Goslar

Goslar is a German turbine steamboat, and was in service as a freighter. She was built in 1929 in Hamburg. On 5 September 1939, she surrendered in Suriname. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the ship was scuttled by her crew. Attempts to remove the wreck in 1955 failed, and has resulted in the ship breaking in two parts. History The ship was built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg in 1929 for the Norddeutscher Lloyd. On 14 August 1939, the ship had left Galveston in the United States. On 3 September, Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. Captain Berkhoff did not want to continue his journey to Europe, and wanted to surrender his ship to a neutral country. On 5 September, Goslar entered the Suriname River under American flag. Berkhoff and his crew asked for asylum. A large part of the crew were Chinese citizens who were returned to their home country, leaving only the German crew of 15 people. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the police were ordered to intern all Germans in the colony. The crew of Goslar did not want the ship to be confiscated, therefore, they moved the coal to one side, and blew a hole in the ship's bottom, causing Goslar to sink. The crew was arrested, and were briefly interned at Fort Zeelandia in Paramaribo, before being sent to the Copieweg internment camp where they spent the rest of the war. By 11 May, the ship was on her side, however she caused no obstruction to the river traffic. On 15 May, Nicolaas van Beek, the police commissioner in charge, was suspended. In 1944, the freighter Juno carrying bauxite collided with Goslar.