All vessels which frequent the upper rivers are called generally
“Bovenlanders” be their shape what it may.
These vessels, in spite of the interest which they offer, have rarely
aroused attention; ~Witsen~ devotes only a few words to them and calls
them simply “Aaken” or “Samoreuzen” (p. 170, col. 2), and ~Van Yk~ also
gives them this latter name (p. 318).
~A~) _Boats of the Lower Rhine._
The Rhenish boats are of no uniform type. Those which frequent the
lower part of the river (below Bonn) differ from those which circulate
on the Upper Rhine and its tributaries, save for a small craft found on
the Neckar which corresponds with the type below.
The fundamental type of the downstream section is represented by the
_Dorstensche Aak_, and this latter has produced the _Stevenschip_.
These types, originating in the part of Western Germany of which Dorst
is the centre, were imported into our country and have existed there
for a very long time. This is why the “Geldersche Samoreuzen” are
already mentioned in the XVIIth century. Although badly shown, they are
to be seen also on old engravings. They are seen circulating on the
Lower Rhine and the Waal where they are called _Hollandsche Aaken_ and
_Stevenschepen_; even now, they are still built in North Brabant where
they have been in existence for a very long time.
These types of vessels came from the West of Germany (Westphalia) and
entered the Netherlands by way of the Lower Rhine and the Waal, and
through the North-West of North Brabant. They are not met with on the
Meuse, or on the Lower Waal below Tiel. Aaken have been built on a
small scale along the Merwede, and at other points of Holland, where
this same type was again found in the old clinker-built “Turfeiker”
which seems now to have disappeared entirely. The hulls of all these
craft were made in the beginning by overlapping planks, hence it was
the old mode of construction used on the Baltic Sea. These vessels were
all long, narrow and flat-bottomed, like the “Bovenlanders”.
~B~) _Boats of the Meuse._
The Meuse boats, also long and narrow, form a special class of which
the type differs completely from that of the Rhenish craft just
mentioned.
The _Whalemajol_, the _Whalepont_ and the _Maaspont_, as well as the
smaller Spitsbek and the Herna, may be mentioned as fundamental types.
All these types are found on the Belgian Meuse and in our country as
far down as Roermond.
Small vessels called _Bovenmaasche Aaken_ or _Hedelsche Aaken_,
frequently used as dredging flats, are frequently found on the Lower
Meuse in the Netherlands. The shape of these craft is different from
that of the Meuse boats just mentioned from which, however, they are
descended, but their rudder corresponds rather with that of the Rhenish
craft which circulate above Bonn.
~C~) _Boats of the Upper Rhine_ (above Bonn and inclusive of the
regions West of the Rhine and East of the Meuse).
The fundamental type is here the _Keen_, and with it are found the
_Keenaak_ and a boat of more recent date, the _Slof_.
One of these types of boats was introduced at ’s Gravenmoer, in the
XIXth century, because it appeared suitable for exploiting the osier
beds at Biesbosch, but since then many changes have been made in the
stern and the rudder.
None of these types has its origin in the Netherlands.
The “Hagenaar”, like the “Turfeiker”, corresponds to the “Dorstensche
Aak”.
There is also found on the Upper Rhine, as well as on the Meuse, a boat
called the _Bunder_ which dates only from the XIXth century.
Aside from the “Bunder”, the hulls of the types of craft which have
just been mentioned are clinker built. The vessels mentioned under
letter B above must also have been clinker built formerly, judging
by what old boatmen say and by what is seen on an old engraving of a
Whalemajol, belonging to the collection of Mr. Van Gijn, as well as
by what is shown on a stone, which dates from the end of the XVIIIth
century, placed in the front of a house in Sint-Pieterstraat at
Maastricht and representing a Herna. It is impossible to say whether
carvel-built or clinker-built hulls existed at the same time, or
whether the former are of more recent date. It may be assumed, however,
that clinker-built hulls are older than the others.
It is interesting to note that a type which closely resembles the
Herna is still to be found on the Adriatic sea, especially the
_Rascona_ already described and represented in Paris’s well known work
(vol. II, nᵒ 86); this vessel is still steered by means of the old
“Slurriem” (steering oar).