A heap of old history

Just recently, I've been checking back through old posts and photos in doing some research for something else and I came across the two photos below. As most of my readers here know, my Vereeniging is a very old barge, built in 1898, and the gentleman who commissioned her was one Roelof Mur. These two photos were both originally on the website of the Mur family, who owned a well-known transport company that began life in 1784. Roelof here was one of a long line of Murs, and his ambitious purchase of two motorised barges (one of which was my Vereeniging) was a turning point for the company whose fleet had previously been horse-drawn.

The photo above is of Vereeniging when she was new, and you can see the skipper, probably Roelof himself, standing at the wheel. I also love the little face that's just visible in the window of the engine room in front of the steering. The Vereeniging was originally called Loenen Amsterdam II. She was what was known as a 'beurtschip' of the pakschuit type, meaning she had a specific route, a bit like a postal service, but for goods, not letters. She travelled regularly along the Vecht river between Amsterdam and Utrecht in the Netherlands, and was only put out of service in the 1960s when the company reached another turning point and switched to trucks.

However, the Murs were not alone in using Pakschuiten. In fact, at one time, they were very commonly seen on the Dutch canals and were to the waterways as Ford Transits are to the roads. I did a bit more digging around on the internet and came up with some other old photos of pakschuiten when they were still in use. I love these old images. They show what my barge would have looked like when it was working, and I particularly like the last one with the woman and her little dog sitting on the hatches.

The Gijsbertha, a barge that is undergoing restoration as I write

Pakschuiten both moored and proceeding along a canal

Pakschuiten (to the right) working on the Vinkeveen, a
lake and island area to the east of the Vecht which these
barges served as part of their regular routes

A pakschuit with two of its side panels out

So there you have it: a little more history about my barge and others like it. Sadly, probably because they were so common and possibly not highly prized, there are very few of them left. The Gijsbertha and another restored pakschuit called Nooitgedacht (Never Thought) are the only other two I know of for certain apart from my Vereeniging. There must be others, but they are now quite rare, so all the more reason for treasuring my old girl. Well, I think so anyway.

If anyone is interested in reading further about my barge and the history of the old harbour, this is a link to my memoirs about my life here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0957DPKHW

Have a good week, allemaal and I'll be back with more current news again soon.