Ben Oostdam's Autobiography

as per November 18, 2004

Sections

CONTENTS 1932-1945: My first seven years (1932-39); My "war-years", WW2 (1940-45)
CONTENTS 1946-1950: Amstelveen; Hervormd Lyceum; Boy Scouts; Bike-tour to France (summer 1950): KIM (Royal Netherlands Naval Academy); cruise Mediterranean (Dec.1950)
CONTENTS 1950-1952: KIM (Royal Netherlands Naval Academy): 1951; cruise to New Guinea (1952)
CONTENTS 1952-1954: Nationale Handelsbank; my boats; Lony, engagement, vacation Zeeland; to Bangkok (1954)

CONTENTS 1954-1955: Bangkok, Dutch Bank,Nakorn Pathong, Ayudhya, Nakorn Nayok, Petchaburi, Paknam, Kanchanaburi, Kao Yai,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ChaChoengSao, Menam, HONGKONG, KOWLOON
CONTENTS 1956 : Kanchanaburi with Rudi Klerekoper, Tasau, ChaChoengSao, Cynthia and Charles, Ayudhya, Nam Tok Salika, Samud Sakorn,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - Tour by jeep through THAILAND, CAMBODJA and VIETNAM
CONTENTS 1957: Petchaburi & Hua Hin, Kanchanaburi again, Saraburi & Lopburi, Sukothai, miscellanea

CONTENTS 1957-1958: : depart Bangkok for Holland, England, CANADA : McGill University, Montreal, USA visits, NSBC job, hitchhiking across Canada to British Columbia and back, BC jobs
CONTENTS 1958-1959: McGill University, acad. year 1958-59, Ken Davis c.s., summerjob at Consol. Zinc, Bathurst, N.B.,hitchhiking across NB, NS, PEI and Newfoundland; visit to St.Pierre and Miquelon (FRANCE)
CONTENTS 1959-1960: McGill University, acad. year 1959-60, summer fellow WHOI, "CHAIN 13" to FINLAND; HOLLAND/Rijkswaterstaat with Zeiglers; with jeep and Dorothy P. across USA to SIO, La Jolla, CA

CONTENTS 1960-1961: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA: students, courses, profs, projects, CUSS I, Punta Banda, Cruise to Cabo San Lucas, social life, JAPAN, Kyoto, JAPANYON Expedition, the Shepards, Kamakura, Mount Fuli, Nikko, amahs off Onjuku, MATS to Hawaii
CONTENTS 1962: Seafloor Spreading, Menard, Dietz, Hess, Transform Faults, Raitt, Mantle Convection, MORs, Holmes, Vening Meinesz, Field; symmetry, offscraping, subduction zones, SCUBA dives off La Jolla, SIO and La Jolla Canyons, abalone, moray, shark,squid, turbidity current; HAWAII II, Shepard, Veeh, Moberly, HIG, Cox, 2002 update on individual islands
CONTENTS 1963a: Return to Hawaii, problems with project proposal, professors, cars and trailers; return to Maui: Black Coral diving with Rick Grigg, La Perouse Bay, Jason, Paul Hoffmeister; marriage to Rose Peterson
CONTENTS 1963b: Honeymoon Phase I: Maui, Phase II: Honolulu-Amsterdam; Phase III: HOLLAND ; incl.Amsterdam canals; phase IV: Heidelberg, Soultz, Orange, Avignon, Marseille, Monaco, Genoa, TOUR LOG; Rapallo, La Spezia, Pisa, Florence, Lake Vico, VATICAN, Rome, Pompeji, Taranto, Brindisi
CONTENTS 1963c: Corfu, Ithaca, Patras, Pyraeus, Athens, Peleponesos, Thebes, Delphi, Marathon: 11th International Jamboree, Bari, San Marino, Venice, Innsbruck, Liechtenstein, Zurich, Nancy, Metz, Luxembourg, Clervaux, Remouchamps, Liege, 's Hertogenbosch, Zaltbommel, Amstelveen
CONTENTS 1963d: Washington call re S. Africa; Den Haag, Brielle, Hellevoetsluis, Rijswijk, London, Los Angeles, La Jolla, Rose to Hawaii,rewrite Report, discussions with Inman, Shepard, Goldberg, McGowan; Soutar, d'Anglejean, Veeh

