Clearing wrecks and rebuilding Walcheren
As the war came to an end in 1945, the founders were involved in a dangerous but vital task: clearing the hazardous remnants of conflict and rebuilding devastated coastal infrastructure. In newly liberated Vlissingen (the Netherlands), the harbor was a treacherous zone full of wartime debris. Between May and June 1945, the crews undertook the delicate operation of clearing the harbor bed down to a depth of six meters, safely removing blocked shipwrecks, heavy barrage nets, and torpedoes.
With the waters cleared, attention turned to the massive humanitarian and engineering crisis on the flooded island of Walcheren, whose dikes had been shattered by Allied bombings the previous year. From June to August 1945, the founders leased seven vessels to the Dutch Department of Public Works, working tirelessly to repair the broken dikes and help the region begin its long journey of reconstruction.