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Dutch barge that ran WWII blockade is being restored in US
Original Publication Date: June 26, 2016 11:36PM
Publication Updated: April 28, 2025 3:38AM
WATERFORD, N.Y. – A sailing barge that was used to bring food to starving people in the Netherlands during World War II is being restored in New York.
Richard Manack, of Torrington, Connecticut, tells the Times Union of Albany (http://bit.ly/294v93q ) that he bought the 113-year-old vessel years ago. He had skippered the barge while it was a luxury canal cruiser based in Amsterdam in the 1970s.
During WWII, when it was known as the Wilhelmina, the 70-foot vessel gained fame for running the German blockade that starved millions of Dutch citizens in the winter of 1944-45.
Manack renamed the vessel the Golden Re-al, after the islands outside Amsterdam. He docks the vessel at Waterford, on the Hudson River north of Albany, and spends a couple of days each week restoring it.
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Information from: Times Union, http://www.timesunion.com
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