Two Ships and a Tale

So that I avoid being labelled too much of a tease, I’ll start by saying . . . this post features two ships and a tale, but I do NOT know the tale of the two ships,  which in themselves are related only in that they both traversed the KVK yesterday morning in opposite directions.  The tale comes at the end, but before we get there, imagine loading a large population of boro6’s historic vessels onto a ship for a festival on another continent. for example, suppose the groups and people responsible for Pioneer, Lettie G. Howard, Pegasus, Shearwater, and Adirondack agree for their treasures to be –literally–shipped to South America for a festival.  Visualize the emotional cargo making its way to the south.  (Btw, if you don’t know these vessels, type the names into the search window on the left side of this blog.) And I’ll get back to this.

Now let’s learn some taxonomy (tjalk, aak, jol, botter, hoogaars, skutsje) and some place names (Lemster, Giethoorne, Zeeuwland).   Ponder those words;  I’ll get back to them too.

Here are two more shots of Sea Miror, also depicted in yesterday’s post.

Judging by the stains on the hull, I’m guessing this bulk carrier, its previous life betrayed by the paint job on the stack, transports a building material like cement.  Anyone help with this?

Moving toward my point, I gave a big KVK welcome yesterday to MV Marneborg, a general cargo ship registered in

Delfzijl, up near the North Sea border between Netherlands and Germany.  This area serves as setting for one of my favorite sailing books:  Riddle of the Sands (1903),  by Erskine Childers, author, sailor, and Irish nationalist executed by the British in 1922.  I love the sailing and intrigue in the book.

Marneborg has the profile of contemporary northern European general cargo carriers;  actually, she looks not unlike Flinterduin, featured here a few days ago.  I’ve duly noted that the extraordinary orange survey vessel betrays a desire to follow Marneborg here. That’s Brooklyn in the hazy background.

So, when Flinterduin arrives in less than a week, it will treat sixth boro watchers with some quite unique and historic Dutch sailing vessels.  Some examples:

Sterre (translated “Stars”)  a tjalk built in 1887!

Vrouwe (Lady) Cornelia, a tjalk built in 1888.

De Goede Hoop (Good Hope) , a staverse jol.

Delfzijl, a modern port.  Lemster, once a traditional Zuyder Zee fishing village.  Giethoorne, another tiny water village.  Zeeuwland, a province along the southwest coast of the Netherlands.  The list could be very long, but the point is that coastal Netherlands, like coastal US, has places each associated with various boat types.  For example, Jonesport lobster boats, Cape Ann schooners and dories, Chesapeake skipjacks . . . .

More tales on this later, as my excitement for September builds.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp and imaginary gnomes.

Remember the foto contest:  material prize for the best foto of Flinterduin entering New York or making its way up to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on or about August 31,  As of dawn August 27, tracking shows Flinterduin NW of the Azores, about halfway across.