The History of the Holland America Line
On this page you will find the history of the Holland America Line in six parts.
Also individual histories of various company ships.
It starts with the Ariadne, which was the ship that HAL chartered for its first voyage, as the Rotterdam and Maas were delayed at the builders.
March 5, 2008 at 7:25 pm
It’s good to see you back. I’ll enjoy your articles, and I hope you have had a great time away from your ship.
March 7, 2008 at 11:31 am
Welcome back. We enjoyed sailing with you in November and look forward to reading about your time at sea. Very informative. And hope to sail with you in the future.
May 16, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Dear Albert,
My father in law immigrated to the US in November 1920 aboard the Ryndam. I have been trying to get a photo of the ship. Would you be able to locate a photo or drawing?
July 22, 2008 at 6:23 am
Dear Captain,
You have a very interesting site!
I have made a few years ago a painting of the Veendam (1973). It can be seen on my website. Recently I have painted the Nieuw Amsterdam (1938).
Kind regards,
Willem Johan Hoendervanger
March 13, 2009 at 11:51 am
There’s a big grin on my face scooting through your latest 4-part input. I’ll have to take a day off and make a print-out to enjoy the reading part 🙂
In the meantime, I’ve also found the website with the sequence of company logos used on the funnels of the HAL ships (while you were still sailing the coast of beautiful BC).
It won’t be long before you’ll have a hands-on practice on your new ship ! Enjoy the spring on land . . .
March 30, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Phillis Mack — If you click on Images on a Google search page and enter Ryndam, you’ll be surprised at how many come up. Good luck, my Dad came over on it in 1922.
May 4, 2009 at 11:46 am
Thoroughly enjoyed my first HAL experience on Volendam sailing Australia to New Zealand. Beautifully laid out ship and wonderful crew. Very scenic cruise. Looking forward to my next HAL experience!
Catherine Stewart New Zealand (way down under)
July 17, 2014 at 9:58 pm
First, is the previous E mail list not used to receive you postings?
Second, I read it somewhere on one of the ships but be “dam” if I can fine it anywhere,
What are the name of the ships and their history on H A logo?
Thanks
July 18, 2014 at 12:43 am
Good morning,
the IT guru’s are still wrestling with the email notification.
a simpler link to the blog is http://www.captainalbert.com
The ships on the hal logo are the nieuw Amsterdam II from 1938 and the HAelve Maen (Half Moon) from Henry Huson who was sent on a exploraiton voyage by dutch interests.
thank you for reading my blog
Captain Albert
July 29, 2014 at 12:41 pm
Hi Capt; would you happen to know who the godmothers were when Veendam II (ex-Argentina) and Volendam II (ex-Brasil) came into the HAL fleet? Thanks/vriendelijk bedankt/Much obliged!
July 30, 2014 at 12:30 pm
Hello Copper,
There were no god mothers when the ships came to us. They were bought and straightaway laid up. then rebuilt. When they came to Rotterdam in 1973 from the German shipyard, there was a viewing for the press and some parties but no official God mothers. This whole re dedicating and re christening which we now see in the cruising world, was much less prevalent in those days.
HAL management (Mr. van der Vorm) was very conservative, so all this Press stuff was only grudgingly approved off.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
July 31, 2014 at 2:31 am
Thanks for the enlightenment Kaptein! 🙂 Enjoy your vac!
August 1, 2015 at 3:27 pm
What becomes of the ship’s logs? Are they stored in warehouses or have they all been put on discs? I assume they are kept for awhile.
Thanks,
Linda Olsen
October 30, 2015 at 9:30 am
What happens to the crews of the former Statendam and Ryndam?
October 30, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Thank you for reading my blog.
It depends on what the crew wants to do. If they want to stay with HAL, they will transfer or rotate in again after a vacation, but if they would like to stay with the new owners (we are all one family anyway) then that is possible as well. there will also be a number of officers and crew staying for awhile to help with the transition, as these ships are new to P&O Australia and the need to be manned. So the choice is up to the crew in principle. Holland America will look after them unless they want to change themselves.
