Marijke van der Zwaag-de Graaf (80) is a true sailor's wife. Her husband, who died in 2009, sailed on coasters as an officer, then as a captain. In the summers of the 1950s, she sometimes went on board. First alone, later with the children. “My husband made demands on his employer: I want to sail, but I want my wife and children with me. The employer usually agreed, because there was a shortage of sailors. But I can understand his hesitation. Those men are at work and then their wives and children are walking on the deck. I always kept myself very much in the background. For example, I did offer to help the cook with the washing up, but if he didn't want to, of course I didn't do it. I didn’t want to impose myself. But ten times out of ten it was: ‘Yes madam, please come and do the drying.’ We sailed all over Europe: England, Scotland, Scandinavia, but we also went to Russia. And the cargo always changed: clay, wood – that always smelled so good – and grain. It was always a surprise where we went, we visited the smallest harbours. I have been seasick on occasion, too, but I usually enjoyed myself. I read a bit and sat in the wheelhouse. And when the children came along, of course I was busy. They were still very small, a baby and a toddler, so I watched them very carefully. We also tied them up on occasions. Yes, that sounds a bit strange, but that was for their own safety. And I stayed with them. There was plenty going on, even when we disembarked. I was once with my husband in the port of Hamburg. We went into a café because he needed to make a phone call. There was a strange atmosphere. Once outside again, I was tapped on my shoulder by two men I had also seen inside. They asked where I was going 'with this gentleman'. I told them it was my own husband. Then it turned out that quite a few young women had disappeared in the port. Those two men were detectives and kept an eye on things. Yes, so I experienced some strange things.” ←