- Captain Albert's Website and Blog -

Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

27 February 2011; new entries.

Good morning,

As promised during my last blog, I was planning to put some more articles on line. If you look to the right of this page you will see  that a large number of names have appeared. These are Holland America Line captains from the olden days. I have made a start with putting their bio’s on line. Most pages have at this moment only a photo and the listing of captains is far from complete. More will be added in the future and for some captains I will have to rely greatly on information from other people who will hopefully read this blog.

Also added is the ship’s history of the Ariadne. This ship was never owned by HAL or its predecessor but is of significance as it was the first ever ship that sailed for us.  Therefore I thought it would be fitting to have it included.

Best regards

Capt. Albert

15 Comments

  1. Hello Captain! Just got the email announcement of your new blog entries and I am looking forward to reading the newest additions to your blog. If only I can find my favorite mug so I can sit on the sofa and sip hot chocolate while reading the blog and listening to the sound of rain pattering against the window.(Typical Seattle weather…)

    -C

  2. Dear Captain,
    Several names of masters of the past are taking me back to the days I was in HAL. I suppose you are still collecting names and looking for their bio’s.
    I have a few names: Capt. Arie van Dijk (kleine Arie)
    Capt. Jonker
    Capt. Berend-Jan Kunst

    Looking forward to your new entries and with kind regards.
    Elbert L.J.

  3. I have really missed your blog while you are on vacation! Watching Dateline on TV tonight and they are featuring the infamous sinking of the Greek ship Oceanus off the south coast of South Africa. Hope to sail with you in May on the Prinsendam. I did this voyage in 2010 and 2009. Really appreciate you writing this blog.

  4. I have a question.
    I have noticed that the wake at the stern of the ship seems different on the Port Side compared to the Starbard side.
    Is this my imagination or while in transit the speed of the pods can be different?

  5. Missed Career at Sea

    February 28, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Fantastic, Captain ! What work there must have been collecting ! You must have attacked it with “razendschnelle” speed ? Even the Captain that got me across from the Netherlands to Canada is included 🙂 Yes, yes; I have gotten my Mariner’s Club Membership number out of it just recently …

  6. Thank you Captain for the new blog regarding the Captains. Its great to have you back on line. We have missed your blog.

    We are looking forward to seeing you in September on the Prinsendam. Take care

    Cheers for now Jennifer

  7. Just finished reading through the captain’s profiles and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate the navigation links between the individual pages for each captain. It is a ‘little’ detail, but it makes the reading experience more efficient and pleasant. Thanks.

  8. Diane Amison-Loring

    March 4, 2011 at 4:00 am

    Thank you, Captain!
    I am looking forward to “traveling with you” as you go back on ship March 4th. Fair wind and following seas, always!

  9. Thomas Farrar

    March 4, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    Captain Albert, Thank you for posting such a wonderful blog. Your effort is very much appreciated! Do you know of a blog or link for us to check and see a list of current ship’s captains?

    • Good morning,

      There is no listing of the current captains on any hal site. We have 30 of them who move on regular basis from ship to ship so it would be a lot of work for the company to keep track of the, and uptodate.

      Best regards

      Capt. Albert

  10. Diane Amison-Loring

    March 6, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    Hi Captain,
    Please, when are you going to be restarting your blog?
    I thought you were going back on ship on March 4th…
    Thanks. I can hardly wait!

    • Hello there,

      I will be back on board March 12. so depending weather and other mayhem my first post should pop up again on the 13th. sometime during the day
      Best regards
      Capt. Albert

  11. Greets/Groetjes Capt. This (the long line of HAL captain bios) is really interesting stuff! I don’t know if you have a chance to advise when the first HAL commodore came into being, what the background of the rank/title was, and why that tradition is no longer followed by HAL in contrast with lines like Cunard and Princess. All the best with your research!

    • Hello Copper,

      I will post something about that in the future. However to give a short answer, the first commodore was Capt. Bonjer in 1893 when the company existed for 25 years. The last commodore was Capt. Auke de Jong who retired in 1968. The company decided to stop the commodore thing as they found that, as the company went into cruising it, was not something that fitted in the modern world.
      Best regards
      Capt. Albert

  12. Capt. Thanks a lot for ‘splaining that and have a safe trip to PRDM. Looking forward to reading your daily’s again! Het beste!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.