Best regards
Capt. Albert.
June 24, 2019 at 7:44 pm
Hi Captain,
My grandfather immigrated from Poland to Cuba. He sailed aboard the S.S. Leerdam ll in Oct or November 1924 from Rotterdam to Havana. I believe he also left Gdansk aboard the S.S. Warszawa to Rotterdam in ‘24. How can I find a passenger list from these ships with his name ?
Thanks for any help with my research.
Dean
June 25, 2019 at 3:33 pm
Thank you for reading my blog.
This would have been voyage 14 of the Leerdam Captain in command was Jan Klaas Lieuwen. The ship left Rotterdam on 08 October and called at the following ports Boulogne Sur Mer – Bilbao – Santiago – Coruna – Vigo – Havana – Vera Cruz – Tampico – New Orleans – Vera Cruz – Havana and was back in Rotterdam on 08 December. I assume he would have left the ship at the first call Havana. The Leerdam II arrived on 20 October at 04.30 in the morning and stayed until 01 November before continuing the voyage.
Finding passenger lists is going to be much more complicated. There are booking records in the archives but they are at the moment digitized and will not be available for about 2 years. In Rotterdam they are busy with creating an emigrant museum and they are supposed to house these records. So I suggest to google this place when it is up and running in about two years.
I checked the voyages of the Warszawa but the ship did not make a Poland voyage at all in 1924, so either your family was already awhile in Rotterdam and had come over in 1923 or they came by train which most emigrants did.
I hope this helps
Best Regards
Capt. Albert
June 25, 2019 at 6:05 pm
Thank you for your reply.
This is truly helpful in my research. I assumed that he would have taken the Warszawa and I thought I read that it made one trip from Danzig to Rotterdam on June 16, 1924 with Captain Jan Burger?
Perhaps he went in 1923 or ‘25.
The dates are not certain but around ‘23-‘25.
Thank you Captain
July 2, 2019 at 7:16 pm
Hi Captain,
Can you tell me all the departure dates of the SS Leerdam2 from Rotterdam to Havana from 1923 to early 1925?
I would really be appreciative .
Research my grandfather’s journey.
Thanks for all your efforts.
S. Dean Herrero
July 3, 2019 at 2:51 pm
I can do that, but it will take a while as I am travelling. I will reflect in due course
best regards
Capt. albert
July 4, 2019 at 5:57 am
I had some luck contacting the Rotterdam city archives, they sent me the Hal passenger list that are now digitalized to links that have the Leerdam passenger list and I found his name . I turns out the date he left Rotterdam for Havana was Nov 3 1923. Almost cried when I saw his name.
They just don’t have a list for the Warszawa from Danzig to Rotterdam 1923. The trip to get to Rotterdam. Maybe like you mentioned he went by train from Wilnos ,Poland where he booked the trip according to ships manifest.
Thanks so much Captain.
I appreciate it.
Dean Herrero
July 4, 2019 at 2:33 pm
Very good to hear.
03 nov 1923 that was voyage nbr 10. Also Captain Lieuwen. The ship returned to Rotterdam on 10 jan 1924
Rdam – BSM – Bilbao – Sant – Coru – Vigo – Hava – VC – Tampi – NewO – Hava – Vigo – Rdam
He arrived in Havanna on 27 november
The last voyage the Warszawa made in 1923 was nbr 43 16 sep – 23 sep Rdam – Danzig – Antw – Rdam so if he came with that ship then he must have waited a month in Rotterdam. Possible but it is a long time. So if you can find out where he came from in Poland then we will also know how he came to Rotterdam as train was cheaper than boat, and thus the agents would have looked for the easiest transport.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
July 4, 2019 at 8:55 pm
According to the Leerdam Passenger list it notes that the trip was booked by (Geboekt Door “ “Nasm. Wilno” with a fee $.
