WORLD SHIP SOCIETY

The Kingdom of the Netherlands included colonies in the Far East from the 17th century onwards until 1948 when they became the Republic of Indonesia.  With the advent of steam, the Dutch VOC (United (East) Indies Company) morphed into several companies such as the Netherland Line, Rotterdam Lloyd, and Royal Packet.  In the same way the British Empire had morphed the P&O, Orient and B.I shipping companies.

To maintain a regular service to and from the mother country, a large fleet was needed to sail like clockwork through the Suez Canal.  The inter-island fleet of Royal Packet (KPM) was even larger.  The heyday was the 1920’s and 30’s with ships such as JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT, the DEMPO and BALOERAN, and a brief resurrection after WWII with the MS ORANJE and MS WILLEM RUYS.

Due to political reasons, the fleets became smaller and smaller and eventually all companies were absorbed into Nedlloyd.  With containerization, Nedlloyd eventually merged into Maersk Lines.  Apart from some office buildings in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Far East, there is not much left that reminds us of those days.  In the Netherlands those times are known as ‘Tempo Doeloe’ which is Indonesian for ‘The Good Times.’

Capt. Albert will condense this enormous fleet and the story of its worldwide reach into his presentation.  He will also provide insights into the rich Dutch Empire shipping history.

Capt. Albert J. Schoonderbeek served with Holland America Line for 42 years; culminating in his appointment as the line’s Fleet Master. He writes and lectures frequently about Holland America Line and passenger ship history, and he maintains a website and blog www.captainalbert.com.  In addition to authoring four books on the topic of Holland America Line, he is also the co-author of HAL’s official 125-year company history.

(Photo: Capt. Schoonderbeek Collection)