[4] The Dutch marine owes its prosperity not to the beauty of form of
its ships, but to the value of its limited personnel, to the
sobriety of its seamen and to the innate cleanliness of the
Dutch people.
[5] On this point, they (the English) openly defy all other nations
and believe themselves to be unequaled on the ground of
shipbuilding.
[6] _Western Influence on the Cultivation, Mode of living and
Agriculture of the Children of the North (Norwegians and other
Scandinavians) in the Time of the “Vikings”_, by ~Alexander
Bugge~.
[7] It is the opinion of most authors that the Frisians have the
honor of having made shipbuilding flourish again in the
Netherlands.
[8] “How _cogs_ were built in the past, and how much they have
changed with the passage of time, just as in our day (the time
of the writer) furthermore, the shape of ships is seen to be
undergoing constant modifications.” (P. 364.)
[9] The _statie_ was a sort of secondary bulwark at the stern, rising
quite high above the rail. The tiller swung from side to side in
an opening made in the bottom plank of the _statie_ and above
the rail at the stern.
[10] The “arcasse” includes the sternpost and the transoms. It
belongs to square-sterned vessels only.
[11] The best and surest means of avoiding a too great draught of
water consists in widening the ships. An endeavor should be made
to realize this programme, seeing how shallow our passes are.
According to the opinion of experienced pilots who have sounded
the passes conscientiously, it is not possible to bring ships
drawing more than 20 feet through the “Goeree” pass, or ships
drawing about an equal amount through the Texel, or more than 13
feet through the Meuse. This is why it has happened more than
once that war vessels of the State, of fine lines and deeply
ballasted so as to facilitate manœuvering under sail, could not
gain the open sea at low tide or in calm weather, to the great
detriment of the country, while outside, the lowest tier of guns
could not be used because it was too near the water.
[12] Several years ago, by reason of the shallowness of our rivers
and passes, an attempt was made, so far as it was possible, to
raise our large, deep draught ships by means of empty casks, so
that they could reach the open sea. But this process required an
infinite time and great labor just to put the casks into place.
[13] “The vessel which sails to the West or the South shall have the
bow covered with copper to protect it against the teredo”.
[Illustration: 3]
It was seen in the preceding chapter that it was not until the second
half of the XVIIth century that the construction of vessels of war,
as such, was begun in Holland. Up to that moment merchant ships were
equipped and used for military purposes. In proportion as commerce
developed and as dangers from enemies at sea increased, the armament of
merchant ships became more and more important. So, personal interest
was the cause of partially equipping merchantmen as men of war. It was
for this reason that the East India Company built ships which may be
considered as types of the kind.
Consequently it was just the largest merchant vessels which were most
changed as time rolled by. The old types are, therefore, no longer
found in this category of vessels; it is among the small craft that
they are best preserved.
The oldest type of Dutch ship is the “Koggeschip” (Cog) from which are
descended the “Krayers” and “Hulken”. These vessels are all clinker
built. The “Barges”, “Baertsen”, etc. appeared in the XVth century.
Their planking was smooth. They gradually drove out the “Krayers” and
“Hulken”, from which they really differed little in form.
At the end of the XVth century are found the “Kraak” (carack or
galleon) which came to us from the nations of the South, just as we
took from them the “Spiegelschip” (a square-sterned vessel) at the
close of the XVIth century. The names of “Barges”, etc. now give place
to the “Koffen” (koffs) and “Smakken” (smacks); but the old forms do
not disappear by reason of this fact; the same types of vessels merely
change their name as the result of a few changes in details. It is
thus that of the “Tjalken” (tialks), which are not mentioned by Witsen
although they existed in his day and were then called “Smalschepen”
or “Wijdschepen”. Several other examples of this sort could be given.
The likeness of form is even so striking that, at the beginning of the
XIXth century, our fleet still showed perfectly the types of Witsen’s
time. The changes introduced were merely those of detail.
In examining the old types, which are now still in use, it is well
not to lose sight of the fact that our ships have, during the XIXth
century, increased greatly their length and beam and proportionally
also their draught as the result of the improvements of our navigable
highways and the digging of new channels.
The result of this has been the falling off of certain types, to which
the appearance of iron in shipbuilding has also largely contributed.
