Florida c1960's

[Shiraz49]

Cleaning out my deceased mother's documents and came across an interesting Diary that my Grandfather kept of a world voyage during 1960 in which they stopped over in Australia fro a few months.

 

Vessel was the M.S. "Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt" .... run by whatever HAL was in those days.

According to his records it sank following a fire with over 100 lives lost.

 

Reading the tour options in Miami was a bit of a giggle.... place names that remind me a Tim Dorsey novel, Coral Gables, Ester Williams swimming pool, Coconut Grove and Jordan Marsh department store ???

 

Obviously the prices were a bit cheaper for a "tour" in those days.

 

Cheers Tom

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[Cienfuegos]

Florida in the 1960s was a very different place than it is now.  For refugees from the Cuban terror, the "Freedom Tower" office building near the harbor was a symbol of hope.  In the 1960s, it was a prominent landmark for arriving ships.  Now it is lost among many towering buildings.

 

For African American citizens, much has changed, too.

[CruiserBruce]

I can't find any indication this ship was ever part of Holland America. It was part of the Netherland Line, and merged into other cruise lines over time. 

 

It was owned by a Greek cruise line when it sunk.