An item reported that the Dutch protected cruiser Hr. Ms. Friesland (1) captain A.L. van der Moolen was commissioned on the navy yard at Willemsoord, Netherlands on 1 October 1903. On 1 December left she Nieuwediep towards the Dutch East Indies. She arrived on the 22nd at Palermo, Italy, leaving two days later.
Her commanding officer supplied in his report some details dealing with the harbour. He advices not to enter the harbour with a large ship if men was lacking sufficient knowledge about the local conditions. For large ships were to anchor in the northern part of the harbour available which at the same time provided the best shelter. Space for ships with a large draught was limited. Pilot service was excellent. The Italian navy seems normally to be represented by a torpedo gunboat. During his visit was that the Partenope. During the visit of the Friesland arrived also the German training ship Moltke and the Italian aviso Colonna. The harbour was quite popular by steamships; in the last year for instance 30 Netherlands-flagged. Alone in the coastal shipping were sailing vessels active. There was one shipyard with two slips, one with a length of 260 feet where a steamship was under construction. The yard was related to a boiler plant and an iron and copper foundry. The Dutch commander did not succeed in obtaining more details about the shipyard. He wrote that purchasing victuals of good quality was no problem. Further more was good British coal available although the very slow loading was a problem. In one day was just 235 ton loaded. The drinking water transported via a six year earlier laid pipeline was of good quality.
Note
1. Of the Holland-class first subclass including the Holland, Zeeland and Friesland, based on the design of the British protected cruiser HMS Apollo of 1891. The Dutch design was later used for designing a Chinese variant. Laid down by Nederlandse Stoomboot Maatschappij, Rotterdam, Netherlands on 4 November 1895, launched on 4 November 1896, commissioned on 16 February 1898, decommissioned on 1 February 1911 to undergo important heavy repairs but not executed and sold to be broken up for ƒ 152.055,- on 28 May 1913.
Source
Jaarboek van de Koninklijke Nederlandsche Zeemacht 1903-1904.