For other types, the improvement of the navigable highways and the
creation of ports have brought about their complete disappearance.
Thus the construction of the “Bommenhaven” will soon have, as its
consequence, the total disappearance of the old “Bommen” of which more
will be said further on (fishing boats).
The smaller boats will give, under these conditions, the best idea
of the old forms, and, as has been seen in what precedes, the most
beautiful specimens will be found among the fishing boats. The fishing
vessels best reveal the origin of the forms of our ships, so a special
chapter will be devoted to this kind of craft.
It has been seen that the essential difference between merchant
ships and men-of-war was marked by the narrow deck of the former
which allowed the size of the crew to be reduced (~Witsen~, pp. 54,
263, 266), and it has been told that the Dutch were always quoted as
examples in this matter. It is thus that the “Vliebooten” (flyboats)
appeared, the precursors of the “Fluiten” (flutes), which are known in
England by the name of the “Dutch Flight”.
Trips both to northern and southern countries give rise to changes from
which are developed a great number of types of boats all of which are
derived, however, from a same fundamental type. ~Witsen~ writes on this
subject (page 53).
“Noortsche deelhaelders laeden het meest wanneer na den vierkante
hellen, kooren schepen en die op stukgoederen aenleggen, als ze
rondtachtig zijn en veel springen. Oost en Noortsvaerders die grove
waeren laeden zijn grooter in ’t gemeen als die stukgoederen wijnen en
diergelijke laeden gelijk ook de zouthaelders”[14].
These are all variations of a same type of vessel.
When the size of ships increased, it was necessary to make them still
more bulging on account of the limited depth of the arms of the
sea, and this brought about the disappearance of differences in the
fundamental forms.
Thus we read in ~Van Yk~ (page 348).
“Maar als men hiertegen aanmerkt dat wegens de doorgaans ondiepe
gronden en lastvoerens wil alle schepen van tijd tot tijd vierkanter
werden gebouwd sulks dat heden desen aangaande niet so veel onderscheid
tusschen d’een en d’andere soort van schepen als wel voor dezen
gevonden werd. Want een hedendaags welgebouwde kaag sal in Lasten te
voeren ’t Smalschip dat in Lengte, Wijdte en Holte daaraan gelijk
is, weinig wijken willen. En de Damschuit die wel gemaakt is sal den
Damlooper bijna ook evenaren konnen.”[15]
The narrow deck of merchant vessels had still another origin
which referred to the way of gauging vessels and gave rise to the
construction of strongly bulging ships.
~Witsen~ says (p. 160) on this point:
“Het uitbreecken deser schepen (Noortsvaerders) voor en achter bracht
hier in den schipper profijt aan dat ze vele goederen meer stouden als
de maat der schepen hielt.”[16]
This applies especially to boats going to load wood or grain at the
Baltic ports, on account of the tolls which had to be paid to the King
of Denmark, tolls of which the amount was determined by the treaty of
1647, by calculating the capacity of the vessel in terms of the length,
the beam on deck and the depth of hold. But, when this treaty was
modified in 1666, this unsightly way of building and this exaggerated
bulging gradually disappeared (werd dit mismaekt bouwen en geweldigh
uitspringen achterwege gelaten). (~Witsen~, p. 160.)
[Sidenote: III 16]
Nevertheless, the construction of large numbers of merchant ships
with narrow decks was still persisted in and, even at the beginning
of the XIXth century, “Fluitschepen” (flutes) are still met with. A
beautiful model of one of these “Dutch Flights” exists at the museum of
antiquities at Dordrecht.
The greater bulging of merchant vessels kept pace with the
straightening of the sternpost and stem. On another side, the idea that
the volume of the submerged part of a vessel should be reduced to a
minimum, was abandoned toward the end of the XVIIth century.
[Sidenote: II 149]
[Sidenote: II 153]
The straightening of the sternpost brought about the shortening of
the beakhead which, at the beginning of the XVIIth century, measured
one-fifth of the total length of the vessel and only one-eighth of this
length at its end. This difference is clearly seen by comparing the
Zierikzee model with that of the “Bleijswijk”. The beakhead, which had
come down to us from ancient times (~Van Yk~, p. 103), was used only
“als Heimelijke gevoeg-plaatsen” (as a W. C.) for the crew, and those
who had been guilty of some unimportant misdemeanor were also shut
up there, as ~Van Yk~ says (p. 104), “des devotie des overspelenden
zeewaters” (at the mercy of the waves).
