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Post by Jaga on Jun 28, 2022 15:53:53 GMT -7
Hello guys, just in case some of you don't know. I am on the cruise with Ela and John. It is an interesting adventure. The crew/service is mainly from Indonesia and Philipines. But the highest rank people - the capitan etc are Dutch. The majority of guests are from the US, since the route is from Boston to Montreal. We will float along St. Lawrence river soon. I talked to some crew members, they told me that they also know Dutch, especially Indonesian people. So, Pieter should feel proud of being from such an amazing country that influenced so much of the world. I have no access to the facebook now, just to the regular internet.
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Post by pieter on Jun 29, 2022 11:15:25 GMT -7
Jaga,
The Holland America Line is interesting, because it played a huge role in the immigration of European immigrants to the USA in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Holland America Line was founded in 1873, as the Nederlandsche-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (Dutch-American Steamship Company), in short Holland-Amerika Lijn, a shipping and passenger line. It was headquartered in Rotterdam, in the building which is now the Hotel New York. It provided service from its European base to the Americas over the North Atlantic. The company was formed as a result of the reorganization of an earlier company, Plate, Reuchlin & Co. The company's first ship was the original Rotterdam (1872), which sailed its 15-day maiden voyage from the Netherlands to New York City on October 15, 1872. Other services were started to other new world ports, including Hoboken, Baltimore and South America. Cargo service to New York started in 1809. During it's first 25 years (1873-1898), the Holland America Line carried 400,000 people from Europe to the Americas. Other North American ports were added during the early 20th century.
Among these 400,000 people were Polish Roman Catholics, Ukrainian Greek Catholics and Orthodox Christians, Russian Orthodox christians and a lot of Ashkenazi Central- and Eastern-European Jews from Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, and also Austria and Germany. American Judaism is largely based on these Central- and Eastern-European Jewish immigrants. In the same time the core of the Polish American group will stem probably from this first large wave of Slavic immigrants from Central- and Eastern Europe. In White Anglo Saxon Protestant USA many of the white Americans didn't like these newcommers at first and also in the South there was xenophobia, discrimination, racism, aggression and violence. The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) hated Jews, Roman Catholics and Blacks. The Americans of that time weren't that fond of these new Slavic, Jewish, Irish and Italian immigrants and there was also hostility towards German immigrants.
Irish and German Catholic immigration was opposed in the 1850s by the Nativist/Know Nothing movement, originating in New York in 1843 as the American Republican Party (not to be confused with the modern Republican Party). It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to American values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Active mainly from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts met with little success. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middle-class and Protestant membership fragmented over the issue of slavery, most often joining the Republican Party by the time of the 1860 presidential election.
European immigrants joined the Union Army in large numbers, including 177,000 born in Germany and 144,000 born in Ireland, a full 16% of the Union Army. Many Germans could see the parallels between slavery and serfdom in the old fatherland.
"New immigration" was a term from the late 1880s that refers to the influx of Catholic and Jewish immigrants from southern and eastern Europe (areas that previously sent few immigrants). The great majority came through Ellis Island in New York, thus making the Northeast a major target of settlement. However there were a few efforts, such as the Galveston Movement, to redirect immigrants to other ports and disperse some of the settlement to other areas of the country.
Nativists feared the new arrivals lacked the political, social, and occupational skills needed to successfully assimilate into American culture. This raised the issue of whether the U.S. was still a "melting pot," or if it had just become a "dumping ground," and many old-stock Americans worried about negative effects on the economy, politics, and culture. A major proposal was to impose a literacy test, whereby applicants had to be able to read and write in their own language before they were admitted. In Southern, Central Europe and Eastern Europe, literacy was low because the governments did not invest in schools.
Folks I see similarities with today, when native West-Europeans fear the arrival of illiterate immigrants from Northern Africa (Maghreb region; Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia), Turkey, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Central-Africa and Western-Africa.
Jaga, the Dutch sailed the oceans, seas, rivers, lakes and chanals for centuries, because we are a Merchant Navy, Fishing, transport and Trade country. Our ports/Harbours connected us to the sees, oceans and large European countries via rivers and land (and later air).
