HIGH HOPES, WILD MEN AND THE DEVIL’S JAW - Willem Barentsz Kolderstok 1:50

Heinrich said:
And with that dear friends, the port side is also done and dusted.

View attachment 282334
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This side looks also GREAT!
Heinrich said:
So with the gunports out of the way, it is time for a further historical background update so let us turn our attention to the expedition and find out what transpired next.

As usual I will post both English as well as the old-Dutch as written by Gerrit de Veer in his diary for our Dutch members.

View attachment 282355
Art Work by Arnold de Lange (De Lange Maritiem) http://arnolddelange.nl/willem-barentsz/

With this piece I struggled with the translation so I hope I have it right. If I got something terribly wrong, I hope our Dutch members can put me right.

On the 21st of June we cast anchor in water with a depth of 18 fathoms. Jan Corneliszoon Rijp (captain of the second ship in the second expedition) went ashore to the western side of the land to collect ballast. There is no mention of how many men he took with him, but judging from the artwork, he obviously did take a few.

`Den 21.junij wierpen wijt ancker inden grondt op 18. vadem voort landt, ende wy ende Jan Cornelisz.(Rijp) volck voeren aende westzyde van´t landt, en haelden daer ballast`…

During all of Barentsz’s trips, polar bears were a constant threat and the third trip was no exception. During one such an occasion, a polar bear tried to climb into one of the row boats. Once again it is not mentioned with what intention the bear climbed into the boat, but we are probably correct in assuming that it did not pay the men a friendly visit. ;)
... we saw a white bear swim towards our sloop. We were forced to interrupt our work in order to protect ourselves. Jan Cornelissen* turned the sloop towards the bear and intercepted him, forcing him away from land. The bear turned around and swam seawards, whereafter we set chase after him.

... sagen wy een witten Beyr na ons schip swemme, daer deur wy van ons arbeyt af stonden, en vielen te boot,en Jan Cornelissen* volck mede, en royden beyden nae den Beyr toe, en onderschepten hem de wegh, en dreve hem van´t landt af. Hy swom ter zeewaert in, ende wy royden hem na`…

View attachment 282360
Art Work by Arnold de Lange (De Lange Maritiem) http://arnolddelange.nl/willem-barentsz/

It is not implicitly stated that the men killed the bear, but the next painting by Arnold de Lange portrays a slain bear hanging from the Barentsz. One can only gather from that they did kill the bear and that Jan Cornelissen* probably played a role in doing so.

* Jan Cornelissen was also the exact name of my late father so you can imagine that I find this piece of history quite co-incidental and speciaL.

View attachment 282361
Painting by Arnold de Lange (De Lange Maritiem) http://arnolddelange.nl/willem-barentsz/

This painting depicting the slain bear hanging from the side of the Barentsz is one of my all-time favorite paintings. There are a few significant things of interest in this painting. Note the two "chaloups" (sloops or lifeboats) next to the ship in the foreground and another next to the ship in the background. One of these sloops would play an instrumental role in the eventual survival of the men so it has significant historical importance. As such, @Kolderstok has included two of these lifeboats with the kit. Also note that with the ever-increasing presence of pack-ice, dropping temperatures and icy winds, the gunports are now depicted as closed and not open as in the previous paintings.

At this point a debate/argument ensued between Barentsz and Jan Corneliszoon Rijp about how best to proceed. They agreed to split up, with the latter returning to Spitsbergen in search of a Northwards passage between Spitsbergen and Greenland, whilst Barentsz would continue in a northeast direction. Rijp, however, was soon stranded in the ice and desperately tried to follow Barentsz. This failed and by the end of 1596, he was safely back in the Netherlands.

That is all for this chapter - stay tuned for the rest of the build and our next historical update.
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This post with the paintings is also GREAT!
Go on, Heinrich. The common story in mostly knows, but some details are new and interesting.
Regards, Peter
 
RDN1954 said:
Heinrich, I'm sorry having put so much emphasis on the significance of Willem Barentsz for the history of the Netherlands, but I can't help myself being proud of that part of our national history. Unfortunately, nowadays I find it hard to feel the same pride for our present day accomplishments, if any...
Fortunately though, we have Ships of Scale! :D
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There is absolutely no need to apologize for being proud of Dutch History, Johan. Even though I am not Dutch, I am also very proud of them. I don't think the Netherlands is unique about a lack of accomplishments these days, Johan. There seems to be very few countries nowadays who do anything worthy of pride or praise. Rather they all seem to be in the middle of some crises with only the depth that varies.
 
Peter Voogt said:
This side looks also GREAT!