Fire was the great enemy of our merchant ships. The stoppage of leaks
was also more difficult for these vessels than for men-of-war because
it was impossible, as a rule, on the former to reach the leak from the
inside and through the cargo.
Water tight bulkheads did not exist, but, for all that, the stoppage of
the leak was none the less indispensable. ~Witsen~ tells us how
it was all handled (p. 276), and, after explaining how a fire was put
out, he continues thus:
“Wanneer een geschoten gat onder water van binnen niet gestopt kan
worden, hetzij den last in den weg is of anderzins, wordt een man
buiten boord met een prop in de hant op een plankje gezet, daar een
dreg aan vast is, die hem onder water haalt. En aldus stopt of dekt hij
de opening. Men geeft hem een geoliede lap in den mont on het water uit
het lichaem te weeren”[17].
Before going on to the classification, properly so called, of the
principal categories of vessels which have just been sketched out,
a few more remarks, about the ship in general and a few details in
particular, should be made.
The old builders of wooden vessels determined the ship’s length by
the work for which it was intended. This length was measured from the
forward side of the stem to the after side of the sternpost. The beam
and the depth were deduced from the length; the beam being taken equal
to one-fourth of the length, and for the depth, one foot was taken for
each 10 feet of length, at the point where the vessel’s height was
least. It was only for esthetic reasons that the sternpost was made
higher than the stem.
When the keel was laid down, the sternpost and the stem put up, the
wing transom was made fast to the fashion timbers, then the main frame
and the frame at the junction of the stem were reared. Another frame
was raised between the main frame and the sternpost. “Centen” (thin
flexible boards, called ribands in English) were then made fast to
these frames so as to determine in this way the shape of the ship and
to deduce therefrom the other frames.
According to ~Van Yk~ (p. 77), these boards are not called
“centen”, but “certen”, because the form of the vessel is fixed by
means of these boards and made “certain”. Other authors pretend that
the word comes from “Kanten” or “Kenten” from the word “bekendheid”
(knowledge).
The shape of the ship was thus determined by trial after having
settled, in the first place, on the main frame and the length. The
smaller the vessel, the more sheer it had and the more ribands were
required exactly to determine its shape.
On the other hand it was customary to give the ship some sheer
(zeegte), that is: to make it higher at the ends than at the middle.
This sheer was obtained, after setting the ribands, by means of
sheerstrakes of which the fastening was begun at the lowest point
of the height of the ship. These sheerstrakes rose forward at the
rate of 1 inch for every 6 feet of length, and aft at the rate of 5
inches for every 6 feet. The wales which served to protect the ship
were laid according to the sheerstrakes. The sheer in large vessels
(spiegelschepen) was gradually reduced and the effort was made
insensibly to build ships with a flat deck in imitation of England and
later of America. The sheer still exists in boats for inland waters,
like the “Tjalken”, “Poonen”, etc. Only one wale or bend is used for
small vessels, the larger ones, such as the “Tjalken” and “Smakken”
require three bends superposed.
It is noticed, as a rule, that the bends became lighter in the XVIIIth
century, just as did the sternpost and the stem. The engravings which
show boats prior to 1500, show also several equidistant bends, and it
was only at the end of the XVIth century that the single bends of later
days are seen to appear. Moreover, it is certain that the improvement
of the navigable highways was one of the causes of the lighter
construction of ships.
These old engravings show that the planking is in very short pieces
so as to avoid marked curves; but, in order to give, all the same,
sufficient stiffness to the vessel, many bends became necessary.
[Sidenote: II 138]
In the old shipbuilding, where the pieces of the planking nailed
together clinker ways make the construction more solid, the bends were
exceptional. The old “Koggeschepen” (Cogs), for example, had none, but
the reproduction of a small boat preserved at the church at Diemer
shows them.
These wales are then supported by round wooden brackets which are still
found in a few old “Poonen”.
In the matter of the wales, the rule was that when the vessel was seen
from in front they seemed to be convex, with the convexity on top,
whereas, seen from the side, they look concave, that is, with the
convexity underneath.
