Royal Netherlands Steamship Company (KNSM) Archival Collection

Royal Netherlands Steamship Co. / Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij, Amsterdam (KNSM )

This long-established Dutch shipping company was one of the really great Caribbean, Central American and South American traders with a vast fleet. Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maats (KNSM) was founded on 1st October 1856 by a group of Dutch entrepreneurs. KNSM provided cargo and passenger services from Northern Europe to the West Indies, Central, and South America.

Royal Netherlands KNSM Ephemera

Front Cover - SS Oranje Nassau Farewell Dinner Menu - 22 August 1926

1926-08-22 SS Oranje Nassau Farewell Dinner Menu Postcard

Vintage Bill of Fare from 22 August 1926 featured Suprême of Turbot à la Nantua, Leg of Roebuck à la Niçoise, and Fancy Cake for dessert.

 

1936-08-17 SS Oranje Nassau

1936-08-17 SS Oranje Nassau Passenger List

  • Class of Passengers: First and Second Class
  • Date of Departure: 17 August 1936
  • Route: Curacao to the Dominican Republic
  • Commander: Captain P. F. Smit

History of the Royal Netherlands Steamship Co.

Established in July 1856. Commenced operations with a few steamers, and from time to time gradually extended the service by the formation of new lines, and enlarged the fleet, until at the present time they own 37 modern vessels, with a gross tonnage of about 60,000.

To facilitate the present-day traffic to the Rhine via Amsterdam, the company inaugurated the Nieuwe Rijnvaart Maatschappij (The New Rhine Navigation Co.), which now comprises 10 cargo steamers.

The company has its head offices in Amsterdam, and the present share capital is 5,000,000 gilders, and that of the New Rhine Navigation Co. 500,000 gilders.

Regular services are maintained between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and North and South Europe; from Amsterdam to Alexandria, Caiffa, Beyrout, Alexandretta, Mersina, Malta, Piraeus, Salonica, Constantinople, Smyrna, Patras, Genoa, Leghorn, Naples, Catania, Messina, Palermo, Venice, Trieste, Fiume, Cadiz, Malaga, Carthagena, Alicante, Tarragona Valencia, Benicarlo, Seville, Tangier, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Bordeaux, La Pallice, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stettin, Danzig, Konigsberg, Riga, Libau, Windau, Reval, St. Petersburg, Moscow; from Rotterdam to Alexandria, Caiffa, Beyrout, Alexandretta, Mersina, Italy, Spain, Tangier, and Gibraltar.

Fleet (1908)

  1. Achilles
  2. Adonis
  3. Apollo
  4. Atlas
  5. Aurora
  6. Castor
  7. Clio
  8. Danae
  9. Diana
  10. Euterpe
  11. Flora
  12. Hebe
  13. Helena
  14. Iris
  15. Leii
  16. Mars
  17. Mercurius
  18. Minerva
  19. Neptunus
  20. Nereus
  21. Niobe
  22. Oberon
  23. Orion
  24. Planet
  25. Pluto
  26. Pollux
  27. Pomona
  28. Saturnus
  29. Stella
  30. Tellus
  31. Themis
  32. Titan
  33. Uranus
  34. Venus
  35. Vesta
  36. Vulcanus
  37. Zeus

Herbert B. Mason, Editor, "Royal Netherlands Steamship Co.," Encyclopaedia of Ships and Shipping, London: W. H. Smith & Son, Printers, 1908 p. 552

The Royal Netherlands West India Mail line announces the inauguration of a fortnightly passenger and freight service to Plymouth, Havre and Amsterdam
from Trinidad, Venezuela, the Dutch West Indies, Colombia, Costa Rica and
Colon, Panama Canal Zone. - The Nautical Gazette, 8 January 1921

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