Neeltje Pannevis - Owner of the Van der Giessen shipyard
On this website, historical women from the maritime sector share their stories. This is the story of Neeltje Pannevis.
About Neeltje Pannevis
- Occupation: Owner of the Van der Giessen shipyard (in Stormpolder, which later became Krimpen aan den IJssel) between 1840 and 1858; sources refer to her role as a shipbuilder or shipwright’s wife. Before her marriage, she worked as a seamstress.
- Lived: 1798–1873
- Employer: she ran her own business
- In which maritime sector did she work? Shipbuilding
What kind of work did she do?
When her husband Arie van der Giessen died in 1840, Neeltje Pannevis “continued business as usual” and took over the management of the company. This indirectly indicates that she had already been involved in the business operations and possessed the necessary expertise. The company primarily leased inland waterway vessels, in addition to building new inland waterway vessels. Shipbuilding in Stormpolder was in a “declining state” during the first half of the 1840s, a situation that improved around 1845. Neeltje Pannevis managed to keep the company afloat during these difficult years. In 1851–1852, there were two shipyards in Stormpolder (including VdG), which together built six ships during those years. Two of the couple’s three sons, Cornelis and Arie, also became shipbuilders. In late 1851, they formed a partnership under the name C. & A. van der Giessen, which then took over management of the shipyard. In 1853, the estate was divided, including the shipyard, houses, yards, and orchards. Neeltje Pannevis appears to have remained indirectly involved with the shipyard from that point on. In 1853, the first seagoing vessel was built at the shipyard, the Vriendentrouw. In 1858, the two eldest brothers acquired full ownership of the shipyard, which at that time consisted of a shipyard with two slipways and a crane, a shipbuilding shed with an attached smithy, two barns, five residential houses, two orchards, a garden, and two plots of land with a total value of approximately 12,000 guilders (equivalent to over 400,000 euros today).
What else is there to say about her maritime life?
She came from a true shipbuilding family, just like her husband. She married Arie van der Giessen (1790–1840) in 1824, who had taken over the shipyard in 1820 (following the death of the previous owner, his uncle Arie van den Hoek).
*In the exhibition
On the occasion of its 125th anniversary in 1945, the Van der Giessen shipyard proudly looked back on its history with this mosaic, in which both women and men played a role. Could the woman in this colorful mosaic (at the De Hoop shipyard from 1820) refer to Neeltje Pannevis?
Sectielmozaïek off Atelier Bogtman, 1945. Maritiem Museum
Newspaper clipping from the Rotterdamsche Courant dated September 4, 1840