Although the Dutch Republic (the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands also known as he United Provinces of the Netherlands) was small and contained only around 1.5 million inhabitants, it controlled a worldwide network of seafaring trade routes. Through its trading companies, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (GWC), it established a Dutch colonial empire. The income from this trade allowed the Dutch Republic to compete militarily against much larger countries. It amassed a huge fleet of 2,000 ships, initially larger than the fleets of England and France combined. Major conflicts were fought in the Eighty Years' War against Spain (from the foundation of the Dutch Republic until 1648), the Dutch–Portuguese War (1602–1663), four Anglo-Dutch Wars (the first against the Commonwealth of England, two against the Kingdom of England, and a fourth against the Kingdom of Great Britain: 1652–1654, 1665–1667, 1672–1674 and 1780–1784), the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), and War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697) against the Kingdom of France.
The Holland America LIne (Holland Amerika Lijn)m comes from that tradition. Together with the Danes, the British, Norwegians and Greeks we are the seafaring people of Europe. Poland is more a country with a land mass, Germany is similar, but Denmark, the Netherlands and Greece are seafaring nations. It is in our blood and soul, the connection wuth the North Sea, the Rhine, Maas, Waal and Ijssel rivers, our connection with our lakes, chanals (the Amsterdam, Middelburg and Leiden chanals). Growing up in Zeeland playing around, in and above the water was a natural state of being for me. Swimming, rowing, sailing with friends (Friesland -Frisian lakes- sailing holidays), Wadden islands holidays (Schiermonnik oog), being used to many bridges over rivers and chanals. The stuggle and fight with the sea shaped the character of many coastal Dutch people. During the centuries the North sea swallowed towns and villages during storm surges. An example of that is Saeftinghe or Saaftinge was a town in the southwest Netherlands, located in eastern Zeelandic Flanders, near Nieuw-Namen. It existed until 1584. It is now a swamp known as the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe (Dutch: Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe) and an official nature reserve area.
Most of the land around the town was lost in the All Saint's flood of 1570 (the Allerheiligenvloed). Four years later the drowned land reached into what is now Belgium. Only Saeftinghe and some surrounding land managed to remain dry.
In 1584, during the Eighty Years' War, Dutch soldiers found themselves forced to destroy the last intact dike and Saeftinghe sunk into the waters of the Scheldt. Attempts to reclaim the area were made throughout history; the most serious project taking place in 1907, but even then only the Hertogin Hedwigepolder was conquered from the sea. Nowadays a hamlet is located within the reclaimed portions of land, called Emmadorp [nl]. Saaftinge itself has never been retrieved. In 1970, all of the area was incorporated into the municipality of Hulst, when Graauw en Langendam and Clinge ceased to exist.
Jaga, feel proud of being from such an amazing country that influenced so much of the world has different sides to the coin. From one side I am proud when I see Dutch influences from Poland (Gdańsk) to South-Africa (Kaapstad/Cape Towwn), and from New York to London, and from Ghana to Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. I hope that you sensed my irony in my last words, I am not proud of the Dutch slave trade from Ghana to Suriname. The share of the Dutch Republic in the Atlantic slave trade was on average around five per cent, at least 500,000 people. The slave trade by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) has in their starting years contributed to the status of the Netherlands as an economic world power.
Hanged by the rib was a punishment for a rebellious slave in Suriname. Of course carried out by Dutch colonials or their henchmen. Illustration by William Blake at Stedmans Reize naar Surinamen.
The Dutch Slave Coast (Dutch: Slavenkust) refers to the trading posts of the Dutch West India Company on the Slave Coast, which lie in contemporary Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Nigeria. The primary purpose of the trading post was to supply slaves for the Dutch colonies in the Americas. Dutch involvement on the Slave Coast started with the establishment of a trading post in Offra in 1660. Later, trade shifted to Ouidah, where the English and French also had a trading post. Political unrest caused the Dutch to abandon their trading post at Ouidah in 1725, now moving to Jaquim, at which place they built Fort Zeelandia. By 1760, the Dutch had abandoned their last trading post in the region.
The Slave Coast was settled from the Dutch Gold Coast, on which the Dutch were based in Elmina. During its existence, the Slave Coast held a close relationship to that colony.
