Rescuers at Sea

With the photography exhibition Rescuers at sea The Maritime Museum celebrates 200 years of the Dutch Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM). The exhibition highlights volunteers of the KNRM and shows who these people are - without their drysuits and life jackets, but as themselves in their daily lives. The rescuer’s face, without bright orange distractions, but by the water; the place that is their home. 

Notable is the photo of Corrie van der Haven-Eikelenboom (1936). She was the very first female rescuer of the KNRM. In 1972 she signed up at Burghsluis, the current Neeltje Jans lifeboat station. For years she was the only female rescuer in the country; as of 2024 the KNRM’s seagoing team includes 25 women.

A commissioned video installation. Jan, Nelly and Laura were rescued by the KNRM. For Robin de Puy’s lens they went into the water once more. De Puy on the video installation: “One moment you feel free and weightless in the water, the next you feel insecure because the current is just a bit too strong, you can no longer quite keep your toes on the ground or you can’t quite see what’s beneath you. Open water is fantastic and treacherous at the same time and I think many people recognise that.”