1951 - We arrive in Canada and Michael is born

The SS Volendam

 1951 was a momentous year for the den Ouden family. It was the year we moved to Canada. Our small family, Mom, Dad and myself, came over on the Holland-America Line ship the Volendam. There were 1431 passengers on the ship and it arrived at Halifax's Pier 21 on February 22, 1951. I had my second birthday aboard the ship on February 18th.

The Volendam in 1951 at Pier 21, Halifax

The ship was commissioned in 1922 and during World War II it served as a troop transport for the British Ministry of War Transport. After the war she was very active in the post-war immigration wave to North America and Australia sailing to Sydney, New York, Halifax and Quebec from 1947 until she was scrapped in 1952.  Below is a vintage video of sailing aboard the Volendam in 1937.



I had the misfortune to catch Scarlet Fever during the voyage and as soon as we landed I was immediately quarantined.  Eventually I was released and the family moved to Waterdown, Ontario where our first home was the converted loft of an old barn. Dad got a job there as foreman on a farm which employed a number of Dutch immigrants.

Michael was born on April 10, 1951 in Hamilton. The photo gallery has a number of pictures of baby Michael as well as of our first house in Canada and some family pics.

Links of Interest

• Photo Gallery: The den Oudens in 1951
• Vintage Movie: The Volendam in 1929 - first 1:10 is aboard the ship, the rest of the video is a video of Holland in 1929.
• Postwar Dutch Immigration Through Pier 21 - Pier 21 is now an immigration museum
• Stories of the Volendam at GoDutch.com 
• The Pier 21 Story - at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
• More on the Volendam at Cruise Line History
• Wikipedia article on the Volendam
• Volendam Ephemera Collection - includes two passenger lists (but not the one we are on)

Previous Photo Collections

• 1949
• 1950