Last evening I had an interesting evening in relation to my Hal history hobby. I had the privilege to meet the great grandson of the 2nd captain of the company Capt. E. Deddes who was the first master of the ss Maas (2nd ship of the company) and of the P.C Caland, both ships that stood at the basis of the success of the Holland America Line. It turned out that his aunt had written a biography about this captain and I will get a chance in September to get a copy of that book. That all ties in with a little project that I am working on during my leave periods and that is to compile a listing of all the HAL captains that have ever served with the company. Eventually the listing with photos and biography’s will appear on this blog. 2nd event of the evening was dinner with the chairman of ss Rotterdam preservation society (Stichting Behoud Stoomschip Rotterdam) Mr. Klaas Krijnen and his better half. He and his society have been the coordinating force behind the conception of the project and the final arrival of the ship in Rotterdam. Something to have a lot of respect for as it was not an easy journey. Now the society is focusing on restoring more and more original details to the ship and creating ideas for the use of non utilized spaces onboard. In 2007 I was able to help out a little bit by transporting the top of the ships mast from Ketchikan, Alaska to Europe. The mast is now standing near the entrance to the ship.
The ss Rotterdam (V) once proud flagship of the Holland America Line, now saved for posterity as a Hotel in the port of Rotterdam.
The above illustrates that the connection between Holland America and the Dutch public is still very strong. In the old days “De Lijn” or “the Line” as everybody called HAL for short, was a house hold name in the Netherlands. Especially in the Rotterdam area, there was nobody who did not have a relative who had not worked for the company during one time or the other. Every cruise that I make, there is somebody who steps forward, Dutch or foreign, who announces that he or she had worked for the company sometime in the past, or had some other connection with us that made them decide to make a cruise on a DAM ship. All of great interest to me of course as everybody has some tidbit of information or anecdote to share that is worthwhile to enjoy and save for posterity. Tomorrow when we are in Vlissingen, which will be a maiden call for us and the company, I will have the honor to meet Mr. Reuchlin, the great grand son of one of the three founders of the company. It really brings history alive.
We left France in glorious sunshine, just before 7 pm. When all tours had come back from exploring the French country side. While sailing out of the port, the Port control station, located on the North end of the breakwater gave three long blasts on their whistle and I responded of course. It is a nice tradition and I always hope that other ports would do the same. The cruise business is all about show and little things like that, the final memory of a port visit, really remains with the guests.
During the night we will be sailing along the French coast and through the Dover Strait. We will be hugging the French and Belgium side of the channel as that is where the Northbound shipping lane is located. The Southbound lane follows the British coast as we did on our way down to Lorient at the beginning of our cruise. Early tomorrow morning we will approach Wandelaar Pilot station, to board the Dutch pilot for Vlissingen (or Flushing in English) It will take about 3 hours to reach the port as our entry has to coincide with the lessening of the current that runs in front of the harbour entrance.
The good people of the city and of the Province of Zeeland have prepared a lot of attractions for our guests to make them feel welcome and to show the potential of this southern part of the Netherlands. I am all for it. It is a nice port to dock in, and it saves me a lot of time by not having to sail the ship all the way upriver to Antwerp. Antwerp is a beautiful city and well worth visiting but the journey up the river Scheldt is less appetizing.
July 20, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Always enjoy your history notes! How/why was the mast for the ss Rotterdam in Alaska? Thanks again!
July 20, 2010 at 7:15 pm
What an entertaining evening! I am looking forward to that history of ship’s masters of the line. It will be fascinating.
I agree with your fondness for the “three blasts” tradition. I am always disappointed when it doesn’t happen upon departure.
Wasn’t there a tradition, in the days before cellphones and whatnot, of the soon-to-depart ship giving one blast, then after some interval, two blasts, then after another interval, the final three blasts upon actual departure from the dock? I seem to remember that from “back in the day”. I thought it was done to provide a warning for any late-comers to the gangway to get a move on!
July 21, 2010 at 12:48 am
How wonderful last evening must have been for you! I pray that your gracious efforts at preserving history will continue to be blessed with an endless parade of people who have information, stories, etc., to offer. I think the way you share this history and the stories of your travels from the bridge is just fantastic! You are truly a special person and I hope to be able to sail with you someday.
God Bless.
July 22, 2010 at 3:54 am
Very interesting history information. I too was wondering why the ss Rotterdam’s mast was in Ketchikan Alaska?
July 22, 2010 at 7:43 pm
When the Rotterdam went to Alaska in the early 80’s its high mast did not fit under the power cables of Seymour Narrows. So 7 meters was cut off but left onboard. In 1997 when the ship made her final voyage in Alaska the Ketchikan agent asked for this mast piece to come ashore and to be used as a flag pole next to the visitor centre. Good idea, so I had it landed. Due to local politics the mast was never used but disappeared to the junk yard of the agency. When I came back to Alaska in 2006 with the Veendam, I searched that junk yard and found the mast back. I knew that I was going with the Veendam to Europe in 2007 so it was very easy to transport it over. Somewhere in the archives there are blogs with more details.
Captain Albert
July 22, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Captain, having read through April-December 2007 recently, I don’t remember any mention of the ss Rotterdam’s mast. Perhaps the archive for posts older than April 2007 are elsewhere? I think the April blogs start off in Venice or somewhere in the Meditteranean sea…(I still remember the ’50-50′ deal comment in Kusadasi- 50 cents for you, 50 dollars for Leslie 🙂 ) Perhaps some blogs did not transfer to the HAL blog site? I plan to do some more reading through the archives this weekend- if I find the blog, I’ll post the date here. After all, my first cruise was on the ss Rotterdam 28 years ago 🙂
August 9, 2010 at 12:27 am
Had a little time to go “googling” today (since it is a drizzly, cloudy day in Seattle and the boat races are conveniently on TV ;-D )– here are a couple of links that mention the ss Rotterdam’s mast:
http://cruise.11.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=476&sid=50dc5227f8bb70ec103cb8217c2378bd
http://www.stoomschiprotterdam.nl/EN/News.shtml
The Stoomschip Rotterdam site’s April 17, 2007 entry (after a bit of scrolling down) mentions that our dear Captain Albert off-loaded the mast on April 14, 2007, in Barcelona, and in the October 2, 2006 entry, has a link to a picture of the mast stored on the ms Veendam. However, the blog entry for April 14, 2007, does not mention this event… Perhaps a story about the mast would be a project for a cloudy, rainy day in england? 🙂