Date of birth:

July 19th, 1899 (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Date of death:

February 9th, 1945 (Casablanca, Morocco)

Buried on:

Dutch War Grave Casablanca - Ben M’Sik

Nationality:

Dutch

Pieter Johannes Krispijn was born on 19 July 1899 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. His father was Wouter Gerrit Struick Krispijn who married his mother, 23-year-old Maria de Bruijn born on 20 February 1896 in Gouderak, South Holland, at the age of 25. Koos had seven more siblings.

On an unknown date, he enlisted in the Dutch Merchant Navy. He married Affina Cornelia Scharloo from Dordrecht on 22 January 1934 in Rotterdam. As far as is known, they had no children. When war broke out in the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, Koos Krispijn was 40 years old and sailed successively on the ms. Katendrecht (shipping company illegible), ms. Stad Maassluis of the cargo shipping company Nalcyon and ms. Dordrecht of the Van Ohm shipping company. On 6 June 1940, compulsory navigation was introduced, which also applied to Koos Krispijn.

(Vaarplicht was a duty of service for the crew of Dutch merchant ships. These sailors were obliged to perform personal services for the benefit of shipping during World War II. Most Dutch sailors were still at sea before the German invasion and could not return home until well after the end of the war due to the sailing duty. Any sailor who shirked this duty was considered a deserter and punished as such. The Sailing Duty Decree of 11 March 1942 tightened the sailing duty. It included the rights and duties of all crew members of Dutch merchant ships and every sailor was registered by the NSTC in London in a compulsory navigation register. It hardened and unified penalties for non-compliance with the sailing duty. A Dutch court and cantonal court in London (Dutch Maritime High Court) dealt with this compliance. This enforced sailing during World War II based on the Vaarplicht, applied to all merchant navy crews from June 1940 to February 1946 and were made available for Allied combat).

However, Koos Krispijn did not make it to the end of Sailing Duty. On 12 December 1944, he fell ill aboard the ss. Dordrecht which was sailing in the South Atlantic at the time. This landed him in the hospital in Lagos, West Africa where he remained until 21 January 1945. The next day, 22 January 1945, he made his last voyage with the ss. Amstelkerk from Lagos which ship docked in Casablanca on 29 January 1945. Koos Krispijn was admitted to hospital there where he died of an illness on 9 February 1945 at the age of 45.

The Dutch war grave of 2nd engineer P.J. (Koos) Krispijn of the Dutch Merchant Navy, lies in the compartment of the British war dead. After passing through the entrance, the grave is at the end of the main path, on the right, opposite the German War Casualties section.

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• Photo 1: Corin Gelderblom
• - Pieter Jacobus Krispijn
  

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