Theodorus "Dorus" Rijkers (27 January 1847 – 19 April 1928) was a famous
Dutch lifeboat
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
and
folk hero, most famous for his sea rescues of 487 shipwrecked victims over a total of 38 rescue operations, and at least 25 before joining the lifeboat-service.
'Opa' Dorus
Dorus received his nickname
Grandpa
Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic gra ...
( nl, Opa) while still a young man: he had married Neeltje Huisman, a fisherman's widow who already had six children. Shortly after the marriage, the oldest of Neeltje's daughters had a child of her own, and so at only 23 years old Dorus became known as "Opa" in
Den Helder
Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base.
From here the Royal TESO fe ...
where he lived. Although the nickname began as a joke, Dorus soon started acting and looking like a grandpa, and from that time on he became primarily known by his nickname.
Career as a lifeboat captain
Dorus gained most of his fame as a result of his service to the Noord- en Zuid-Hollandsche Redding Maatschappij (NZHRM), one of the two main Dutch lifeboat-societies at the time. The NZHRM would later become the
Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij
The Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (Dutch: ''Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij'', abbreviated: ''KNRM'') is the voluntary organization in the Netherlands tasked with saving lives at sea. For that purpose, it maintains 45 lif ...
(KNRM).
However his life-saving career began in 1872 before he joined the NZHRM, while acting as captain of his own boat. While at sea, he saved all 25 crew members of the
barque ''Australia'' from drowning at sea. Because of this incident, Dorus gained a reputation as a rescuer, which preceded his joining the NZHRM as a volunteer. On the basis of his reputation, he was granted the position of coxswain upon joining the NZHRM without having to prove his qualifications. His rank of coxswain entitled him to immediately command his own boat and crew.
Although Dorus joined the NZHRM as a volunteer, he worked so many hours that it precluded him from taking on other paid work. Dorus and all of his crew members received a sum for each trial and each service.
During his nearly 30 years service with the NZHRM, Dorus saved hundreds of people from drowning at sea, becoming legendary long before his retirement. In the waters where he served, he saved such a large number of people with such effectiveness that the survival statistics increased dramatically. At the end of his career, although he remained active, his role became more
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
ic in nature.
Honored by King William III
In 1888, Dorus Rijkers met King
William III of the Netherlands after rescuing sailors from the
German barque ''
Renown
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* Celebrity, fame and broad public recognition
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Transport Ships
* ''Renown ...
''. The King gave Dorus a gold medal of honor and smoked a
pipe with him.
Retirement
In 1911, Dorus retired at age 64, after which he received only a very small
pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
. He struggled to make ends meet by eating simple food and living plainly.
During an October 1922 interview with Dr. L.A. Rademaker, editor of the Hague newspaper 'Het Vaderland', Dorus complained about his situation. He claimed that he had been forced to sell the gold
medal of honour in order to buy himself a
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
. The Helden der Zee Fonds 'Dorus Rijkers' (Dorus Rijkers Fund for the Heroes of the Sea) was created after Dorus' plight and that of other retired life-savers were chronicled in 'Het Vaderland'.
Death
In April 1928, Dorus Rijkers died at the age of 81. He was given a funeral that was so grand that it resembled a
state funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...
in size and style. There was music, a big parade, thousands who came to pay their last respects including a large number of Marine Officers, also high ranking government officials, among them representatives of the Ministry of the Navy. The grandeur of his funeral showed the great public esteem in which Dorus was held at the time. Dorus Rijkers had become a national hero and was by far the most popular Dutchman of those years (according to a poll that surveyed many people in the
Netherlands during the 1920s).
Legacy
There is a huge statue erected in honor of all the Netherlands sea-rescuers, opened in 1935 and is sometimes mistakenly assumed to honour Dorus. However, a separate, smaller statue of Dorus was erected in 1939.
mrb Dorus Rijkers (1923)
/ref> One of the rescue boats of the KNRM still carries his name with pride.
Dorus is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest rescuers of all time.
Streets named after Dorus Rijkers
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Alphen aan den Rijn
Alphen aan den Rijn (; en, "Alphen upon Rhine" or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Old Rhine), where the r ...
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Amersfoort
* ''Dorus Rijkershof'' in Amsterdam
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Borne
* ''Dorus Rijkersrede'' in Capelle aan den IJssel
* ''Dorus Rijkersplein'' in The Hague
* ''Theodorus Rijkersstraat'' in Den Helder
Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base.
From here the Royal TESO fe ...
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Dinteloord
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Dordrecht
* ''Dorus Rijkersplein'' in Egmond aan Zee
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Genemuiden
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Groningen
Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
* ''Dorus Rijkerskade'' in Leiden
* ''Dorus Rijkersweg'' in Leiden
* ''Dorus Rijkerstraat'' in Middelburg
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Reeuwijk
* ''Dorus Rijkersstraat'' in Terneuzen
Terneuzen () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland.
History
First mentione ...
General and cited sources
* Bremer, Jan. the chapter: "Dorus Rijkers (1847–1928); Koning der Blauwe zeeridders" in ''Roeiredders aan het Marsdiep 1824-1923''; Nationaal Reddingmuseum Dorus Rijkers and the Helderse Historische Vereniging, Den Helder; November 1998, . pp. 111–140. This book forms is volume 9 of the series: Helderse Historische Reeks. (Jan T. Bremer is a well-informed, serious author on especially historical/geographical matters about the Noordkop (the region around Den Helder in The Netherlands).
* Adema, Tjeerd. ''Dorus Rijkers; De Heldersche Menschenredder''. Published by Egner in Helder (not: Den Helder) in 1928.
Citations
External links
National Savior's Museum - Dorus Rijkers
(part of the websit
Marine Attraction Park - Cape Holland
Foundation "mrb Dorus Rijkers" - historical information and photographs
Website of the KNRM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rijkers, Dorus
1847 births
1928 deaths
Lifesaving
Dutch sailors
Rescue
People from Den Helder
Dutch folklore