Does that mean he left from Wilno (now it’s Vilnius) ? By rail? Or might he have gone to Danzig to go by ship to Rotterdam? He was a farmer 3rd klasse. On the link page 8 is his info Albin Zielenkievich https://www.archieven.nl/nl/zoeken?mivast=0&mizig=210&miadt=184&miaet=1&micode=318-04&minr=1625736&miview=inv2&milang=nl
Thanks Captain 👩✈️
July 9, 2019 at 10:41 pm
That would be hard to say. Vilnius is not that far from Gdansk so it could be yes but the Warszawa arrived in Rotterdam for the last time in 1923 on 23 september so your forefather would have had to spend over a month waiting in Rotterdam. Possible especially if the costs of staying in the company hotel was included. I am not aware that there are manifests from the ship in the archives = only the ticket list which you received from the archives. So it will be hard to tell whether he came by train, sometime in October or by ship in September.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
July 10, 2019 at 6:20 pm
Hi Captain,
So the ships kept a ticket list and a separate manifest? I tried to translate the notes written in red ink and it does mention something about european rail freight fees? Its in Dutch so a little hard for me to understand.
Thanks for your insight.
Dean
July 11, 2019 at 12:31 am
No the office kept a ticket list. The ships kept a passenger list / manifest. There are very few passenger manifests saved from those days. So the ticket list is the only thing to go by. I have not seen a ticket list from the Warszawa in the archives yet and that makes it so difficult to find out, how the company did ALL the transport or that the passenger arranged some of it themselves.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
July 14, 2019 at 4:38 pm
Hi Captain,
Can you translate what the notes in red ink state on my grandfathers (Albin Zelenkowitz)? He is on page 8 , line 5.
https://www.archieven.nl/nl/zoeken?mivast=0&mizig=210&miadt=184&miaet=1&micode=318-04&minr=1625736&miview=inv2&milang=nl
Thanks , this means so much to me.
Dean
July 15, 2019 at 2:51 am
Well I tried. but it is not easy, as some of the scribbles are abbreviations in book keepers jargon from 1920’s which I do not understand,
But what I can figure out is that all that is a running total of the costs (red) and income (black) between the company and the agent in Vilnus.
It looks that your grandfather traveled in a group including younger people hence the 90 guilder entry on the page. So he paid 187.50 up front in cash (column Hand geld) and the total passage price (colomn zeepassage) was 200,- The red entry scribbles are about travel costs (vervoerskosten) probably 3rd class carriages as it is no more than 1 guilder 30 or something on average. 1 guilder 30 was a days wage in those days so you could travel quite a distance on it, plus with large numbers there would be discounts. 200 – 187.50 leaves 12.50 so somewhere there would have been a balance payment. Maybe in Rotterdam, maybe on board.
That is all I can do. Hopefully it helps
Best regards
Capt. Albert
July 16, 2019 at 3:10 pm
Thanks so much, I love to see all these details,
Much appreciated
Thank you Captain
Dean
July 18, 2019 at 8:10 pm
Hi Captain,
So you mentioned he traveled with a group of younger passengers perhaps under a certain age and they pay only 90g instead of 187.5 g.?.
My gf was 21.
Thanks again
July 19, 2019 at 9:57 pm
Hallo Dean,
I have the impression with the way it was accounted for that with a reduction in travel cost, it was for childeren. Which would mean under 16 if I remember the rules for the Trans Atlantic fare setting. By the North Atlantic Conference System.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
July 31, 2019 at 3:46 am
Hi Captain,
I’m trying to figure out if my now deceased grandmother left Poland for France by train or by ship. Here are her details. Sorry it’s CGT not HAL.
Her passport is stamped 1st in Tczew and 2nd in Le Havre then 3rd in St Nazaire bound for Havana. I know the French Line had a ship named SS Pologne that made regular trips from Gdynia to Havre but why is her passport stamped in Tczew? Is it possible they stamped passengers in Tczew and then transported to Gdynia by train or by tender up the Vistula River? The Tczew and Le Havre stamps are 4 days apart. I can’t imagine train from Tczew to Havre. I believe she took the SS Cuba to Havana.
Thanks for any insight.
