Steamships and vintage craft from many parts of the Netherlands congregated in Dordrecht over the weekend of 28 - 30 May to take part in the 14th Dordt in Stoom steam festival.

More than 250,000 people were expected to visit the free biennial event, which included steam vehicles, vintage buses, steam locomotives, and model boats.

The event opened on the Friday evening with the traditional river parade, and ended on the Sunday after a spectacular hail and thunderstorm.

Many types of vessel attended the festival, but preserved tugs formed the majority with the oldest being the steam tug Rosalie, built by Fop Smit at Kinderdijk in 1886.

Other steam tugs of note Noordzee, built in Hamburg in 1922 for Blohm & Voss, and Furie, the oldest seagoing Dutch tug, which this year celebrates her 94th birthday.

The most noticeable vessel used on this service was the passenger steamer Succes, built in 1896 as a steam river tug. She was impossible to ignore as her powerful steam organ could be heard from several miles away as it pumped out melodies including ‘The Pink Panther' and ‘Tulips from Amsterdam'. Other notable vessels employed on the passenger service included the 117-year-old steam tug Pieter Boele and the coal-fired waterways inspection steamer Christiaan Brunings.

Pictures and news supplied by Nick Hall