The Wreck of the SCH 102 at Scheveningen Harbor

On a stormy Sunday in October 1938, the motor trawler SCH 102 "Maarten" was coming home. After four weeks at sea chasing herring, the crew was close enough to smell the harbor. Families and neighbors had crowded the quay to welcome them back. And then, without warning, a strong current seized the rudder and drove the vessel straight into the basalt rocks of the North Pier.

The signal station raised the alarm, and the rescue boat Zeemanshoop set out immediately through heavy waves. On board the stricken trawler, chaos took hold. Crew members climbed into the masts to stay above the crashing water. Three men jumped overboard and tried to swim for the beach, where bystanders formed a human chain to pull them out. One of those men did not survive.

The Zeemanshoop made several attempts before finally evacuating the remaining crew along a line strung between the masts. It was messy, desperate work, and it saved lives.

Two weeks later, the salvaged SCH 102 was hauled from the rocks, repaired, and back at sea by May 1939. But the disaster left its mark on Scheveningen in an unexpected way: a town full of fishermen realized, somewhat awkwardly, that most of them had never learned to swim.