Dean
August 1, 2019 at 8:16 am
Good morning,
I am not that well versed in the CGT as in HAL. But all companies followed the same system as it was an approved system based on a agreement between the steamship companies (in the transatlantic pool) and the polish government. Thus the local agents gathered emigrants together and dispatched them in groups to the various ships waiting in Gdynia. 4 days in between stamps makes sense if there was no delay in the transport. Tczew to Gydnia = one day. Then the sea journey would take 3 days. (Gydnia – Kieler Kanal – Le Havre) so the 4 days in between are very well feasible. I do not know what local transport was used in Poland. I have only heard about train transport but a river ferry should have been feasible. That would be something for a local historical society in Poland to answer.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
August 1, 2019 at 2:27 pm
Thanks Captain
October 18, 2019 at 3:53 am
Hi Captain, I am a student from Indonesia and I plan to conduct research for my thesis on the history of Indonesian crew in HAL, from the perspective of transnational American Studies. Is there any book that you would recommend for my research? Both in Dutch or English is fine, or is there anyone in HAL that I could contact regarding this matter? I have tried to search for anyone who has conducted this research in Indonesia and I get no result so far. Thank you in advance, Captain.
March 14, 2020 at 1:34 am
Hello Captain Albert:
I attended both of your talks on march 10/20 . I approached you after your history talk that my mother may well have come to Canada via hal and low and behold I think she did. Ship was the SS Kota Inten family’s name Vundertuin.
March 14, 2020 at 2:56 am
Thank you for your comment.
I will send you some information about the Kota Inten. She was not a HAL ship. (Belonged to Rotterdam Lloyd) but HAL did the management thus all the paperwork was in Hal logo. It made 8 voyages under hal management all in 1948. More will follow from my CaptAlbert email in the coming days.
I hope you enjoyed the cruise
Best regards
Capt. Albert
October 3, 2020 at 11:47 pm
I am curious, Captain. When we cruised through the Panama Canal on the Zaandam in the spring of 2019 I immexiayely grabbed the book about the history of the canal and read it. Is there a history of Holland American Lines available on the ships that we could read? It’s 5 sea days between Hawaii and Seattle. Love your blog. Bob T
October 4, 2020 at 3:21 pm
Thank you for reading my blog.
I wrote some books which were available on board every time I brought some with me, but it is still very challenging to get books on board for sale, as the shops do not seem to be much interested. Although this might change in the future as I have just submitted a manuscript for a book-a-zine which is a complete book but in the form of a glossy magazine. It will be published by Ships Monthly in england and hopefully we can get it on the ships. It will be less expensive than a book and give the shops a good profit margin. So keeping my fingers crossed.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
September 3, 2021 at 12:44 am
My husband’s grandmother sailed from Rotterdam January 1917 on the Noordam. Steerage class. How do I find out what the conditions were like? What the voyage was like?
September 5, 2021 at 3:14 pm
Thank you for your comment.
I wills end you some information from my hobby email.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
October 7, 2021 at 6:49 pm
I haven’t received anything, and am very interested. Much thanks.
February 17, 2022 at 10:56 am
Dear Captain good day,
i am interesting on your blog, and visiting it i understood that you wrote a official book on yhe 125 anniversary of HAL.
It is the truth?
May I have a link where i can purchase it?
I would like to get lost in the pages of the book with the story of this glorious company.
thanks in advance
February 19, 2022 at 7:17 pm
Thank you for your comment. Yes the book is still out there. If you go on http://www.bookfinder.com and type in my name, then you will get several versions. Average cost is around £ 25 – £35,– but you will see some price will over a £ 100 and that is due to the fact that those have my signature on the first page, and that seems to make them more valuable.
You can also cut and paste this link in and it will also get you there. https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a2_t1_7&qi=GJP,aVfjuUYYQZRqmFEP0f,j9rc_1497963026_1:3:12&bq=author%3Dh%2Ea%2E%2520dalkmann%2520%2526%2520a%2Ej%2E%2520schoonderbeek%26title%3D125%2520years%2520of%2520holland%2520america%2520line
Best regards
Capt. Albert
October 25, 2022 at 4:59 am
Dear Captain Albert, the present is to tell how much I appreciate your information about Holland America Line. June 8th, 1968, I was on one of the last regular trips of the SS Statendam from New York to Le Havre. It was a very nice experience I never forgot. The captain was Dirk van Dalen.
