|
After the Second World War had come to an
end, the Holland America Line began
building up their fleet with liners
designed to carry cargo and passengers.
The first three of these ships were
Westerdam, Noordam and the
rebuilt Veendam. These three
cargo/passenger liners became such a
success that the company ordered three
more in 1948. The first of these three
ships Diemerdyk entered service in
1950. With the escalation of the tourist
trade in the 1950s, the Holland America
Line changed the design of the next two
ships to only carry passengers. The first
of the new ships Ryndam entered
service in 1951 and the second near
identical ship Maasdam followed a
year later. Maasdam set out on her
maiden voyage from Rotterdam - Le Havre
and New York August 11th 1952.
After 16 years crossing the Atlantic
for the Holland America Line,
Maasdam was sold to the Polish
Ocean Lines in 1968. An extensive refit
was carried out at Gdynia before she
re-entered service April 11th 1969 under
the name Stefan Batory. She
soon became extremely profitable
operating between Gydnia, Copenhagen,
Tilbury, Quebec and Montreal in summer
and as a cruise ship in winter. The
conversion of Cunards QE2 to
diesel power in 1987 saw Stefan
Batory become the last
steam-powered liner operating on the
Atlantic run. The aging Stefan
Batory was taken out of service in
1988 to be used as an accommodation ship
at Gothenburg/Sweden. After plans to have
her converted to a luxury cruise ship in
1992 fell through; she spent the next
eight years laid up at Chalkis/Greece.
The introduction of new safety laws in
the late 1990s ended any hope of the
aging ship ever re-entering service. This
led to her being scrapped at
Aliaga/Turkey in 2000. Her sister ship
Ryndam is now permanently moored
at Gulfport/Mississippi where she serves
as a casino ship under the name
Copa Casino.
|