet high, and open on the bottom, so any water could flow off the deck.

Meanwhile the operations of the City of Glasgow Bank had been suspended in November 1877, and were followed by a spectacular collapse on 2 October 1878.

Raalte, Behrend & Co would either lift the big dock and deliver it, or would pay the insured sum and other indemnities.

Lindemann would depart to Batavia to bring the repair facility and small dry dock in working order as soon as possible.

[24] At about the same time Raalte, Behrend & Co gave up its attempts to lift the big dock, and paid the indemnities of about 100,000 guilders.

Lindemann put the dock to work, there was a lot of champagne, and each employee got a reward of 100 guilders.

In the first regular meeting of NIDM shareholders on 31 July 1882 there was no public mention of ships having used the dry dock.

Meanwhile the Dutch government had started the construction of a decent harbor for Batavia at Tanjung Priok in 1877.

This would sharply increase the number of commercial ships seeking dry dock capacity.

The concession did not give her an exclusive right to operate dry docks for Batavia, but it would most probably enable NIDM to prevent the state from aiding a competitor to set up shop in Tanjung Priok.

[31] In connection to the new plans NIDM tried to register its ownership of the dry dock at the cadastre in Batavia.

The reason was a loan the NIDM had got from Wurfbain en Zoon, and which required a mortgage on the dry dock.

Both parties then agreed to take the matter of whether the dry dock was a ship to the High Court of Batavia.

The main reason was that its purpose was to serve as a floating work place, not as a means to transport people and cargo.

[36] On 8 November 1884 Volharding dock was sold to the Factorij der Nederlandsche Handelsmaatschappij for 50,000 guilders.

It was to be formed out of a merger of the remnants of the NIDM at Amsterdam Island owned by Wurfbain, and the Shipyard of Tromp, De Haas, Schey and Co in Surabaya.

In June 1885 it recognized Mr. F. Alting du Cloux as concessionary for dry docks in Batavia.