This post with the paintings is also GREAT!
Go on, Heinrich. The common story in mostly knows, but some details are new and interesting.
Regards, Peter
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Thank you very much Peter. I am also happy about the way the gunports turned out and I agree fully about the quality of the paintings and drawings. I was very fortunate that I stumbled onto the work of Arnold de Lange - his work is worthy of a visit to his website.
 
Heinrich said:
So with the gunports out of the way, it is time for a further historical background update so let us turn our attention to the expedition and find out what transpired next.

As usual I will post both English as well as the old-Dutch as written by Gerrit de Veer in his diary for our Dutch members.

View attachment 282355
Art Work by Arnold de Lange (De Lange Maritiem) http://arnolddelange.nl/willem-barentsz/

With this piece I struggled with the translation so I hope I have it right. If I got something terribly wrong, I hope our Dutch members can put me right.

On the 21st of June we cast anchor in water with a depth of 18 fathoms. Jan Corneliszoon Rijp (captain of the second ship in the second expedition) went ashore to the western side of the land to collect ballast. There is no mention of how many men he took with him, but judging from the artwork, he obviously did take a few.

`Den 21.junij wierpen wijt ancker inden grondt op 18. vadem voort landt, ende wy ende Jan Cornelisz.(Rijp) volck voeren aende westzyde van´t landt, en haelden daer ballast`…

During all of Barentsz’s trips, polar bears were a constant threat and the third trip was no exception. During one such an occasion, a polar bear tried to climb into one of the row boats. Once again it is not mentioned with what intention the bear climbed into the boat, but we are probably correct in assuming that it did not pay the men a friendly visit. ;)
... we saw a white bear swim towards our sloop. We were forced to interrupt our work in order to protect ourselves. Jan Cornelissen* turned the sloop towards the bear and intercepted him, forcing him away from land. The bear turned around and swam seawards, whereafter we set chase after him.

... sagen wy een witten Beyr na ons schip swemme, daer deur wy van ons arbeyt af stonden, en vielen te boot,en Jan Cornelissen* volck mede, en royden beyden nae den Beyr toe, en onderschepten hem de wegh, en dreve hem van´t landt af. Hy swom ter zeewaert in, ende wy royden hem na`…

View attachment 282360
Art Work by Arnold de Lange (De Lange Maritiem) http://arnolddelange.nl/willem-barentsz/

It is not implicitly stated that the men killed the bear, but the next painting by Arnold de Lange portrays a slain bear hanging from the Barentsz. One can only gather from that they did kill the bear and that Jan Cornelissen* probably played a role in doing so.

* Jan Cornelissen was also the exact name of my late father so you can imagine that I find this piece of history quite co-incidental and speciaL.

View attachment 282361
Painting by Arnold de Lange (De Lange Maritiem) http://arnolddelange.nl/willem-barentsz/

This painting depicting the slain bear hanging from the side of the Barentsz is one of my all-time favorite paintings. There are a few significant things of interest in this painting. Note the two "chaloups" (sloops or lifeboats) next to the ship in the foreground and another next to the ship in the background. One of these sloops would play an instrumental role in the eventual survival of the men so it has significant historical importance. As such, @Kolderstok has included two of these lifeboats with the kit. Also note that with the ever-increasing presence of pack-ice, dropping temperatures and icy winds, the gunports are now depicted as closed and not open as in the previous paintings.

At this point a debate/argument ensued between Barentsz and Jan Corneliszoon Rijp about how best to proceed. They agreed to split up, with the latter returning to Spitsbergen in search of a Northwards passage between Spitsbergen and Greenland, whilst Barentsz would continue in a northeast direction. Rijp, however, was soon stranded in the ice and desperately tried to follow Barentsz. This failed and by the end of 1596, he was safely back in the Netherlands.

That is all for this chapter - stay tuned for the rest of the build and our next historical update.
Click to expand...
Once again a very interesting history lesson Heinrich,

One thing for me that the last painting highlights is the size of the ships, and how small they were that these men undertook this voyage in.
Keep up the great work.

Cheers,
Stephen.
 
Someone told me once (when and who I don't remember) that our ancestors where able to travel that far with those small ships because they where so small.
This sounds odd, but the explanation was that the ship was actually smaller than the waves she had to conquer and therefore did not suffer much. Had the ships been bigger (taller) than the continuous waves pounding onto it, it would have caused severe weakening of the structure and a greater risk of going down.
 
Kolderstok said:
Someone told me once (when and who I don't remember) that our ancestors where able to travel that far with those small ships because they where so small.
This sounds odd, but the explanation was that the ship was actually smaller than the waves she had to conquer and therefore did not suffer much. Had the ships been bigger (taller) than the continuous waves pounding onto it, it would have caused severe weakening of the structure and a greater risk of going down.
Click to expand...

