The Oruba

Today we are cruising.
C.J.Vlieland and wife went to Australia on 6 October 1900 on the Oruba.
Many of the passengers on Oruba would have been emigrating to Australia or New Zealand but some would have been travelling as servants of the British Empire, or to follow their professional trades or other occupations.

R.M.S. Oruba Departing Tilbury.
Reproduced by Kind Permission of D. & A. Forman
Built: 1889 by Naval Construction & Armament Co, Barrow.
Tonnage : 5, 852g, 3, 351n.
Engine: Single Screw, Triple Expansion, 3 Cylinders, 764 NHP, 16.5 Knots.
Passengers: 126 First Class, 120 Second Class, 400 Third Class.
Originally built for PSNC for their Liverpool- Valparaiso service, transferred to Orient Line and made her maiden voyage to Australia on the 4th of July 1906. Acquired by Royal Mail in October of 1908 and placed on the South American service to Buenos Aires
And also an advance list of passengers by R.M.8. Oroya, which leaves London to-morrow, is to hand by mail : Mr. and Mn. Attwater, Mrs. Allan, Misses Allan, Mist K. Beach, Mrs. Beach, Mist Brown, Mr. and Mn. Bottle, Miss Brown, Miss Binhop, Mr. Batchelor, Mr. tnd Mrs. Browne, Miss Browne, Maslen Browne, Mr, Cottrell, Mr. Cook, Mist Cabio, Mr. Digby, Mn. Dodson, Mrs. Eyles, Mr. Goodman, Mn. Goodman and child, Mr. w. H, Hop- kins, Mr. Bice T. Hopkins, Mr. and Mn.'.CeciI Hordern, Mr. and Mn. Hawthorn, Mr. Lorimer, Mr. B. Lancaster. Mr. C. Lancaster, Mr. Lancaster, Mr. and Mist Littler, Mr. Loclchrad, Mr. S. F. Mareil. Misa A. Morell, Miss S. F. Morell, Mr Miles, Mist Magill, Matter Nicoll, Mr. and Mrs. ft. W. Nicoll, Mr. Oates, Mr. asrUMrs. Parry. Mn. Pike, Mr. Payne, Misset Payne, Mr, and Mn. Polin, Mrs. Uichaidton, Ker. L. Beiss, Mr. T. Bowlandson. Metsn. Boptr, Mr. Smith, Mr. Bwindley, Miss Sproulle, Miss Swiss, Mr. Smyth, Mn. and Miss Styles, Mr. Scott, Mr. Kcrivoner. sir. nnd Mn. T. A. Spencer, Mr. C. 8. Swan, Miss M. Boan, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Smith. Miss Vernon, Dr. C. J. Vlieland, Mrs. Vlieland, Miss Wallis, Mr. and Mra. H. A. Willey, Mr. B. Waterhouse, Mr. H. L, Mr. and Mm. J. W. B. Woodhead, Mn. Walpole.

A cabin boy who was on the ship. tells his story of the Oruba in 1910.
It was in the Australian newspaper .
R.M.S. ORUBA.
The following is a list of passengers on the R.M.S. Oruba, from London, via ports:-Mr. and Mrs. Attwater, Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Battye, Mr. and Mrs. Blow, Mr. and Mrs. Burns, Mr. and Mrs. Dallas, Mr. and Mrs. HT. Finch, Mr .and Mrs. Fry, Mr. and Mrs. P. Farquaharson, Mr. and Mrs. Godwin, Mr. and Mrs. Goodüffe, Mr. and. Mrs. C. Hordern, Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorn, Mr. and Mrs. Ker jnode, Mr. and Mrs. Laycock, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. R. Woodkead, Mr. and Mrs. H .A. Willey, Mr. and Mrs. D. Landale, Mr. and Mrs. J. -Tate, Mr .and Mrs. E. A. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Savage, Mr. and Mrs. Polin, Mr. and Mrs. Parry, Mr .and Mrs. G. W. Nicoll, Mr. and Mrs. Cole, Mr. and Mrs. Browne, Mr. and Mrs. Buttle; Mesdames Allan, Dodson, Eyles, George, Gpouman and child, Hammond, Josepbv- MacLean, Walpole, Vlieland, Styles, Richardson, Pike, Beach, Bowers; Misses Allan, Bis- hop, Borelli, Cable, Davies, Dixon, Eve- lyn, Fry, A. A. Farquharson, M. Farqu- harson, M. Farquharson, Grubb, Irons, McCarthy, A. Morell, S. F. Morell/Magill, Brown (2), K. Beach, Bishop, Browne, Capel, Collis, Copland, Norton, Payne, Rigby, Schafer (2), Starkey, Sydney, Sproulle, Swiss, M. Swan, Vernon, Wylie
(3), De Worms, Wallis, Captain R. E. Alien, Rev. Barrett, Rev. F. Flynn, Cap- tain W. D. Ingle, Lieut. M. R. Kennedy, Captain McGibbon, Rev. Woodlock, Dr. C. J. Vlieland, Rev. M. Sherin, Rev. L. Reise, Rev. D. O'Brien, Rev. P. O'Brien, Captain Cameron; Messrs. Alexander, Brown, Barber, Beaumont, Borelli, Bor- elli, jun., Butler, Blair, Brett, Batchelor, Masters Browne, Craig, Cram, Copland, Cottrell. Cook, Duff, Digby, Fiedler, Gil- lespie, Goodman, Hicks, Hardy, HobbB, Hermann, Huggins, Hellyer, Hayes, Hop- kins (2), IronB, Kitz, Knight, Law, Lori I mer, Lancaster (3), Lockhead, Mitchell, McKellar, Metcalf, Morassovich, Morell, Master Nicoll, Oakes, Overend, Oates, Patrick, Parker, Phillipps, Payne, Reid, Rae, Ru sell. Rowlandeon, Roper, Senior, Stronghill, Starkey, Shepherd (2), Smith, Swindley. Smyth, Scott, Scrivener, Swan,Willey, Williams, Wilson, Woods, Water- house, Williame, Young.

There are some lovely postcards from the Oruba at that time.

And also a photograph taken when they were crossing the line ceremony´s like this one.

We do not know why C.J.went to Australia.
Maybe he went to visit Arthur Heath Vlieland.
In the family there is a  story  Arthur emigrated in 1880 to Australia.
So far we did not find any trace of him anywhere after his birth.
We looked at all immigration records for Vlieland but also Heath and even Jansen.
But nothing so far.
Maybe he went to India and so Australia was a half way stop.
Later his son Charles Archibald did the same trip.

Royal Mail Ship (RMS) 'Oruba' passenger souvenir life ring. The ship built in 1889 England, chartered by the Orient Line in 1890, commenced the Australian route in 1908. It was scuttled in 1915 and scrapped
In the Australian newspaper we find more then 1430 articles and adverts about R.M.S.Oruba.