CONTENTS 1963e: Long Beach, CA: Craig's Shipyard, "Rockeater"Bascom, Stephansen, Lampietti, beach proposal and preliminary tests, gopher, Captain Cook, back to La Jolla, committee meeting; Long Beach to Washington:OSE, New York, Dakar, Johannesburg : Anglo-American meetings; Capetown: more meetings; Oranjemund: even more ... construction/tests of surf-crawler, suction pipe carriage,flight along coast to Luderitz; Affenrucken: lobsters

1963 - 1965: {separate pages) Ocean Science & Engineering, S.A.: Diamonds from the Sea

CONTENTS 1964a: Capetown, "Diamantkus" heads for Chamais Bay; Sparker survey aboard "Xhosa Coast"; arrival Erik Stephansen for Beach Prospecting Project; Messrs Brown, Bascom, Borchers, Sammy Collins, Desmond O'Shea; Drs.Waters, Murray, Brock, Wright, Fuller, Simpson, Smith; flight to Walvis Bay with Bascoms; "Xhosa Coast" on Tidal Concession; south of Orange River, Capetown, Captain Cook, Divers Party; "Xhosa Coast" long lines, loss of Joe Wright, search; hiring Peter Lamming, Robin Harvey; met Chris Chait, Maxi van Dijk, Piet van Zyl; Geology Lab, Rose re birth of our son Dan
CONTENTS 1964a: UN 1948 Geneva Convention, Llandadno, Fishhoek, farewell to Kay Wright; aparment with Chris; immigration, divorce proceedings, Dr. Louis Murray; Rita; "Rockeater" 's first cruise: ADK/Chamais Bay; Socrates Vartsos: first diamond April 27= 0,24 carats, Panther Head; "Collinsea" to Luderitz; to be continued

1966 - 1976: The Marine Science Consortium, PA, DE, VA ; Millersville University

1976 - 1978: KISR, Kuwait - - - to follow

1978 Tour of Africa, Asia, Pacific: - - - more under construction
. . . Indonesia, 1978

1980 - 1982: UNDP - IMA, Trinidad and Tobago - - - to follow

1983: China Tour with Pacific Delight Tours: Changjiang Canyons, etc.

1986: Virgin Islands : Toxic Substances in the Coastal Environment- - - more to follow

1988: Indonesia
1988: China : Guest lecturer on Estuaries
at East China Normal University, Shanghai - - -to follow

1989: USIA AMPART Lecture Tour:
Barbados, Dominica, Syria, New Zealand
- - -more to follow

1990: NSF Workshop, San Diego

Memories of a dozen years ago: MU1991/2
1990 - 1997: Millersville University, PA - - - more to follow

Caribbean Coastal Studies - 1995 - 2000
"Environmental Hazards and Emergency Management," started 1995,
discontinued by MU 1998; taken over by Hank Fisher around 2002

(1997, May: retirement from Millersville University (1966-1997)
and appointed Professor Emeritus)

1998: Touring Namibia with Mercia

1999/2000: Y2K Tour of Indonesia with Paul Billeter

2000: HOLLAND 2000: KIM 50th Reunion, Den Helder;
- - - - - Amsterdam, Middelburg Z.H., Leiden, Reeuwijk, Venlo, Zutphen, Eindhoven-Utrecht

Pennsylvania Sludge Issues 1997-2004
Sludge Victims by ESRA for Helane Shields, 2000

1998-2000: Novembers' status of Strawbale Pavilion

2001 - 2 Tour of RWANDA, Kenya and Holland
- - - including presenting workshop at National University of Rwanda, Butare
with Paul Billeter, Rick Millis and Eugene Kaplan

2003 TOUR of GREECE

2004 TOUR of SOUTH AFRICA

2004 TOUR of IRELAND

latest updates: Feb.17, April 7, June 26, Aug.8, Sep.28, Oct.6, Nov.6, 2002;
Jan.13, Mar.29, June 29, Oct. 6, 27, Nov.23, 2003; Apr.12, Oct.10, Nov.18 2004 - -
Index of Ben Oostdam's Web Sites