It has been said in what precedes that the method of ribands (“centen”)
was abandoned for large ships, about the middle of the XVIIth century,
and that, after that time, work was done from sketches in putting up
the frames and in building the ship.
The rudder was handled by means of a tiller, and on large vessels this
is often held up by a piece of wood (luierwagen) which is still seen on
many small inland vessels.
In order readily to work the tiller of large vessels, a hole was cut
in the poop deck immediately over the free end of the tiller in its
middle position. A lever passed upward through this hole and was hung
on a pivot of which the axis lay fore and aft. The lower end of the
lever was attached to the free end of the tiller while the upper end
was loose. By swinging the top of the lever to one side or the other
of the ship, a corresponding motion was given to the tiller and so to
the rudder. This manœuvre was, naturally, not easy in heavy weather
and required assistance. A pulley, around which ran a rope or steering
line having one end made fast to the tiller, was set in the deck so as
better to operate the rudder. (~Witsen~, p. 274, 2d column.)
This rope, which was served by two men, formed with the pulley the
precursor of the steering wheel which appeared on the continent in
the XVIIIth century, after having been already in use in England, as
certain authors try to make out.
It is claimed sometimes that the rudder could only swing a little to
either side. This, however, is a mistake. ~Witsen~ says, as a matter of
fact, p. 58: “The greater the swing of the rudder, the harder is the
manœuvre”. It is evident that Witsen would have said nothing about the
swing if it had been small. It follows clearly from the quotation from
~Van Yk~ (p. 121) in regard to the “luierwagens” that the helmsman must
have put forth a great deal of strength: “Hij (de luierwagen) diend
om de Roerpen, aan ’t vooreinde t’ ondersteunen nademaal deze, wegens
deszelfs langte, om sig selven te dragen immers _om ’t geweld dat de
man_ te Roer daaraan verrichten moet, uit te staan; al te zwak soude
wezen”[18].
Finally, M. Bouguer (1746) says in his work, p. 83, “that the rudder
should make with the prolongation of the keel an angle of about 55°
44´, etc.”.
Hence it is incorrect to say that the swing of the rudder could only
reach a few degrees. (~Paris~, vol. 4, p. 221.)
Furthermore, vessels should be able to come about more quickly in our
rivers, with their narrow channels and small depth of water, hence the
rudder should be able to swing more than a few degrees.
On small inland boats, the rudder is frequently lengthened on reaching
shallow water. This elongation was made by means of an isolated board
or a movable part (~Van Yk~, p. 221), a thing which happens still very
often at the present time.
If the tiller can be turned entirely above the bulwarks, which is
called in Dutch “geen statie voeren” (without statie), the vessel is
said to have a _draai over boord_ in contradistinction to vessels with
“statie”. The “statie” means the part of the bulwarks which rises above
the tiller[19].
The tiller passes in this case through an opening in the “statie”,
which prevents the rudder being brought hard over.
The length of the lee-boards is taken at twice the depth of the hold.
As many rivers and lakes are lacking in depth, the length of the
lee-boards is reduced for inland vessels, in order to prevent them
from touching bottom, consequently their width was increased.
The lee-boards for the ocean and for the rivers of Zealand are long and
narrow.
New modifications were made in the rigging of vessels toward the middle
of the XVIIIth century. The small bowsprit disappeared in order to make
place for the fore-masts which have remained in use since that time.
[Sidenote: III 145 etc.]
The rigging of the large vessels is sufficiently well known. It is
desired merely to dwell on the fact that fore-masts have been placed
wrongly on various models of the XVIIth century.
A vessel of which the planking is rabbetted into the stem is called a
“vaartuig”. The “Aak” (ake) is a boat without a stem and its planking
forms a plane up to the bow. The planking ends then at the plane in
front. If this occurs for a “Tjalk”, there is obtained what is known as
an “Aak Tjalk”.
When the after deck is raised so as to come up to the level of the main
rail, the vessel is said to be supplied with a “paviljoen”. Thus, for
example, a “Statiepaviljoenpoon”, is a “poon” with a raised deck. If
the after deck be not raised, the vessel is simply a “Statiepoon”.
Vessels can be grouped, then, in the following way: