Free Radio Forum: Re: The demise of the Mebo 2.

Great vid Mike.

I remember Veronica covered the leaving of Slikeveer on their Hilversum III broadcast at that time.

Buster Pearson featured The Mebo in Tripoli in Monitor Magazine with a front page cartoon of the ship with the caption 'The big wide wonderful world of Gaddafi Don Allen!'

I also remember hearing the ship in Libya on 31 Metres very strong, though I'm unsure whether I heard them on 6205, I don't remember, though I suppose I must have done as I built a SW aerial tuner for that purpose. I definitely recall catching it on 773 where I heard Man of Action come up under BBC Radio Leeds at the top of the hour

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Alex Hoek posted a video on the Mebo 2 leaving the Netherlands bound for Libya last Tuesday:

"Something special for real Die-Hard RNI and MEBO fans. A b/w video with a minimum of original sound, shot in 1977 between the 11th and 14th of January. Sorry to say that it is of very poor quality, but for real RNI fans probably still interesting to watch. The video comes from the Freewave video archives of Hans Knot and Martin van der Ven.

Up till this moment the maker of the video is still unknown, but perhaps after this posting he will come forward. The video is best viewed in a smaller screen.

One day before departure, a letter had arrived in which the Chief Justice Officer in The Hague explained that the seizure of the MEBO II had come to an end and that people could leave the country without problems, and had to adhere to regulations and guidance of customs officers to international waters.

On board both the MEBO II and the MV Angela, better known as the earlier MEBO I, there were nine crew members. The management on board the shipping ship was in the hands of Captain Van der Kamp, who had previously been captain of the MV Mi Amigo. He was originally from The Hague and his chief engineer was Joop du Pau, who had also worked on the shipping ship during RNI days.

In addition, Robin Banks was present as a transmission technician. Ultimately responsible on behalf of the owners was Max Stapfer, from Switzerland, who was accompanied by his wife during the tour. On the Angela was the crew led by Herman B. the Zwart, originally from Hoek van Holland and brother of Werner de Zwart, once a captain aboard the Mi Amigo in 1975, when the British authorities carried out a raid on the ship of Radio Caroline and Radio Mi Amigo. In addition, the Dutch technicians Coos van Duinen and Dirk Adrichem were present. All the other crew members on both ships were from the Cape Verde Islands."

27 minutes

One of the conditions the Dutch Government gave for returning the ships to Mebo was they would not broadcast from anywhere in Europe for two years.