~A~) _For over seas navigation._
The oldest merchant ship was the cog “Koggeschip”, from which are
descended the “Hulken” and “Krayers”. The planking of these ships is
clinker laid. Then vessels were built with more nearly rounded bottoms
and the carvel-built side appeared in the second half of the XVth
century. The resulting type was the _Barge_ or “Baertze”.
Meanwhile, the construction of castles was begun on these ships, just
as on the old cogs. These castles became gradually more important,
imitating what had been done on the Spanish, Portuguese and Genoese
ships. A type of vessel which, in accordance with the Spanish model,
carried large castles was the _Carack_ or _Galleon_ (“Kraak”)·
This vessel disappeared from our country in the course of the
XVIth century, at the end of which appeared the flyboats (“Vlie or
Vlietbooten”) called later Flutes (“fluiten”).
These vessels departed from the preceding types by having a marked
tumble in of the topsides. Hence the hull was full and the deck was
narrow. The flutes were the merchantmen “_par excellence_” up to the
beginning of the XIXth century.
The “Spiegelschip” also appeared toward the end of the XVIth century;
it acted as a merchantman in the same way as the similar vessel of the
Mediterranean. This vessel was called, at the beginning of the XVIIth
century, Pinnace (“Pinasschip”).
The Pinnace became more rounded in the second half of the XVIIth
century; it carried also a more nearly vertical stern and a smaller
beakhead. From it came the East India Company’s ship (“Oost-Indisch
Compagnie Schip”).
The flutes continued to hold their own alongside of the various types
of vessels, but changes were made to adapt them better to the use
for which they were intended, and so it was that the Noordvaerder or
Walvischvaerder (whaling ship) and Oostvaerder (vessel of the Baltic
Sea) made their appearance.
Small “Spiegelschepen”, having a lighter rig than the others,
appeared elsewhere in the XVIIIth century under the name of _Rinds_
(“Snauschepen”).
Two other types of large fishing vessels for the open sea were built,
viz: the _howker_ or _hoy_ (“Hoeker”) and the _bush_ (“Buys”) which
will be found under the chapter of fishing vessels.
Still another ship comes to us from abroad as a merchantman: the
_Frigate_, while the Tenders (“Boeiers” or “Kromstevens”) had been
imitated already from models of the French navy.
These vessels appeared in the XVIIth century as the result of the
traffic with the city of Rouen (~Witsen~, p. 164, 2ⁿᵈ col.).
From combinations of these types of vessels among each other or
with smaller types have arisen certain kinds of boats called by the
following names: the “Boot”, which was nothing but a small flute having
a “draai-over-boord” stern; the “Hekboot”, derived from the pinnace and
the Galliot; the “Katschip” (cat-boat), from the tender and flute; and
finally the “Stokker”, which had the bow of a “Spiegelship” with the
stern of a howker.
Let it be remarked in passing that it is hard to separate clearly
navigation over seas from navigation along shore, for even small kuffs
(“koffen”) have been chartered for the Indies in many cases.
The distinction made here between navigation over seas and navigation
along shore bears especially on the original destination of the vessels.
~B~) _For navigation along shore._
The largest types of vessels for navigation along shore were
represented by the _galliot_ (“Galjoot”) and the _galeas_ (“Galeas”);
then by the _kuff_ (“Kof”) and the _smack_ (“Smak”).
The “Damloopers”, the “Smalschepen” and the Wijdschepen as well as
the “Friesche turfschepen” (the peat boats of Frisia) belonged to the
family of the smacks.
These boats all came from a single type and differed only in some
detail, of which local needs forced the adoption.
The family of the smacks gave rise to the _hoys_ (“Tjalken”).
The _hoys_ were found especially in Friesland and in Groningen. In the
province of Holland, where they underwent a few slight changes, they
were called Schuiten.
In Zealand, their deck was narrower and they were called “Poonen”.
In North Holland they were designated as “Jacht” (Yachts). Contrary to
what was done for the “Poon”, the bottoms of these boats were not so
wide as those of the hoys. On the Belgian Scheldt, they were rather
finer and known by the name of “Pleiten”, or of “Otters” for the
smallest ones.
Eastern Frisia had similar vessels; they were called “Motten” and bore
some resemblance to the “Kuffs”.
There is still to be found a very old type of merchant vessel,
descended from the old fishing boats and called “Ever” or “Bremerkahn”.
Independently of the family of the hoys, there has existed from the
most distant times, in Overyssel, a distinct type of vessel which in
the XVIIth century, and in Witsen’s time, included the “Potten” and
“Pujen”. Changes were made later in these vessels and they are still
met with at the present time under the name of _Snijboon_ (literally:
French or string bean) from which is descended the pram (“Praam”). The
same shape, but with reduced dimensions, is also found in the “Somp”
and the “Pegge”.
The type of these vessels is distinguished from that of the smacks by
the shape of the bow and stern which are tapering while these parts are
rounded in the smacks.
Many combinations have also been made in this class of vessels; they
have given birth amongst others to the “Koftjalks”, the “Praamaaks” and
the “Aaktjalks”. The _Tenders_ (“Boeiers”) should also be mentioned,
but these vessels had scarce any resemblance to the old “Kromstevens”.
Finally, let the “Kraken” be again mentioned, from which all
characteristics common to the Spanish caracks had disappeared. They
were very strong hoys with quite straight lines, which gave them less
sheer.