Soerabaya was a steam warship of the Royal Netherlands Navy that served as the ship of the naval commander — Kolonel Jhr. van Rensselaar Bowier — in the sea-borne expedition that carried the Lamtoba column from Oleh-leh and landed it at Lampanas on 27 July 1879, as recorded in W. Cool and G. B. Hooijer’s Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis (1889).
The passage of 26 July 1879
At the embarkation, the Z. M. Stoomschip Soerabaya received the staff of the expedition, the artillery, the staff and three companies of the 9e Bataljon Infanterie, and the personnel of the recording party. Generaal van der Heijden himself was present on board, where the Kolonel held the command; in his spacious cabin the Colonel offered the General and the staff the rijsttafel — a European calf, fattened on board, slaughtered for the occasion — while in the longroom the ship’s officers entertained the land force at their own table. Long after the General had left the ship, and after all the boats had steamed away from the roadstead of Oleh-leh at four o’clock, toasts to the land- and sea-service were still being drunk on board; at half past eight in the evening, in bright moonlight, she anchored with the squadron on the roadstead of Lampanas.
The landing
On the morning of 27 July 1879 the Soerabaya was the conduct of the whole landing: about her gathered the sloops of the several ships, and on her afterdeck under the awning stood the column-commandant with his officers and the Kolonel Bowier, watching the landing point. Two Achehnese praus with their dark-brown sails, a silver streak behind them, cut across the water towards her where she lay. It was from her that the trains of boats towed by the steam barkasses were swung to the strand, and upon her deck the last greetings were exchanged when, the landing accomplished, the column marched for the interior.
See Also
- Van Rensselaar Bowier
- Titzing
- Marine (Dutch Navy)
- Embarkation at Oleh-leh and landing at Lampanas (26–27 July 1879)
- Lampanas
- 1879
Source
Eene schoone bladzijde uit Atjeh’s geschiedenis, door W. Cool en G. B. Hooijer (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1889), pp. 7-9. OCR-filename: 20260720_115822_DLP-135-Eene_schoone_bladzijde_uit_Atjeh_s_geschiedenis_Nemotron_OCR_v2_OCR.txt.