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HISTORY OF THE HOLLAND AMERICA LINE

History of the Holland America Line – Holland America Line Cruises…


The HAL liner NIEUW AMSTERDAM in the 1950s with the SS UNITED STATES

Liner History would not be complete, without studying the venerable Holland America Line.  One of the last lines to offer Trans-Atlantic crossings on a regular basis before the Jet took the fun out of crossing the pond.

The Holland America Line was founded in 1873 as the Dutch-America Steamship Company (Dutch: Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij), a shipping and passenger line. Because it was headquartered in Rotterdam and provided service to the Americas, it became known as Holland America Line (HAL). Its headquarters are now in Seattle, Washington.

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Mapping of the RMS Titanic wreck begins…

LINER HISTORY – CRUISE SHIP HISTORY – Mapping of the RMS Titanic wreck begins…

The bow of the RMS Titanic lies on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada…

THE RMS TIANTIC…

A high-tech expedition that aims to create a detailed map of the wreckage of the Titanic has begun exploring the ocean floor where the ship sank nearly one hundred years ago, the crew said Thursday.

Sonar onboard an automated submersible vehicle combined with high-resolution video will be used to create three dimensional images of the fabled ocean-liner.

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HOLLAND AMERICA LINE HISTORY – BOAT DAYS FROM NEW YORK IN THE 1950s and 1960s

HOLLAND AMERICA LINE HISTORY – BOAT DAY: Sailings from New York aboard the Holland-America Line’s SS Nieuw Amsterdam & US Line’s SS United States during the glamor period of trans-Atlantic crossings from the 1950s.

ANOTHER BOAT DAY: The gorgeous mid-century ship TSS ROTTERDAM sailing from New York on May 23, 1966.

The end of a full schedule of trans-Atlantic crossings would be heading into its last decade.

The videos are from www.shipgeek.com – visit this great site.

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Social History: What they read in 1926!

Social History: What they read in 1926!

Great youTube video – all about 1926.  Take a look – just great.  Just press the arrow!

Radio Magazine – 1926

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History of Princess Cruises

Cruise Line History

Princess Cruises History: Exploring the origin of Princess Cruises and their naming the “Princess” ships. Where did the name of each of their “Love Boat” cruise ships originate?

A painting Cruising The Past commissioned of the first “Love Boat” and original cruise ship of Princess Cruises – the PRINCESS PATRICIA. Ready to sail from Los Angeles, seen docked at the foot of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, for her first (Princess) cruise to Mexico.

The Princess Patricia under steam. How she would have appeared when making her first Princess Line Cruises.

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Egypt’s passenger steamship company: The Khedivial Mail Line

Khedivial Mail Line once operated service between Egypt and New York.

SS Mohamed Ali el-Kebir

The original name of the company is unknown but it is thought that it was founded in 1858. The Khedivial Mail Steamship & Graving Dock Co. was formed in 1898 to operate ships and docks owned by various departments of the Egyptian Government, but little is known of the early years of the company or it’s ships.

The new fleet was registered under the British flag and operated passenger and cargo services between Alexandria, Constantinople and Syrian ports and between Suez and Red Sea ports. Later services were extended to Piraeus, Malta, Marseilles and Cyprus. P & O Line took control of the company between 1919 and 1924.

In 1936 the company was re-formed in Alexandria as Pharaonic Mail Line and in 1941 was changed to Khedivial Mail Line. Services from the Mediterranean to Boston and New York started in 1948 and from 1951 calls were often made at Charleston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. A Port Said – Bombay – Karachi service started in 1953.

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Greetings from the Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Steam Ship Company – 1913

The Aorangi (17,491 grt, 600 ft. long) was delivered in 1924 to the Union Line of New Zealand.  She was transferred in 1931 to the Canadian Australasian Line, a company formed jointly by the Union Line and Canadian Pacific to operate the transpacific service between Australia/New Zealand and Canada. She was sold for scrap in 1953.

Pacific Liner History: Canadian-Australian Steam Ship Company / Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Steam Ship Company

Established in 1893, the Canadian-Australian Steam Ship Company operated a service between Sydney, Brisbane, Honolulu, Victoria, British Columbia (BC) and Vancouver, BC.

The Brisbane call was eventually abandoned and replaced by Suva, Fiji.

The route became Sydney, Wellington, Suva, Honolulu, Victoria BC, Vancouver.

The company was reconstituted as the Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Steam Ship Company under the joint control of James Huddart and the New Zealand Shipping Company who took complete control of the line in 1898.

Post card posted in Honolulu.  Destination Minnesota. 1913

In 1900 the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand acquired a controlling interest in the company and assumed responsibility for outstanding contracts and agreements.

In 1910 the purchase was completed and the Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Steam Ship Company became an integral part of the fleet of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand.

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NEW YORK SOCIAL DIARY FEATURES THE TRAIN OF THE STARS – THE SUPER CHIEF

Social History: Cruising the Past editor – Michael L. Grace – celebrates the Santa Fe Railroad’s Super Chief – the train of the stars – and an “exclusive club” that ran daily between Chicago and Los Angeles with a feature story on New York Social Diary.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE SUPER CHIEF FEATURE
in the NEW YORK SOCIAL DIARY.

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THE ANDREA DORIA TRAGEDY HAPPENED 57 YEARS AGO

THE ANDREA DORIA TRAGEDY HAPPENED 57 YEARS AGO.

Social History and Cruise History.  Looking back to  July 25, 1956.

The 57th Memorial Anniversary of the sinking of the Andrea Doria. The first SOS reached the Coast Guard station in East Moriches, Long Island, and an armada of ships were dispatched to rescue more than 700 passengers.

Struck in the side, the top-heavy Andrea Doria immediately started to list severely to starboard, which left half of her lifeboats unusable. The consequent shortage of lifeboats might have resulted in significant loss of life, but improvements in communications and rapid responses by other ships averted a disaster similar in scale to the RMS Titanic disaster of 1912. 1660 passengers and crew were rescued and survived, while 46 people died as a consequence of the collision. The evacuated luxury liner capsized and sank the following morning.

Ad from Holiday Magazine a year before the Andrea Doria tragedy.

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Lord Ismay, the Princess Olga Koudacheff and Bobby Riggs aboard the United States Lines.

Liner History – United States Line magazine ad from the 1950s. Aboard the SS United States and SS America.   Celebrities were featured in many of the United States Lines ads.  Including Lord Ismay, the Princess Olga Koudacheff and Bobby Riggs.

To get a larger picture of the ads… click on the images.

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