Page 308 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

Notes to Chapters 1 and 2
B. E. van Bruggen, “Beschouwing over het aangeven van de hoofdafmetin-
gen van de Nederlandse zeeschepen en de daarbij gebruikte maateenheden (1600–1800),” Mededelingen van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Zeegeschie- denis / Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis, no. 20 (March 1970): 25–34.
27. Van Dam, Beschryvinge, 460.
28. A. J. Hoving, Het oorlogsjacht De Heemskerk: Het schip waarmee Abel Tasman Nieuw-Zeeland ontdekte (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1992).
29. We cannot know this for certain, as the first statutory regulations for the minimum of freeboard date from c. 1875.
30. Oral communication from Robert Parthesius, March 1991.
31. For a discussion of specialization on the yards, see Jerzy Gawronski, “De Hollandia en De Amsterdam: Twee Schepen en Een Bedrijf: Materiële Cultuur en Organisatie VOC Amsterdam 1740–1750” (PhD diss., Leiden University, 1994).
Chapter 2
1. B. E. van Bruggen, “Beschouwing over het aangeven van de hoofdafme- tingen van de Nederlandse zeeschepen en de daarbij gebruikte maateenheden (1600–1800),” Mededelingen van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Zeegeschie- denis / Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis, no. 20 (March 1970): 25–34.
2. Communication from Robert Grenier, Parks Canada, April 6, 1992.
3. Leendert van Zwijndregt and Cornelis de Ruiter, Verhandeling van den Hollandschen Scheepsbouw . . . (The Hague: De Hondt and H. Scheurleer, 1757).
4. This measurement bears no relation to the method for calculating the hold of a ship for determining toll rates. In that case, the distance between the keelson and the planks of the lower deck was measured; the width was then taken between the ceiling, either on the lower or upper deck.
5. Witsen states that this thickness is found from the length of the ship: example, 10 feet length, 1 inch thick (66 I 14). See 2. The Stem later in this chapter.
6. Cornelis van Yk, De Nederlandse Scheeps-bouw-konst Open Gestelt (1697; repr., Rotterdam: Langerveld, 1980), 56. Subsequent page references are given in the text.
7. Nick Burningham, personal communications regarding the translation of technical terms, April 2009.
8. Another passage, recommending that the keel be laid with an upward bend, is in complete contradiction with this practice: The keel, which sinks deeper than the ship itself, keeps the ship from drifting: it is raised in the middle, which is because, the load being heaviest in the middle the ships will sag there, and the keel will straighten again: if it is made straight from the onset, it will bend outward , which will produce much trouble. Others are of the opinion that one should mak e the keel straight from
the beginning: because it will then ser ve the ship best: reasoning that the handicap which a stooped ship has does not weigh against the advan tage of a straight keel, although it may sag afterward. A bent keel will keep the course of a ship as well as a straigh t one, but will drift sooner (263 II 40). The answer to this paradox probably lies in the sort of ships Witsen is writing about in this passage: presumably long, narrow ships with straight stems, like some types of inland craft.
290