Replicas reap their own rewards

Today, we had an interesting visitor in our historic harbour in Sas van Gent where Vereeniging has her mooring. This particular visitor is not, strictly speaking, historic in the real sense, but is a replica of a very much older vessel. De Kamper Kogge is a wooden sailing ship built on the pattern of a 14th century original that was found wrecked and buried in the Flevopolder (see Flevoland on a map of the Netherlands), presumably when it was drained. A kogge was a ship built to transport goods and was introduced by a hanze, being a cooperative of traders during the middle ages (remember the Hanseatic League from your history lessons?). 

The original kogge was found near Nijkerk at the bottom of
this map

This kogge took four years to build as a reconstruction. It was completed in 1998 and is used today to demonstrate what these ancient vessels were like. The Kamper Kogge travels around the country as a 'faring' museum exhibit and this year, our historic harbour has been honoured with a visit.

Since, for my sins, I am the secretary of our harbour committee, I felt duty and honour bound to go along and see it. Luckily for me, Koos was also keen because when we arrived with Zoe in tow, we found there were dozens of people flocking to the spot where it was moored along our quayside. I am not a fan of crowds, so it was Koos who braved the throngs to go on board and take a look.

Despite not being all that old as replicas go, the ship exudes the atmosphere of an ancient craft. Its planking is thick, heavy, dark wood and its shape distinctly bath shaped, but for all that, it is beautiful in its way with its sharp prow and stern. What impressed me most of all, though, was the keen interest so many local people were showing in it.  This enthusiasm certainly gives us hope that the heritage and culture of the Dutch waterways still matters to more than a handful of eccentrics like us.

Anyway, that's it for this week, allemaal! I hope you like the photos and I'll be back with some more news and views from our corner of the Netherlands soon.

Throngs of visitors both on board and waiting

Our chairman on the quayside chatting to someone on board

A useful information board for the visitors

I'm not sure what you'd call this crenellated
cubicle mounted at the stern, but I'm guessing
it was for the tillerman

The Kamper Kogge at her bow

And again at her stern

The usual residents of the harbour

Looking across to the kogge from Vereeniging