During the summer of 1972 Gerard van Dam and his friends were busy renovating the mv Mi Amigo in Zaandam harbour, near Amsterdam. To help pay for this, the ship was opened to the public and, for a fee, Radio Caroline fans could spend time on board. One of the first visitors was Fred Kooreman who has very kindly shared his memories with The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame:“I booked the visit with the late Hans Verbaan who was running the Free Radio Campaign in Holland at the time. I visited the ship four weeks after the public auction at which the ships had been sold. When I arrived, they were expecting me. I was the only visitor as it was mid-week. Gerard van Dam, a woman and two helpers were on board. One of the guys gave me a tour of the ship. Later I was free to wander around. He told me that the ship had had 60 centimetres of water in the hull when they first took possession. There was no electrical power on board, it was completely dark down below. There was a lot of luck involved in taking the inside pictures (see previous page). I couldn't see what I was photographing. I just pointed the camera and hoped that the flashbulbs would do the rest. I think that I was one of the first visitors. The studios were complete empty. During the afternoon that I was there they called out the Dutch roadside assistance to help with the repair of a little generator on the ship's deck. The ship was in a poor and rusty condition, as you can see in my pictures. The terminals of the aerial wire looked very bad. I was surprised when, a few months later, the ship took up a position off the Dutch coast. They must have worked hard to refit the ship and the transmitters. It was front page news at the time, see below. The headlines read ‘Ship leaves Zaandam harbour in secret - Radio Caroline back under new flag’ (left) and ‘Caroline ready - test transmission programmes on two wavelengths.’ One of the helpers asked me if I wanted to volunteer to join in with the refitting of the ship but I couldn't. I was in the army at the time. In the wheel-house there was an office folder/file with some old Caroline documents. They said that they had only found papers from the North ship. Nothing from the South. I was told that I could take some of the pages, if I wanted, for my collection.” |
 De Rotterdammer 5th September 1972 |
 De Telegraaf 4th September 1972 |