So if you look at the history of a nation you can be proud of certain things and less proud or even ashamed of others. I consider the slave trade and the treatment of black human beings by white Europeans on these slave ships as immoral, vicious, brutal, inhumane and a crime against humanity. Black slaves died on these ships on the oceans and they died in the plantations of Southern America, the Carribean and in North Amercia.
The print by Hendrik de Leth shows the slave ship docked in Amsterdam. Photograph: de Volkskrant
Profile of a slave ship
Statues depicting the slave trade in the Stone Town district on the island of the Zanzibar (Unguja in African), in Tanzania. The third pillar of the economy was slaves, which gave Zanzibar an important place in the Indian Ocean slave trade, the Indian Ocean equivalent of the better-known Triangular Trade. Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. The three-way trans-Atlantic trade known historically as the triangular trade was the Atlantic slave trade, for example the trade during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of slaves, sugar (often in its liquid form, molasses), and rum between West Africa, the West Indies and the northern colonies of British North America.[1][2] The slaves grew the sugar from which was brewed rum, which in turn was traded for more slaves. In this circuit, the sea lane west from Africa to the West Indies (and later, also to Brazil) was known as the Middle Passage; its cargo were abducted or recently purchased African slaves.
Depiction of the classical model of the triangular trade
Depiction of the triangular trade of slaves, sugar, and rum with New England instead of Europe as the third corner
lab.nos.nl/projects/slavernij/index-english.html
The Apartheid system in South-Africa has Dutch roots, because the Afrikaner Calvinist white South-Africans are descendants of mainly Dutch people, but also Germans and French people. Their original progenitors, especially in paternal lines, also included smaller numbers of Flemish, French Huguenot, German, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish immigrants. South Africa's white population in 1691 has been described as the Afrikaner "parent stock", as no significant effort was made to secure more colonist families after the dawn of the 18th century, and a majority of Afrikaners are descended from progenitors who arrived prior to 1700 in general and the late 1600s in particular. Although some two-thirds of this figure were Dutch-speaking Hollanders, there were at least 150 French Huguenots and a nearly equal number of Low German speakers. Also represented in smaller numbers were Swedes, Danes, and Belgians. The architect of Apartheid, Hendrik Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), an authoritarian, socially conservative leader and an Afrikaner nationalist was Dutch by birth. Hendrik Verwoerd was born in Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1901. Verwoerd was South Africa's only foreign-born prime minister. Verwoerd played a significant role in socially engineering apartheid, the country's system of institutionalized racial segregation and white supremacy, and implementing its policies as Minister of Native Affairs (1950–1958) and then as prime minister (1958–1966). Furthermore, Verwoerd played a vital role in helping the far-right National Party come to power in 1948, serving as their political strategist and propagandist, becoming party leader upon his premiership.
Jaga, I am proud of the Dutch painters of the Golden Age; Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch, Jan Steen, Paulus Potter, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Jacob van Ruisdael, Pieter Saenredam, Aelbert Cuyp, Adriaen van Ostade, Jan Both, Allaert van Everdingen, Caesar van Everdingen, Jan van Goyen, Abraham van Beijeren, Pieter Claesz, Willem van Aelst, Willem Claeszoon (son of Claes) Heda, Jan Davidszoon (son of david) de Heem, Jan Weenix, Frans Post, Albert Eckhout, Philips Wouwerman, Gerard van Honthorst, Gabriel Metsu, Govert Flinck, Gerrit Dou, Hendrick ter Brugghen, Judith Leyster, David Bailly, Meindert Hobbema, Ludolf Bakhuizen, Daniël Vosmaer, Gerrit Berckheyde and Jan van Beerstraten and etc.Flood control in the NetherlandsFlood control is an important issue for the Netherlands, as due to its low elevation, approximately two thirds of its area is vulnerable to flooding, while the country is densely populated. Natural sand dunes and constructed dikes, dams, and floodgates provide defense against storm surges from the sea. River dikes prevent flooding from water flowing into the country by the major rivers Rhine and Meuse, while a complicated system of drainage ditches, canals, and pumping stations (historically: windmills) keep the low-lying parts dry for habitation and agriculture. Water control boards are the independent local government bodies responsible for maintaining this system.
