Royal Netherlands Steamship Company (KNSM) History and Ephemera

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

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 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