Boschfontein

(Noordam NZ-51)

Service: Built as the steamer Nieuwkerk for the Verenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Maatschappij NV (United Netherlands Navigation Co) for their Holland Afrika Lijn sevice to East and South Africa. She was lengthened, converted to a motor ship, and renamed Boschfontein in 1934. After the outbreak of war in Europe, she made her way to the United States and was employed on cargo voyages from the West Coast to the South Pacific, including carrying members of the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) to Rangoon before Dec 1941. Converted to a troop transport during 1942, she made numerous additional trips out of San Francisco in the Pacific, until the end of hostilities. She returned via Panama to the Atlantic and was returned to Dutch control at New York 13 Jan 1946.