Billing Boats USA

The “WINSTON CHURCHILL”, later called the “ZEELAND” was built during the Second World War and equipped with a steam engine. It was, in fact, the last steam-driven tug for coastal use built for the Dutch company Goedkoop in Amsterdam. The vessel was later sold to the Dutch company Willem Muller in Terneuzen in 1964, where she was equipped with a diesel engine and renamed the “ZEELAND”. She was broken up in 1997 in Dordrecht, Holland. Says one of the ship’s captains, Henk de Winde, “She was a difficult lady to get along with, but after 25 years of happy marriage, I know that she was very special, and I am still not sure, which one of us was best.”