How it started
Early decades
Holland America Line was founded in 1873 as the Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (NASM). Known colloquially and advertised as Holland-Amerika Lijn (HAL), the company was founded after Rotterdam (I) operated its first crossing from Rotterdam to Hoboken in October 1872. Rotterdam (I) operated regular fifteen-day crossings with intermediate stops in Boulogne, France and Plymouth, United Kingdom until she sank in 1883. By that time, the line's fleet had grown to include the combination liners SS W.A. Scholten, SS P. Caland, SS Leerdam, and SS Edam. In 1885, Rotterdam (II) was acquired to replace the original. HAL's first house flag was introduced at around this time, featuring a tri-band of green-white-green derived from the flag of Rotterdam. This design, which was also replicated on ships' funnels, remained unchanged until 1971.Rotterdam (II) operated the line's first pleasure cruise in 1885, transiting the Kiel Canal to Copenhagen. Rotterdam (III) followed in 1897 as the company expanded rapidly. Statendam (I) of 1898 was HAL's first ship of greater than 10,000 gross register tons (GRT) and by the line's 25th anniversary that year, the company had successfully carried over 400,000 immigrants from Europe to North America.
Larger ships
A trio of large ships built at Blohm+Voss entered service starting with SS Potsdam in 1899, Rijndam (I) in 1901, and Noordam (I) in 1902. Each ship measured at greater than 12,000 GRT, increasing the line's capacity significantly. In 1902, the independent line was acquired by the International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM). Owned by American industrialist J.P. Morgan as a price-fixing cartel, Holland America was approached by Harland & Wolff shipyard chairman William Pirrie in a transaction that did not disclose his IMM connections.
As an unwitting member of IMM, the line introduced ever-larger ships including the 16,967 GRT Nieuw Amsterdam (I) of 1905 and the 24,129 GRT Rotterdam (IV) of 1908. Both ships were built by Harland & Wolff.
First World War
From Wikipedia’s article on Holland America Line, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2