Wessel Adrianus van der Brugge was one of the three Dutchmen on board the RMS Titanic. Like the two other Dutchmen, J.H. Reuchlin and Hendrik Bolhuis, he did not survive the shipwreck that marked the end of the first voyage of the ship deemed unsinkable.
Early life[]
Wessel Adrianus was born as the son of Adrianus van der Brugge and his wife Catharina Volbers. He was conceived on October 17 1873 in Delfshaven, South Holland, the Netherlands where both parents had married. It seems he had 8 siblings, of which many died at birth or infancy. Some children were given the same name as their deceased siblings. Wessel Adrianus also was named after another Wessel.
He had two living siblings, one was Martinus, an older brother born in 1869. the other was named Cornelia, a younger sister born in 1879, who was named after two Cornelias that didn't survive for more than one year.
On 17 October 1881 he lost his father who was only 37 years old.
As a young man, Wessel was full of adventurous spirit and went everywhere he liked to explore the world. On March 1898, he left the country with his brother Martinus, and they lived in Transvall, Johannesburg, South Africa for a while. On February 1899 he had returned to the Netherlands, and lived for a while in Amsterdam, and later in Woensel, North Brabant.
His family lived in various places in 1907.
Titanic[]
Later he went out to sea, and would sail on the Talmar, before arriving in Southampton in April 1912.
He went on to sign up to become part of the Titanic’s crew. Van der Brugge was a stoker on board the ship and left with her on April 10. He was single and 38 years old at the time.
Disaster struck on the night of April 14, as Titanic steered away from a suddenly appearing iceberg, but she still hit it. Her damage caused her to sink. What happened to Wessel at the time is unknown, but his chances as a Fireman weren’t great, and he perished in the sinking. His body, if recovered at all, was never identified.
After his death[]
His sister Cornelia had been looking for her brother for several years prior to the disaster. Her husband wrote a letter to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to search for englightenment on his whereabouts.
She was initially informed in oktober of 1911, that Wessel would be in South America after delivering a rickety tugboat there, all the way from the African continent, and now spent his time partying. In May 1912, she received word from the Dutch Consulate in London, that he had been ill and was in Santos, Brazil after having debarked from an English vessel.
In the summer of 1912, she tried to poke again for some information, but they would not have any further news. It was not until August 31, 1912, that the unexpected news reached her,
She had a quite shocking experience when suddenly a police officer rang at her door, and took her with them to the police station, telling her that her brother had died during the sinking of the Titanic. She could hardly believe what she heard at ground of the information she had received prior, and wrote to the Consul again. The confirmation came. She was sent a message of the English Board of Trade that was made in July 23.
Sources[]
- Titanic' ©1996 (second print, 1998) Edward P. De Groot
- https://nl.findagrave.com/memorial/53772660/wessel-adrianus-van_der_brugge
- https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/wessel-adrianus-van-der-brugge.html
- https://www.geni.com/people/Wessel-Adrianus-van-der-Brugge/6000000015526694058
- https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KVLP-MGX/wessel-adrianus-van-der-brugge-1873-1912