Postman Van der Steng?!?

A printed matter envelope stamped with a postmark from 1947 bearing the text: Postagent Van der Steng Onze Marine. A joke? No, a real stamp, officially used. But why such a stamp that deviates from all other stamps of that era? Van der Steng was a Seaman First Class in the Royal Netherlands Navy. A seaman who was a product of the imagination of writer Albert Chambon. He wrote three books relating to the Navy. The first book was titled “Marine-termen” (Naval Terms), the second “Marine-gewoonten en –gebruiken” (Naval Habits and Customs), and the third “Marineschetsen en –humor” (Naval Sketches and Humor). Chambon, pseudonym for Angenent, who retired at the age of 45, started a printing press in Den Helder. He was always very active as a board member of the Roman Catholic Union of Naval Personnel St. Christophorus. He wrote, among other things, about the reconstruction of the Royal Netherlands Navy after the Second World War. To interest young people in seafaring, he raised capital to build a training ship. That ship was built and named “Van der Steng,” after the seaman from his books. The ship visited many places in the Netherlands with a sailing exhibition about shipping. The 'From the Stone' It was a ship built with poor materials. The quality of the steel was inferior so soon after the war, as were the machines in the engine room. The Royal Netherlands Navy was unwilling to spend money on improving the ship, and therefore the 'Van der Steng' was sold to an Italian millionaire, who had the ship converted into a private yacht. Two years later, the ship caught fire in the Mediterranean Sea and sadly sank. During its service in Dutch waters, a small post office was established on board. It was merely provisional, but the postal official did have a postmark at his disposal. This was even announced in a Service Order: Service Order No. H.539 of September 24, 1947: Establishment of a post agency. On board the contact vessel “van der Steng” of the Foundation the General Dutch Committee “Our Marine”, which departed from Rotterdam on a propaganda tour through the Dutch inland waterways on Thursday, September 25 last, a post agency has been established which is designated exclusively for the sale of stamps and the handling of ordinary correspondence. Said correspondence shall be provided with an impression of a special stamp with the inscription: Post Agent - van der Steng. “Our Marine”. The stamp was delivered by De Munt on February 26, 1947, and received on the ship on March 3, 1947. Thus it came about that Mr. R. Tocila, a very well-known name among collectors of stamp impressions, was able to send a small piece of printed matter to himself. An impression of the 'ship's stamp' was applied to this. Another addition to the collection!