HOLLAND AMERICA LINE INC.

The original flag used Rotterdam’s green-white-green horizontal stripes with “NASM” on the white band. A company pamphlet confirms dots after the letters, though other sources omit them. The original N27 funnel also drew its bands from Rotterdam’s colours. In 1898 N28 replaced it to avoid confusion with American Line’s black funnel and white band during the Spanish-American War. Green funnel bands are generally narrower than the white, but Brown 1951 and 1958 makes them equal. Stewart 1957’s blue band is considered a probable printing error.

The National Maritime Museum’s N718 example, dated about 1951, measures 1447.8 by 2438.4 mm. Its design is recorded as used from 1873 to 1971. The FOTW NASM drawings differ in font and punctuation: the original Al Fisher credit was later carried over to replacement drawings before Jarig Bakker’s name appeared. Rosanoski questions whether dots may have disappeared around 1950; their actual chronology remains uncertain.

The 1971 corporate flag was orange with three elongated panels stacked diagonally, their sides slanting from lower hoist to upper fly. Earlier illustrations show blue-white-blue, but the company history and Doug Newman specify aqua-white-aqua, a stylisation of the old green-white-green stripes. The design was nicknamed the “slug” logo. Bilderdyk, launched on 1 December 1971, is identified as the first ship to wear it; Bonsor instead dates the change to 1972. H657 replaced the earlier H655 FOTW drawing after Newman’s comments. One website suggests a double-sided flag.

Nüsse’s H254 table flag differs: it has a white field, a darker central panel and more flowing panel corners. Maatschappij vlaggen en schoorstenen renders the emblem in green teal.

H391 belongs to the Holland-Inter-America service linking Atlantic ports in North and South America with Van Nievelt, Goudriaan. The service began around 1949–50, and Holland America withdrew in winter 1959–60. Its funnel had a narrower green band and a broader white band containing a white star on a blue disc.

Newman dates replacement of the “slug” flag to 1983, alongside the new Nieuw Amsterdam. The orange flag carried the revived logo of Nieuw Amsterdam II towering over Henry Hudson’s Halve Maen. He describes a black logo within an oblong border, while Rosanoski thinks his photograph of the actual flag shows a circle. Brown and a company-history passage describe blue rather than black; the disagreement is retained. H658 superseded H656 following Newman’s comments. The revived logo and “Ocean Liner Service” wording accompanied the return to the Holland America Line name, projecting continuity with the liner era although the passenger operation remained cruises.

Rosanoski’s Nieuw Amsterdam observations in January 1999 show both funnel emblems facing forward, unlike Brown’s aft-facing ships. The flag’s ships face the fly. He also rejects the website’s depiction of the funnel emblems facing aft and of the flags as double-sided.

The blue-white-blue house flag was adopted on 30 October 2000, using the Nieuw Amsterdam and Halve Maen logo in blue. Newman associates the change with the new Amsterdam. Norman Martin confirmed the triband aboard Volendam and at Half Moon Cay in November 2003, while Albert S. Kirsch recalled orange flags on cruises in 1997–2000. H659 later replaced the H345 FOTW drawing after Newman’s comments. A Rotterdam photograph may show the emblem nearer the hoist, but Rosanoski is uncertain.

Port and starboard funnel photographs confirm that the vessel bows face forward on both sides, making the starboard image a mirror of the port view rather than following the flag obverse.