‘I was nineteen when I left the maritime academy. I joined the Holland America Line. On board were many Dutch, but also Spaniards and Portuguese. Those Spaniards were fishermen from La Coruña. They were good sailors, you could tell they had a lot of experience at sea. I remember one time we were moored in Vancouver harbour. Apparently there was a lot of crab there and the Spanish knew it. So they constructed a cage, put a piece of meat in it and it went straight into the water. When that cage was lifted, it was full of crabs. We enjoyed it very much, despite being fined by the port authorities for illegal fishing. Communication was sometimes difficult. They spoke only Spanish, but later they also learned some Dutch. And the Dutch crew members learned a bit of Spanish. But in the end, it was simply a matter of gestures. Manage with gestures When I was 30, I switched from merchant shipping to piloting because I saw shipping companies gradually declining. As a pilot, I often worked with people of other nationalities as well. And even then it sometimes came down to gestures, because not everyone spoke English, especially in my early years as a pilot. I remember, for example, a Russian ship where none of the crew spoke English and I did not speak Russian. So I wrote out the course on a piece of paper. Freshly baked bread I enjoyed working with most of the captains and officers. But I did occasionally see stereotypes confirmed. German captains were often very 'present'. And ships from communist countries were often quite dirty. Then I made sure I had sandwiches with me; I didn't want to eat their meals. But when I boarded a French ship at the end of the afternoon, I always looked forward to the meal, which was delicious. Just like breakfast on German coasters: home-baked bread with eggs and bacon. That was quite different from the frozen bread I used to get in my merchant marine days.”