In modern times, flood disasters coupled with technological developments have led to large construction works to reduce the influence of the sea and prevent future floods. These have proved essential over the course of Dutch history, both geographically and militarily, and has greatly impacted the lives of many living in the cities affected, stimulating their economies through constant infrastructural improvement.
Jaga, I am proud of our commercial navy, Fishing fleet, our Cruise ships, our sailors and our position in the world as seafaring nation and water management, I am proud of our sophisticated Food industry, our Dutch architects, designers, ingeneers, artists, diplomats, farmers, fishermen, musicians and my Dutch family next to my Polish family. Yes, I am proud of the present day Netherlands, despite errors and some mistakes in the past (Srebrenica, slave trade, collaboration during world war 2, behavior of some compatriots abroad and etc.). It is never black and white. Being from a world family I am proud of my Dutch, Polish, American and South-African family and of the Danish, Belgian and French far away branches. Being from a world family and of mixed heritage you are not 100% Dutch, but in a mild manner a Dutch patriot, European and a person of the Western world which is larger than Europe. Also a world citizen.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by pieter on Jun 29, 2022 11:26:56 GMT -7
The ss Rotterdam (V), once the flagship (or "ship of state") of the Holland-Amerika Lijn (Holland America Line). This ship was famous for its beautiful design and high quality interiors, made by many dutch artisans. She sailed from 1959 until her retirement in September 2000. Since then it is a hotel and museum in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The fifth SS Rotterdam, also known as "The Grande Dame", is a former ocean liner and cruise ship, and has been a hotel ship in Rotterdam, Netherlands since 2010. She was launched by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in a gala ceremony on 13 September 1958, and was completed the following summer.
The Rotterdam was the last great Dutch "ship of state", employing the finest artisans from the Netherlands in her construction and fitting out process.[2] Her career spanned forty-one years. She sailed from 1959 until her final retirement in September 2000.
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Post by pieter on Jun 29, 2022 11:34:03 GMT -7
The Nieuw Amsterdam was a Dutch ocean liner built in Rotterdam for the Holland America Line. This Nieuw Amsterdam, the second of four Holland America ships with that name, is considered by many to have been Holland America's finest ship. It was the most popular ship of the 30s besides the Queen Mary.
The SS Nieuw Amsterdam, launched in 1937 by the Holland America Line, quickly became one of the most beloved ocean liners to ever sail the Atlantic. She was beautifully designed, often called the Darling of the Dutch, and designated a ship of peace. But when the Netherlands fell to German occupation in World War 2, she was converted into a troopship for the allied war effort. After the war, she returned to regular passenger service and her beauty earned her wide popularity among travelers for nearly 3 decades.
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Post by pieter on Jun 29, 2022 11:41:58 GMT -7
MS Prinsendam, a Holland-America Line cruise ship built at Shipyard de Merwede in the Netherlands in 1973, was 427 feet long and typically carried about 350 passengers and 200 crew members. The ship was sailing through the Gulf of Alaska, approximately 120 miles south of Yakutat, Alaska, at midnight on October 4, 1980, when a fire broke out in the engine room. The vessel's master, Cornelis Dirk Wabeke (April 13, 1928 – August 16, 2011), declared the fire out of control one hour later and the Prinsendam sent a radio call requesting immediate assistance. The United States Coast Guard at Communications Station Kodiak, Alaska requested that the Prinsendam send out an SOS, but the captain declined. Chief Radio Officer Jack van der Zee sent one out anyway about a half-hour later, which alerted nearby vessels.
United States Coast Guard, USAF Air Rescue Service, and Royal Canadian Air Force CH-113 helicopters which had greater range, rescued the passengers and crew. Two USAF pararescuemen were inserted into one of the lifeboats. This boat was the last rescued with a flare spotted by lookout SN Louis Roderick aboard the USCGC Woodrush which was then relayed to the onscene commander, USCGC Boutwell. The cutters USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719), USCGC Mellon (WHEC-717), and USCGC Woodrush (WLB-407) responded in concert with other vessels in the area. The Sohio Intrepid and the Williamsburgh assisted on scene. The Williamsburgh served a vital role as a communications platform and was the first vessel to arrive on scene and take passengers on board. The Sohio Intrepid served as a platform for one of the USAF helicopters that was unable to refuel in flight. The rescue took place during a period of steadily deteriorating weather. The passenger vessel capsized and sank on October 8. The rescue is particularly noteworthy because of the distance traveled by the rescuers, the coordination of independent organizations, and the fact that all 520 passengers and crew were rescued without loss of life or serious injury.
