I was born in Holland and lived in the town of Schiedam which was one city west of Rotterdam and also sits on the Maas river. The Maas flows from the Atlantic and eventually becomes the Rhine. As a child I would often spend time with the family at a park along the river and watch as the ocean liners, freighters, sea going tugs and harbor craft floated by. This became a long time fascination, hence this page.

When I was five, my parents decided to emigrate to the United States and in March of 1955 we boarded the Maasdam at the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam. After a somewhat rough crossing, we made it to Hoboken with our crate of belongings. We've been in New Jersey ever since.

During the summer of 1959 it was decided that a trip back to Holland to see the relatives was in order. Passage was booked for my mother and I on the, what else, Maasdam. Planning the return trip we were told of this new ship, the Rotterdam that would be sailing on its maiden voyage just about the time we'd be heading back home. Fortunately, my mother made the right choice and I was lucky enough to be on that trip. My experiences will be later found on a link from the Rotterdam page.

That's it, the start of a great avocation. I'll admit, I'm a bit ethnocentric, Dutch heritage and all that,and have made the Holland America Line my primary interest. However, it was one of the great trans-atlantic steamship companies and has been in existance, in one form or another, since 1873. I feel it deserves the recognition given to the other great companies, such as those that still exist today; Cunard, P and O, and those that, unfortunately, no longer exist, the Italian Lines, the French Line, the United States Line and so on. True, some might argue, the Holland America Line ships were never as posh as those of the French and Italian lines, but it did have its own quality and elegance. It was the "Spotless Fleet" and included some wonderful ships: the Rotterdam of 1959, of course; the Nieuw Amsterdam of 1938; and my second favorite, the Statendam of 1929. Even many of the lesser ships cannot be discounted. The early ships had some of the most gorgeous interiors that would rival any of the other lines.

Hans teaching Piet HTML.