# Fons Oerlemans

> A chronological documentary of 22 moments spanning 1938–2024.
> Source: https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans · Loreline (loreline.live)

The life of Fons Oerlemans (b. 1938), the Belgian adventurer who crossed the Atlantic five times in a self-built raft, a steam boiler, a truck, and a giant bottle. A war child turned explorer, filmmaker and record-breaker, who in his nineties still builds at Stormkop in Antwerp with his wife Kee Arens.

_Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-08-22._

## Eras

- **Rafts & Machines**, What he built. Rafts assembled from oil drums and scrap, the floating machines, the shed and the yard, and a lifetime of making seagoing craft nobody else would board.
- **Atlantic Crossings**, The voyages. Crossing the Atlantic on homemade rafts, the attempts that failed and the ones that did not, the rescues, and the years spent at sea alone.
- **Stormkop**, The Antwerp yard where the machines ended up. Koos Hogeweg on assembling and keeping the collection, Kee Arens, the childhood in wartime, and a day in the life of Fons at ninety-two.

## Timeline

### 1938
- **1938-07-12**, Fons Oerlemans - born in Nieuwmoer, 1938 (documentary opening). ), from the documentary "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/1d5cccf2-2f98-4eb7-9548-10e2256b942a) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ
### 1944
- **1944-01-01**, Surviving the V1 and V2 bombardments as a child. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/89ed05c4-5ccb-4da3-9fba-105e5df91f7a) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=150
### 1952
- **1952-01-01**, The boy who built his first raft at fourteen. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/94de0afc-87c9-464d-91f2-c23bf486f24c) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=330
### 1960
- **1960-01-01**, Building his own aircraft and flying machines. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/79723555-90e9-45ac-93d6-9a562d031a87) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=520
### 1974
- **1974-06-01**, The raft "Last Generation" mid-Atlantic (3 of 2). The raft "Last Generation" out on the open Atlantic during Fons Oerlemans's 1974 crossing. [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/21b878b4-2dbc-490a-a7d9-286aa053c403) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Het_vlot_Last_Generation_van_Fons_Oerlemans_tijdens_zijn_tocht_op_de_Atlantische_Oceaan,_asset_r2FdkTUDbOTWFtnhal9DWyiJ.tif
- **1974-06-01**, The raft "Last Generation" mid-Atlantic (2 of 2). The raft "Last Generation" out on the open Atlantic during Fons Oerlemans's 1974 crossing. [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/867a81dc-1708-4685-ac9e-9d08f8603e25) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Het_vlot_Last_Generation_van_Fons_Oerlemans_tijdens_zijn_tocht_op_de_Atlantische_Oceaan,_asset_i2ggsTOjRocRjSfjPAWWTjUZ.tif
- **1974-06-01**, The raft "Last Generation" mid-Atlantic (1 of 2). The raft "Last Generation" out on the open Atlantic during Fons Oerlemans's 1974 crossing. [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/e2efddfd-9be0-4c27-b81c-5b634f8c8a38) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Het_leven_op_het_vlot_Last_Generation_van_Fons_Oerlemans_tijdens_zijn_tocht_op_de_Atlantische_Oceaan,_asset_x2XMDmQhE4jiH1nbVyd0Sdxf.tif
- **1974-06-01**, The raft "Last Generation" mid-Atlantic (4 of 2). The raft "Last Generation" out on the open Atlantic during Fons Oerlemans's 1974 crossing. [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/ecf565a6-3c1d-4854-8701-16186781188f) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Het_leven_op_het_vlot_Last_Generation_van_Fons_Oerlemans_tijdens_zijn_tocht_op_de_Atlantische_Oceaan,_asset_fJaWouOoYAXBFlbNYTKxe2Vr.tif
- **1974-10-26**, 'De Laatste Generatie' - the 1974 Atlantic crossing from Safi, Morocco. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/79a0e033-67f8-4dbf-bdca-d7ce896d6d2f) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=760
- **1974-12-01**, Three months on a raft across the Atlantic. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/c983b93f-ee43-44bd-9c85-7caa3b5fedbf) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=1050
### 1979
- **1979-01-01**, Gran Canaria to Barbados, 1979 - Kee Arens, first woman across the ocean on a raft (Guinness). ), from the documentary "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/ae7a0fd0-2811-4a0e-96c9-2b729dcada38) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=1320
### 1980
- **1980-01-01**, 'Seaview' - crossing the Atlantic in a converted steam boiler. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/304be4c6-3941-43ee-8d33-4e86cdba7e4e) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=1560
### 1983
- **1983-08-17**, The truck on a raft: New York to Lisbon, 1983. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/5cd29754-ee5e-4970-bff8-f596d9b10c08) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=1800
### 1985
- **1985-01-01**, Filmmaker, author and record-breaker - a life of expeditions. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/24c77a87-01d9-4627-9942-78fb62099215) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=2300
### 1989
- **1989-06-01**, Fons Oerlemans with his wife and fellow adventurer Kee Arens [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/599c1eb8-6cd8-4418-a304-75bb39582121) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fons_Oerlemans_met_echtgenote,_Bestanddeelnr_934-4185.jpg
- **1989-06-01**, Boats and beer bottles - the improvised, self-built world of. (press archive). [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/5efb6ea6-bd6e-4f5d-8c1c-395640e19976) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boten,_bierflessen,_Oerlemans,_F.,_Bestanddeelnr_934-4184.jpg
### 1990
- **1990-01-01**, Fons Oerlemans and Kee Arens - a life of adventure together. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/338eba45-ddf9-4865-be5b-5a36dbb5364d) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=2550
### 2007
- **2007-01-01**, Crossing the Atlantic in a giant steel bottle. "De Avonturen Van Fons Oerlemans". [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/f182ca55-14f9-48aa-8dd1-71b8272f6d2c) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CrATrR2bjQ&t=2050
- **2007-06-01**, The model of the bottle. A scale model of the giant bottle Fons Oerlemans built to cross the Atlantic. [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/bf66c972-e908-4759-8e98-6d936a980de9) Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Model_van_de_%27fles%27_van_Fons_Oerlemans,_asset_t1nYEAXNRsiWMXQl3fasvh8U.jpg
### 2019
- **2019-01-01**, Koos Hogeweg on Stormkop and Fons Oerlemans - Part One [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/cd175c67-fbd9-4fe9-8b38-3129528b2093) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wRitbmR5FE
- **2019-01-02**, Koos Hogeweg on Stormkop and Fons Oerlemans - Part Two [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/40283c99-6fd9-4a64-9f21-d7187b328aff) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgaVWekI3I4
### 2024
- **2024-01-01**, Een dag uit het leven van Fons (92) - VRT NWS [scene](https://loreline.live/loreline/fons-oerlemans/scene/5967d0ec-3d66-4771-8249-c1565fd55872) Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZkzZgF-zsg

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22 moments · Attribution: Loreline (loreline.live) · Public contributions welcome.