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Post by pieter on Jun 29, 2022 11:46:36 GMT -7
The SS "Statendam" was a cruise ship commissioned by the Holland-America Line (HAL) on 29 January 1919, built by the yard Harland & Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. In 1922 the further outfitting of the ship was suspended due to the steel crisis in England. In 1924 the yard decided to prepare the hull so that it could be launched on 11 September 1924.
Subsequently, the hull was located on the finishing quay in Belfast until 1927 without any work being done on it.
In 1927, the N.V. Maildienst der Holland Amerika Lijn decided to have the hull towed to the Netherlands, where Wilton Fijenoord was ordered to finish the ship. The first trial run of the hull can be seen in this film.
On 20 April, while being towed by the tugs Roode Zee, Polarzee, Baltic Sea and Seine, the tow line broke at Hoek van Holland, causing the captain and 5 crew members to be injured. The hull arrived in Schiedam and Wilton completed the ship.
On 4 April 1929 the ship was handed over to the HAL during the official sea trials. There were more than 300 guests on board, including HRH Prince Hendrik, seven ministers of the first Dutch cabinet De Geer and mayor Patijn of Rotterdam. Images of this can be seen in the film.
On her maiden voyage, which took place on 11 April 1929, the Statendam III sailed to New York. Many more transatlantic crossings and other cruises followed in subsequent years.
On 24 November 1939, the “Statendam" started its last round trip to New York, after which it arrived in Rotterdam again on Boxing Day. The subsequent next departure on December 29 was canceled and the ship was laid up at the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam.
After the German invasion on 10 May 1940, the "Statendam", together with the "Boschdijk" and the "Veendam", was still located on the Wilhelminakade. The next day the Germans had occupied the Statendam and entrenched themselves with machine guns on the quarterdeck. Then there was a fierce firefight with Dutch soldiers in which the "Statendam" caught fire. This film shows scarce images of this fire.
The "Statendam" was on fire for several days and was then a total loss. In August 1940 the burned-out hull was sold to the Frans Rijsdijk scrapyard in Hendrik Ido Ambacht.
The original film fragments have been motion-stabilized, speed-corrected, restored, enhanced and colorized by means of modern A.I. video software.
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Post by pieter on Jun 29, 2022 11:59:03 GMT -7
Hotel New York is a hotel in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, based in the former office building of the Holland America Lines (Nederlandsch Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij). It was used as temporary accommodation for European emigres in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: "Often, package deals were available which would combine a train ticket, hotel accommodation and passage over the oceans."
When sailing from Rotterdam to New York was superseded by flying, the building became derelict in the 1980s. It was squatted in 1988.
The building received a new lease on life when entrepreneurs Daan van der Have and Hans Loos, together with designer Dorine de Vos saw the possibility of making a hotel. After several years of rebuilding, the hotel opened in 1993. Since 2006 Hotel New York is operated by WestCord Hotels, the same company that owns the ss Rotterdam, the 1950's flagship of the Holland Amerika Lijn.
Situated in the Kop van Zuid neighbourhood, the building has been a national heritage site since 2000.
The Dutch singer Anouk wrote her album Hotel New York in the hotel.
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Post by karl on Jun 29, 2022 14:45:53 GMT -7
Pieter
Once again my self must say, you have done a wonderful work of a very historical and informational reply of The Netherlands and its place in history of accomplishments. One that would be the pride of most any student{s} of history.
Of course The Netherlands {Dutch} were not perfect during the expansions of countries of the industrial world, but neither were most others in Africa and The New America with their slave use for labour. For in those days of plantations, there were only horses, mules and slaves to do the work, for tractors had not been invented in those early days.
In spite of our frequent wars, we are still fortunate to live in these times as people.
Karl
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