President Kruger's Chair

It was from this straight-backed chair on the deck of the Dutch cruiser Hr. Ms. 'Gelderland' that the Boer president Kruger would have seen his last view of the African coast. Expelled by the British, and in a vain attempt to rally support for the Boer struggle against the British Empire, the elderly president set sail for Europe in 1900. The Dutch government refused to take sides. The lost cause of the Boer republics was not worth a conflict with England. But under pressure from public opinion, which supported the Boers entirely, the government made a symbolic gesture. The 'Gelderland'The 'Gelderland'The Dutch cruiser Hr. Ms. 'Gelderland' was built in 1897-1900 in Rotterdam. On its maiden voyage to the Dutch East Indies she was instructed to pick up Paul Kruger. The 'Gelderland', then in German hands, sunk in 1944 in the Gulf of Finland., which happened to be in the area, was ordered to convey Kruger to Europe.