Historic ships in the Netherlands: The "Amsterdam" and the "Batavia"

Last year in the fall, we took a day trip to Amsterdam so that I could finally cross off a long outstanding item from my to-do list:
Visiting the Maritime Museum, including the replica of the 1748 East-Indiaman "Amsterdam" anchored there.
The original ship was stranded near Hastings on its maiden voyage in 1749, the remains still protruding somewhat from the silt at stong low tide.

The replica dates from 1985-1990, is visually very nice, but not historically accurate in some aspects. For example, the decks have been raised to the point where one can stand upright.
Of all the museum ships I have visited, this is the most "modified" to fit a contemporary museum operation.
Nevertheless, it looks visually elegant, and the ship as well as the whole museum, which is located in the historic magazine of the Dutch Admiralty, are worth a visit for people interested in maritime topics.

If you want it more historically correct, you have to go a few kilometers further, to Lelystad on Flevoland. There, at the Bataviawerf, the Batavia is anchored, a replica of another East Indiaman that sank in 1629 on its maiden voyage off Western Australia.
The Batavia was an attempt to recreate the ship as faithfully as possible.
Unfortunately I haven't been there for a long time, the photos are from 2008. The topmasts have been removed in the meantime, as far as I know.
An unfinished shell of the warship "De Zeven Provincien" is lying on the building site of the museum shipyard.
Another important aspect that speaks for a family trip to Lelystad: Right next to the Bataviawerf is Bataviastad, a huge fashion outlet with over 100 stores. This certainly ensures a good time even for family members uninterested in the maritime world :girlie:

Some photos additional to the two below of both visits are stored in two albums, I hope the links work. (Maybe they work only for logged-in users)



Attachment 59171
The Batavia


Attachment 59172
The Amsterdam


The Batavia-album


The Amsterdam-album

Gentlemen,

I have visited both the 'Batavia' and the 'Amsterdam' a couple of years ago, too. I share the assessment of Argo, that the 'Batavia' is better from the historical viewpoint. I liked her a lot.

If you are going to visit the ships, the advantage of the 'Amsterdam' is, that you have the large and very nice museum next to it. There is a visitor-center next to the 'Batavia', but what you can see there is not up to the museum. Close to the 'Batavia' are, however, the workshops in which she was built and in which they set off to build the 'De Zeven Provincien'. I seem to recall, that they made some significant construction mistake regarding the latter and had to partly undo her again. I believe for lack of funds, there has not been any substantial progess on that ship.

Lt. Bush

Both sites certainly look like being worth a visit gentlemen.
Thank you both for your input, but especially Achim for bringing our attention to this and in his two albums of photographs. Took me right back to seeing the Hermione when it docked at Yorktown.

Rob.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by William Bush

Gentlemen,

I have visited both the 'Batavia' and the 'Amsterdam' a couple of years ago, too. I share the assessment of Argo, that the 'Batavia' is better from the historical viewpoint. I liked her a lot.

If you are going to visit the ships, the advantage of the 'Amsterdam' is, that you have the large and very nice museum next to it. There is a visitor-center next to the 'Batavia', but what you can see there is not up to the museum. Close to the 'Batavia' are, however, the workshops in which she was built and in which they set off to build the 'De Zeven Provincien'. I seem to recall, that they made some significant construction mistake regarding the latter and had to partly undo her again. I believe for lack of funds, there has not been any substantial progess on that ship.

Lt. Bush

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De Zeven Provincien was sadly struck by a fire and then sat idle for lack of funds as you noted. I last visited Bataviawerf in 2005-06 and they looked to be making progress on De Zeven Provincien. I bought a poster of the original from the museum shop and it hung for many years in my wargaming room! So sad to hear about the end of the project.

Batavia was made a little too authentic because I think she is mostly a dock side ship now. She has no watertight bulkheads or engines so would be unable to take passengers for sails. They originally made the lines from hemp but that wore out too quickly, so they switched to synthetics. She did undertake a trip on a barge to Australia and did sail under her own power once there for commemorations of the original voyage, which itself is quite a story with a mutiny and shipwreck on an island included!!

The Amsterdam is more of a life size museum exhibit than a replica or reproduction tall ship. Good for the public and school kids. To me having sailed on tall ships there are much more fascinating exhibits and artifacts in the museum, including lots of contemporary ship models! In fact, there is also a nice history section in the Rijksmueum which had artifacts captured from the British by Adm M. de Ruyter. Flags and the stern carving from the Royal Charles captured during the Raid on the Medway.

If you want to see a sailing reproduction of an Indiaman I would suggest the Gothberg which is currently on a European tour, for now I think in warmer waters!

https://www.gotheborg.se/

Thanks for that Eric. It also reminded me to post the schedule for the Tall Ships races for this year.

https://sailtraininginternational.or...ps-races-2023/

Rob.

Thank you for the rep, Rob and Mr. Bush, and thank you both for the links, Eric and Rob.
Unfortunately I missed the Gotheborg last summer in Kopenhagen because our vacation started two days too late, but the ship is on my watchlist since Jonas wrote me about her in the "historic ships in Sveden"-thread.

We do not know yet where our summer vacation will take us this year, but I will consider the "tall ships race destinations". Maybe it fits :steer:.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeRuyter

Batavia was made a little too authentic because I think she is mostly a dock side ship now. She has no watertight bulkheads or engines so would be unable to take passengers for sails. They originally made the lines from hemp but that wore out too quickly, so they switched to synthetics. She did undertake a trip on a barge to Australia and did sail under her own power once there for commemorations of the original voyage, which itself is quite a story with a mutiny and shipwreck on an island included!!

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Not too long ago, a quite well made comic / graphic novel has been released about the Batavia incident - which is truly a real almost unbelievable story. So far, one of two volumes has been published.

The limited edition:
https://www.splitter-verlag.de/1629-vza.html

The regular edition:
https://www.splitter-verlag.de/1629.html

The comic is well drawn and well colored. It is obvious, that the illustrators have visited the replica of the Batavia, since it is easily recognizable by design and even the colors of the docked replica.

Splitter Verlag is a German publisher. I have seen the comic in Dutch as well during a recent trip to the Netherlands, but do not remember if the publisher might be different there. Maybe the comic is also available in other languages. The website of Splitter Verlag gives some good impressions of the content.

Lt. Bush