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| Last Friday (October 30, 2009)
Fincantieri opened the floodgates in the drydock containing Holland
America's Nieuw Amsterdam. That started the process of the water flowing
in and signified the first time the ship had actually touched
water. |
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| The process of filling the dock took until
Saturday morning when the ship was actually towed out to the finishing
dock where it will remain while the interior is completed. Nieuw
Amsterdam will then enter service in July 2010. |
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| Prior to the opening of the valves on Friday,
in accordance with tradition, two coins were welded to the ship's mast.
These were minted on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Henry
Hudson's discovery of the river in New York that bears his name. In
1609, Hudson sailed his ship Half Moon up the river, and that eventually
led to the establishment of the first permanent Dutch settlement in
North America, Nieuw Amsterdam, which eventually became New York. |
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| The ship now under construction will actually
be the fourth Holland America ship to bear the name Nieuw Amsterdam.
This 1953 poster depicts Nieuw Amsterdam II. |
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