27 February 2026

By Chris Morrell

In 1915, as an observer in the fledgling Royal Flying Corps, Charles Morrell and his pilot encountered engine problems with their BE2C biplane whilst on a mission over enemy lines and were forced to crash land in the neutral Netherlands. After a short period as internees in POW camps, they were allowed freedom to live in the country on condition that they reported weekly to the Dutch authorities. Charles, a Thames Rowing Club member, took the opportunity to continue rowing at Roeivereniging (RV) De Laak in The Hague.

In July, Charles took part in the Rondvaart Door Nederland, a rowing trip along the canals, rivers and lakes of the Netherlands with three colleagues from RV de Laak: H. Eikenhousen, F. H. G. van Benthem van den Bergh and J. D. Wackwitz. The aim of the event was to visit as many towns as possible and collect flags or pennants, which were then displayed on the stern of the boat. The tour could be completed in one of four ways, viz. by rowing or sculling, rowing or sculling in a skiff with a sail, in a sailing boat or motorboat. The previous year there had been a Vijf Provinces Tour on which the 1916 Rondvaart was based.

The crew chose the second option, having the sailing skiff (wherry) Minerva available for their use. This decision proved to be a bonus when the winds were favourable! The tour took place between Thursday 6^th of July and Sunday 23^rd July, a total of eighteen days. In that time, Charles recorded in his diary the distance covered each day (apart from the very last day!) and the places and hotels they stayed at. The total distance overall amounted to nearly 580 km, averaging approximately 34 km per day, some of which was achieved by sailing. The route they followed from The Hague with overnight stops at Haarlem – Zaandam – Hoorn – Enkhuizen – Sneek – Leeuwarden – Grouw (2 nights’ stay here due to inclement weather) – Oldemarkt – Meppel – Zwolle – Apeldoorn – Dieren – Arnhem – Wijk bij Duurstede – Schoonhoven – Rotterdam and finally back to The Hague. His diary entries at the time included the following comments:

6^th July – Started off for the Vijf Provinces tour in double sculler … quite a strong wind sprang up and we used the sail a lot. Had picnic lunch near Leiden. Arrived Haarlem at 6.40 after splendid day.

7^th July – Wind dead against us so we rowed most of the distance to Amsterdam. Decided to stay the night at Zaandam as it took us longer to get to Amsterdam than we thought.

8^th July – Most enjoyable day. Weather splendid with light wind. Hoisted sail at Alkmaardermeer and bowled along at a glorious pace. Meer was as rough as the sea. Had to carry the boat twice over dykes. Weather turned glorious and very hot. Country magnificent. Arrived at Hoorn very tired. Took two hours to find place to store boat and find rooms in hotel.

(The crew completed 60 km; the greatest distance coved in a day.)

9^th July – Lovely day and strong wind. Had early lunch at hotel and started off at about 1-20pm. Had to carry boat over road twice. Awful sweat. Canal got very narrow and eventually dwindled into a mere ditch. Boat got stuck in weeds. Got it clear after 30 minutes sweat. Canal continued very narrow. Walked by side of boat for about 6 km. Arrived at Enkhuizen very tired. Loaded boat on cart and saw it stowed for the night.

10^th July – Left Enkhuizen by steamer with baggage and skiff on board and crossed the Zuiderzee to Stavoren in Friesland. Rowed along the canal as far as the lakes, then put up sail and fairly blinded along. Had picnic on bank of lake and also had a lovely swim.

11^th July – Sailed most of the way to Leeuwarden. Saw wild birds by the thousands. Arrived at Leeuwarden at 4 pm. Wen to concert by interned Belgians after dinner.

12^th July – Started off about 11. Wind dead against us. Had to row all day. Arrived at Grouw at 6pm.

13^th July – Pouring wet morning with wind SW (against us) … decided to start the next day. Played billiards and wrote postcards all the morning. Met a gentleman from Sneek who took us for a most enjoyable sail in his yacht.

14^th July – Had a swim in canal at 6-30. Started off in pouring rain but no wind. Strong wind sprang up. Meer very rough. Could not use sail until we reached far side of the meer. Weather turned glorious with wind in our favour. Arrived at Oldemarkt at 5-30. Went over windmill, most interesting.