Taking the opportunity, I would like to ask you as an expert on Dutch shipping and its history, year 1965, I worked in Doordrecht living in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. My neighbour was Ger Hoekwater. The uncle of Ger was during that time the Captain of the Rotterdam harbour. I was visiting the harbour and the offices of the administration. Have you ever heard about captain Hoekwater?
With kind regards from Mexico,
Johann
October 25, 2022 at 11:33 am
Thank you for your comment.
I am afraid that I can not help you. The name Hoekwater is not listed among the Sr. Officers of Holland America, so I doubt that he came from our company. If people moved to the shore side to something like the Port of Rotterdam office then they would have had at least their master license and often a few years in command or as staff captain. So I assume that he must have come from another company, as he definitely would have been at sea.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
December 22, 2022 at 1:47 am
Has HAL had any passenger/cruise ships sink in the last 100 and also 50 years?
December 24, 2022 at 3:57 pm
Thank you for your query. In the period 1922 – 2022 so the last 100 years we lost some ships in the second world war due to enemy action. They are in the history of the company on this website. In the last 50 years we lost the ms Prinsendam (I) in 1980 due to an engine room fire. all passengers and crew were saved.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
August 13, 2024 at 5:19 pm
Dear Captain, recently I bought a travellers trunk dated 16/8/1962 holland america line steamer maasdam, passenger stephan JOORIS tourist class cabin 320 , a wonderwel piece, I also found the passengers list with his name, amazing, is this person still alive, family? The Rotterdam archive told me he travelled to America a few times, it would be nice if I could find more information, thank you, Marc ps My grandad , in that time, was an officier /captain,on the red Star line, Belgenland,
August 23, 2024 at 7:46 pm
Captain Albert, Thank you very much for your interesting blog. I am interesting on history of Maasdam (IV) later Stefan Batory. Could you kindly clarify as follows:
In 1948 HAL ordered 3 cargo-passenger ships .
1. name of first one cargo-passenger ship was Diemerdijk or Diemerdyk
2. she has cabins for 60 or 61 passengers
3. the second one launched as DINTELDIJK or DINTELDYK, later delivered as passenger ship RYNDAM
4. the third one delivered as MAASDAM. Has she any initial name when she started to build?
August 28, 2024 at 7:06 pm
Thank you for your comment and visiting my website, which is still far from complete, but I am working on a big expansion now I am retired.
My answers are as follows:
1. Two ships were ordered the Diemerdyk (american spelling on the hull) but in HAL paperwork still often written as Diemerdijk (ij which is the Dutch spelling, also in use on all the ship before 1923, when the change was made) The 2nd ship was the ss Dinteldyk (2nd ship of thst name)
2. although the name Dinteldyk had already been decided on, her construction had only just started, when the company decided that it neede emigrant and tourist class space very quickly. So she became the Ryndam (2nd of that name) That is also the reason why the Ryndam & Maasdam were single screw what was very unusual for a passengership, but then the two ships were basically cargo ships with accommodation added to it.
3. There was no 3rd D class ship planned, so the Maasdam was started afresh at the shipyard, but it was decided that she would be identical 9and nearly was) to the Ryndam so she also ended up as a one screw ship. Hence there never was an initial name.
Both ships were very succesfull for the company (and paid off quickly) but because they were a cargo hull with too much superstructure on top of it in relation to the hull size, they were almost top heavy (with a gravity point too high up in the ship). So they were comonly known (un-offically) as the “submarines” as they tended to dive into the waves instead of nicely riding them.
I hope this helps
Best regards
Capt. Albert
August 29, 2024 at 2:17 pm
Captain Albert, thanks for your clarifications. I will wait for your new posts about history of HAL ships. Best regards from Poland