Date of birth:

July 10th, 1886 (Stellendam/South Holland, Netherlands)

Date of death:

November 2nd, 1942 (Atlantic Ocean near Brasil)

Nationality:

Dutch

Wepster entered service as an ensign in the Royal Navy on 1 December 1910 and was posted aboard HMS Aceh.
On August 9, 1914 he was temporarily discharged from the Holland-America-Line HAL) due to military service. When the threat of an invasion of Germany in the Netherlands faded, he returned to HAL. On October 29, 1916 he was honored (with the Golden Medal of the Dutch South Holland Rescue Brigade) for rescuing the crew of the Vigilant in bad weather while he was chief officer of the SS Rijndam.

On July 16, 1921 he was promoted to captain on the SS Zijldijk. He served as Master for 21 years and retired from the SS Nieuw Amsterdam in 1942.
From the Nieuw Amsterdam he transferred to the ms Zaandam to sail home as a civilian. The Zaandam was first used on behalf of the Dutch government for refugee transports from the Dutch East Indies to Australia. Then she came under the control of the Allied command. The ms Zaandam left Cape Town in November 1942 where Captain Wepster had boarded. While the ship was en route to New York, it was torpedoed by the German submarine U 174 near Recife off the Brazilian coast on November 2, 1942. Of the 310 people on board, 135 died, including Captain Wepster.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

1956

Around midnight on August 31, 1940, the SS Volendam was hit by a torpedo from U-60 commanded by Oberleutnant Adalbert Schnee, about 200 miles west of Bloody Foreland, NW. of Ireland.
It was decided to evacuate the ship, which was done with great discipline. It helped that the weather was very good and the sea calm. All persons on board were picked up by the three ships, the freighter ss Bassethound, the tanker ss Valldemosa and the Norwegian freighter Olaf Fostenes. All were brought to safety. A crew member, the purser Mr. Baron, was killed when he lost his footing while climbing the ladder into the lifeboat.
For his work on the Volendam he received the Dutch Cross of Honor with clasp (later replaced by the Bronze Lion).

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

• Photo 1: IN MEMORIAM, De Oud-Kwekelingen van de Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart te Amsterdam 1939-1945, Derde herziene uitgave 2020
• - POLDERMAN, K. & RUITER, H. DE, IN MEMORIAM, VOK, Amsterdam, 2020.
  - De Amerikaanse Presidential Life Saving Medal en gelieerde onderscheidingen aan Nederlanders
  - Bronzen Leeuw | Onderscheidingen.nl
  - Jan Pieter Wepster | Captain Albert's Website and Blog
  

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Memorial Naval College

Amsterdam - North Holland