15^th July – Started off at 10-00 in vile weather. Pouring wet, high wind and very cold. Luckily wind in our favour so used the sail nearly all day. Kept body and soul together by swilling rain

16^th July – Started off at 11-00. Weather very dull and threatening. Uneventful day. Wind in our favour so sailed a good bit.

17^th July – Left Zwolle at 11-03. Stopped for a drink at a pub on the Ijssel. Country very beautiful and getting hilly. Passed through five locks between Hattem and Apeldoorn. Had to row all day as there was no wind.

18^th July – Country beautiful and quite of a different nature to the rest of Holland. Pine trees, low hills and heather. Arrived at Dieren at 4. Canal ends abruptly at triple lock which lets you down to the River Ijssel.

19^th July – Weather fine but cloudy. Current and wind against us. Rowed in ½ hour spells. Picnic lunch and swim. Arrived at Arnhem at 6-30 after very heavy day. Concert after dinner.

20^th July – Left Arnhem in glorious weather and started our long row down the Rhine. Stopped to buy provisions … had an awful job to find a dairy and searched the village followed by half the population! Had swim two hours later. Mrs Wackwitz met us at Wijk and we all dined together.

21^st July – Started at 11-00. Mrs W. motored over from Doorn to see us off. Weather very hot and sun burnt my legs rather badly. Arrived at Schoonhoven at 6-30.

22^nd July – Uneventful day. Arrived at Rotterdam at 4-30. Great excitement! Press photographs etc! Dined at ‘de Maas’ Rowing club (magnificent place).

23^rd July – Started off (from Rotterdam) at 11. Had to wait 40 minutes at lock. All the ‘Laak people’ turned out to meet us at Delft and escorted us to The Hague. Very nice to be back again. Took Connie (his sister, who was staying with him in Holland for a few weeks) for a walk after dinner. Hammick (co-internee) told me all the news.

During the course of the tour, the crew managed to collect fifteen of the possible thirty-two pennants.

Extract of an article describing the Rondvaart from the magazine De Revue De Sporten:

“There exists a great enthusiasm for the Rondvaart through the Netherlands, and all signs suggest that this event shall prove a worthy successor to the Five Provinces Tour, which took place in 1915. Time and again, reports emerge concerning sportsmen who have succeeded in earning a considerable number of pennants within a remarkably short period of time. Thus, we here depict a quartet of rowers, members of De Kaag (De Laak?) who within a period of no more than fourteen days, succeeded in collecting no fewer than fifteen pennants.

The crew consists, from left to right, of H.H. Lt. Ch. M Morrell, a British airman who was shot down over our territory and subsequently interned, J.D. Wackwitz, Jhr F.H.G. van Benthem v.d. Bergh and H. Eikenhousen.

The example set by these valiant rowers deserves to be widely followed. All honour to them (all praise)!”

(Translation courtesy of Chantal van Bragt)

Later, at the end of August, Charles repeated the journey in a motorboat with a couple of friends. This time the tour was made in an open motorboat named Mien owned by Mr P Gerard from Brussels, temporarily living in The Hague. They (in addition to CMM and Mr P Gerard there was also a Mr M Jacob from Antwerp on board – both these gentlemen were living temporarily in The Netherlands whilst Belgium was occupied), were all RV de Laak members. Their aim was to complete the tour within four days. Due to some difficult circumstances, for example when a fishing net got caught in the propeller, waiting time at the locks and delays at the stations where they had to collect flags, they did not succeed in setting a new record.

(Note courtesy of Francesca Ritsma, RV de Laak archivist).

The tour started at The Hague and on the first day covered 130 km. passing through Leiden, Haarlem, Amsterdam and around the coast of the Zuider Zee to Hoorn. In his diary Charles recorded that “… a passing steamer squirted hot water all over me!” From there they crossed the Zuider Zee and went past Stavoren, Workum and Sneek to Leeuwarden. In spite of bad weather “… we had a splendid day passing Grouw, all the big lakes, Hasselt and Zwolle.” From Zwolle they travelled to Arnhem – “… blinded up the river all day and made excellent progress in spite of the strong current against us.” On the last day they went straight through to Rotterdam stopping only briefly at Wageningen to collect a flag. They eventually reached The Hague in the early evening.

As a postscript to the 1916 Rondvaart, having shared the description of the event with RV De Laak, a modern version of the Rondvaart was organised, spread over several short periods, which raised much-needed funds for Childhood Cancer Research. I like to think that the idea was sparked as a result of publishing Charles’s diary description!