Kapal Van Der Wijck was a passenger ship built in 1938 by the Dutch shipyard, Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, in Flushing, Netherlands. The ship was designed to serve as a luxury liner, capable of carrying over 400 passengers and crew members. It measured 120 meters in length and 15 meters in width, with a gross tonnage of 2,350 tons.
On December 24, 1940, a catastrophic maritime disaster occurred in the waters of Indonesia, which was then still under Dutch colonial rule. The passenger ship, Kapal Van Der Wijck, sank in the sea off the coast of Java, resulting in one of the deadliest maritime disasters in Indonesian history. The incident was so tragic that it was compared to the sinking of the Titanic, another infamous maritime disaster that occurred decades earlier. Full Film Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Wijck
As the ship sailed through the Java Sea, it encountered a severe storm with strong winds and heavy rainfall. The ship's captain, A. de Rijk, was experienced and had navigated through similar conditions before. However, on this particular night, the storm proved to be more powerful than expected. Kapal Van Der Wijck was a passenger ship