THE ONE AND ONLY -- CAPTAIN OLIVER VAN NIEUWENHUISE

 

Capt. Oliver Van Nieuwenhuise
here as master of the 
good ship M.V. VASHON.
Undated copy courtesy of 
Wayne Fowler, son of 
Captain Frank Fowler who also 
served on this ferry with the 
Black Ball Line
and the Washington State Ferries.

"Captain Oliver Van Nieuwenhuise, champion hurricane-deck printer with an alphabetical cognomen longer than a deep-sea tug's towline, always hot-footed it from one pilothouse to the other, insisting it was the only way he could maintain his schedule. 

      One Christmas, in a spirit of fun, the crew of the Black Ball ferry Vashon presented their skipper, "Wooden Shoe Ole," with a scooter--a nice new shiny ball-bearing affair, designed for speed and comfort between wheel-houses. The gift card read as follows,

'From Wheel-house One to Wheel-house Two

Is a long hard run for Ole Wooden Shoe.'

So skip on this scooter, Skipper Van Nieu,'

A merry, merry Christmas from all of your crew.'

      The gang was all standing by anticipating a big laugh and imagining their consternation when the joke backfired. Cap, as serious as an owl, accepted their gift and demonstrated his appreciation by promptly putting it into service. So now when the Vashon pulls away from her slip and you make out a blue streak along the hurricane deck, be not alarmed. It is only 'Wooden Shoe Ole' skipping on his scooter.
      Captain Van Nieuwenhuise was born in 1888 at Rotterdam, Netherlands. When the lad was ten years of age his parents moved to Montreal, Canada, and later came to Everett, WA., where Oliver resumed his school work. The lad was a very apt pupil and soon mastered his American art of spitball throwing, and quickly became so efficient that the teacher had to send him home. A few years later his father purchased a tract of land in Clover Valley near Oak Harbor where the lad dug stumps for exercise. At the age of 17, he went A.W.O.L. and started his nautical career as deckhand on the steamer Ferry running between Oak Harbor and Seattle.
      Five years later our champion spit-ball tosser received his mate's papers and was well launched on a seafaring future. He served with Thompson S.S. Co., and the LaConner Trading Co., both of which became part of the Puget Sound Navigation Co. At the age of 23, he became master of the Utopia, then the Waileale, later the Commanche, Cap says he just about wore out all three of these boats on the Neah Bay-Seattle run; 18 years is a long drag me-hearties. Oliver was very well known and very well-liked by all of the folks up Neah Bay way; he performed marriages on the boat and made a pinch-hit as obstetrician when the stork caught up with his ship.
      In 1910 Cap went over the side for Mrs. Dolly May Burcham. He came up with a round turn around his neck, swallowed the anchor, and the happy couple now have four fine boys, one in the Merchant Marine, one in the Navy, and two on Puget 
Sound ferries, all good seafaring men.
      When the Commanche was taken off the Neah Bay run and the route discontinued, Cap went over to the big ferries, was on the San Juan Islands run for a while and then to the Seattle-Victoria run. When the Frank Waterhouse Co. leased the Commanche, he was sent out on her as a guarantee, on the Vancouver-Seattle run.
      Cap has never had to put in a distress call or had an accident, outside of knocking out a pile now and then and making it tough for a few teredoes. Capt. Van Nieuwenhuise is the last one of the family, as far as he knows, all of his relatives having been lost in a German raid on Rotterdam. For 35 years the lad has been with the Black Ball ferry company.
      And Scutt says, "if you want to see a swell guy shake a mean leg on a kiddie car, climb aboard the ferry Vashon sometime and have a chin with Captain Oliver Van Nieuwenhuise––'Wooden-Shoe-Ole' to the clan."

Stewart C. Osborn ("Scuttle-Butt Pete")
Marine Digest, December 1943.