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Castor Rotterdam

Posted in Boats and Ships

The Castor is an old Marine Pilot ship that is build in 1950 at Shipyard Bolnes in Rotterdam, by Pot Brothers. It was designed to fulfill several tasks. Mainly as a pilot ship that would receive incoming ships at sea with Rotterdam harbor as destination. It was also equipped with a 7,6 cm cannon to make sure any ship entering the Rotterdam harbor knew this area was guarded by the authorities. It’s secondary, but not less important task, was to evacuate the Dutch Royal Family in case of an escalation during the Cold War. If the Russians were to attack or in any other disaster scenario, the Castor was fully equipped and capable of evacuating the complete Royal family to South Africa, being able to protect them against any attacks on the sea, and carrying enough ammo and petrol, to get there safely without any stops.
As the Castor was build by extreme high standards, she is still in surprisingly good condition, and currently has her base in Rotterdam, Rijnhaven, which is very close to the city center.

More info on The Castor can be found here.