Loss
On 21 January 1941 Beemsterdijk left Glasgow in ballast[9] to bunker at Cardiff. On 24 January she called at Greenock for her compass to be adjusted.[14] However, the ship had new degaussing equipment, which may have interfered with her compass.[15]
On the morning of 26 January she was in St George's Channel off the west coast of Pembrokeshire, at a position that her navigators believed to be about 12 nmi off the Smalls Lighthouse, when she struck an Allied mine that blew a hole in her hull in way of holds 5 and 6 aft. At 11:20 hrs the wireless telegraph (radio) officer transmitted the first SOS signal. The Fourth Engineer stopped her engines, the crew launched her lifeboats, and the entire ship's company abandoned ship in ten minutes.[9]
Beemsterdijk settled in the water, but maintained an even keel and did not sink. About an hour later her Master, Captain Dirk Wijers, reboarded her with the Chief Engineer and the Fourth Engineer. The water level inside the ship was slowly rising. The rest of the crew reboarded the ship to try to save her, and dropped one of her anchors to keep her position. All remained on deck, and all except Captain Wijers kept their lifejackets on.[9] The radio operator, Quirinus Kroeze, transmitted four SOS signals in less than two and a half hours.[16]
At 11:30 hrs on 26 January, the RNLI St Davids Lifeboat Station launched its lifeboat Swn-y-Mor. At 15:15 hrs she reached the position Beemsterdijk had given, and was soon joined by three other vessels, and made contact with one of them, the Royal Navy Fairmile B motor launch ML 168. They failed to find Beemsterdijk, and at 15:55 hrs Swn-y-Mor was recalled to St David's.[9]
The Royal Navy base at Milford Haven sent two Dutch tugs: Goliath at 11:50 hrs, and L Smit & Co's Seine shortly after. At 15:15 hrs they reached the position Beemsterdijk had given, but visibility was poor, and they did not find her. A British naval trawler gave the tugs directions to Beemsterdijk's position, but they still did not find her. The tugs, the Smalls Lighthouse, and the radio station at Land's End maintained radio contact. At 21:30 hrs Beemsterdijk radioed that she would fire a flare rocket. The tugs failed to see it, so the ship fired a second flare. The tugs failed to see the second flare, too. On the morning of 27 January the wind increased to a gale. At 09:00 hrs Seine broke off the search, and at 12:30 hrs Goliath did likewise and returned to Milford Haven.[9]
The Saint-class tug Caroline Moller (formerly HMS St Mabyn) and three launches were sent from Falmouth, Cornwall. Then all encountered poor visibility and also failed to find Beemsterdijk.[9]
As the wind increased on the morning of 27 January, the bulkhead between Beemsterdijk's holds 5 and 6 collapsed under the weight of water at about 09:30 hrs. Captain Wijers immediately ordered the crew back into the lifeboats. Before the men reached the boats, the ship rapidly listed to starboard and sank stern first at position °N, °W , sinking the lifeboats with her. The crew was thrown into the water.[9]
