One of those random shares you see online – in this case on Mastodon (where all us cool people are these days) – that sends you down a little internet rabbit hole where you discover an absolutely joyful set of snapshots from the late 1950s when a Dutch family decided to make a new life for themselves in Canada.
The Meyer family (originally Meijer) comprised a mother, father, and three girls, and they made the trip to Montreal, Quebec via the the Steamship Waterman to Halifax, Nova Scotia, then by train the rest of the way.
These photos come via the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 website. Clearly, they are not my photos, but the licence for the photos is that there are no restrictions. This is only a small selection of the pictures from the journey undertaken by the Meyers, and if you’d like to see more shots from their journey, or photos of the tickets, some menus on the ship, etc. then please check out the rest of the collection here: Meyer Family on SS Waterman
Prior to this journey in July, 1957, the Waterman had been involved in a collision with another vessel at sea in March of that year when it had been transporting Hungarian and Dutch families oversea. There is a great account of the accident from some of the passengers (including some interesting information about the dining arrangements on SS Waterman) as well as a photograph of the damage done to the steamship here – Dutch Victory Trio – and I highly recommend giving it a read.