Groningen

The 'Furie' has come a long way as we say in English. She started life in 1916 in the shipyards of  ‘Scheepswerven v.h. Gebr. G & H. Bodewes’ based at Martenshoek in the province of Groningen. She was an open bridge tug with a single mast and the yard built her at its own risk. One aimed in fact at the German market, but in the middle of the First World War this was blocked by an export prohibition. For this reason the tug lay in disuse for over a year as 'Bodewes VI'. In 1918 she was eventually sold to paper producer 'Holmen Bruks & Fabriks AB' in Norrköping, Sweden. During the trip to Sweden, to show that she was a neutral ship, she carried the word 'Sverige' (Sweden!) in large letters on the hull.

Dockyard in 1910, photograph: J.P. Wortelboer