Date of birth:

January 31st, 1902 (Maassluis, the Netherlands)

Nationality:

Dutch

In 1924 – 1925 he made the well-publiced journey with the tug Willem Barendsz towing a drydock of 5.000 tons to Sabang in 92 days, subsequently sailing from Surabaya to Melbourne and Port Adelaide and towing back to Rotterdam the seriously damaged City of Singapore. All in all they had stayed at sea for 13 months.
During WW2 Willem Pop not only sailed aboard the old freighter Kelbergen but also aboard the English sea-going tug Dexterous. On May 10th, 1943, a firefight took place between this tug, sailing in convoi HX 237, and the German U-boot U 403. The tug's crew barely escaped with their lives. Fron June 6th until the end of November 1944, Willem Pop took part in the invasion of Normandy as helmsman of the Dexterous, barely avoiding a disaster with a caisson that had broken afdrift.
After WW2, the tug Poolzee towed the tinexcavator Kalmoa to Biliton. On the first attempt that failed due to extremely bad weather in the Gulf of Biscaye, Pop was the runner captain aboard the Kalmoa and on the second attempt he was chief mate aboard the Poolzee. As chief mate of the tug Hudson, Pop was witness to the disaster of the Ulster Duke. During this disaster that took place in mid March, 1951, four out of five runners drowned along with the representative of the buyer of the Ulster Duke.

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• Photo 1: W. Pop
• Photo: W. Pop Jr.
  
• - WILLEM POP, Vanaf de Brug gezien, Lanasta, Emmen, 2008.
  - Letter 3114 KAB/1006/1006/12, Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat, dated March 31st, 1952