There is truth to that. The Great Lakes have seen a number of ships go down. A large number were larger cargo ships that broke apart in the rough water and you would think that the smaller navy destroyers who sail the Great Lakes would suffer a similar fate as the Great Lakes can be violent. Our destroyer was tossed around like a beach ball but somehow she stayed afloat.
I’m not sayin’ smaller ones don’t go down…….just sayin’

Ron
 
Stevedownunder said:
Once again a very interesting history lesson Heinrich,

One thing for me that the last painting highlights is the size of the ships, and how small they were that these men undertook this voyage in.
Keep up the great work.

Cheers,
Stephen.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the kind comments Stephen - I am super happy to see that the historical part of the log is so well-received.

You are so right about the size of these ships - I remember that as a child I visited the replica of the Dromedaris (the ship that brought Jan van Riebeeck to the Cape of Good Hope - today Cape Town - in 1652). Upon seeing the ship and after walking around on and going below deck, I was bitterly disappointed at how small it was. :) I was expecting this massive and impressive ship and here was something that was no bigger than a large South African fishing trawler! How they found accommodation for all the people aboard, still remain a mystery to me - even to this day!
 
Kolderstok said:
Someone told me once (when and who I don't remember) that our ancestors where able to travel that far with those small ships because they where so small.
This sounds odd, but the explanation was that the ship was actually smaller than the waves she had to conquer and therefore did not suffer much. Had the ships been bigger (taller) than the continuous waves pounding onto it, it would have caused severe weakening of the structure and a greater risk of going down.
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This is a very interesting theory, Hans - and one, which makes sense when one thinks about it. The smaller ship would have been able to "ride" the waves better than bigger ones which would have tended to "crash through" the waves. However, they would have been tossed around considerably by the waves - life could not have been easy or comfortable for the sailors on them. Thank you for this. Thumbs-Up
 
rtibbs said:
There is truth to that. The Great Lakes have seen a number of ships go down. A large number were larger cargo ships that broke apart in the rough water and you would think that the smaller navy destroyers who sail the Great Lakes would suffer a similar fate as the Great Lakes can be violent. Our destroyer was tossed around like a beach ball but somehow she stayed afloat.
I’m not sayin’ smaller ones don’t go down…….just sayin’

Ron
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Hello Ron. I agree - see my answer in response to Hans's theory. The downside though must have been a considerably "rougher" journey in the smaller vessels. But hey - I will rather suffer discomfort and be sure that the ship will stay afloat.:)
 
Heinrich said:
This is a very interesting theory, Hans - and one, which makes sense when one thinks about it. The smaller ship would have been able to "ride" the waves better than bigger ones which would have tended to "crash through" the waves. However, they would have been tossed around considerably by the waves - life could not have been easy or comfortable for the sailors on them. Thank you for this. Thumbs-Up
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A lovely theory, which I'm happy not to test my self...
 
Kolderstok said:
Someone told me once (when and who I don't remember) that our ancestors where able to travel that far with those small ships because they where so small.
This sounds odd, but the explanation was that the ship was actually smaller than the waves she had to conquer and therefore did not suffer much. Had the ships been bigger (taller) than the continuous waves pounding onto it, it would have caused severe weakening of the structure and a greater risk of going down.
Click to expand...
That is an interesting and very informative insight but punishing on the crew being rolled about on all three axis and not hobby horse in one direction only. Great to visualize for me. RIch
 
Hello Dear friends

Today, I just felt like taking things a bit easy. :) I did make a tiny bit of progress though.

JPG_2102_6617_bewerkt-1.jpg
Photograph: @pietsan Piet Sanders. On this picture, you can see the third wale (indicated by the yellow line) that is affixed to the hull above the gunports.

The instructions indicate that this 3rd wale be added quite late in the build - after among other things - the deck had been placed in position.

NOTE: It is a far better idea though to glue this third wale to the hull BEFORE the deck is added. The reason? That allows you to clamp the wale quite nicely. With the deck in position, you cannot use clamps so that makes fixing the third wale a much more difficult proposition.

微信图片_20220114184111.jpg
Here you can see the 3rd wale being glued on the port side and firmly clamped in position, while waiting for the glue to dry. If you had already placed the deck at this point, you would not have been able to use the clamps.

This tip is courtesy of Piet!
 
rtibbs said:
Good tip.
Love your colorful clamps. Brightens up the day !!

Looking at the picture is there room for hinges on the doors? Looks close.
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Hi Ron. For this purpose they work very well. They have quite a broad tip, so their footprint on the plank that needs to be clamped, is quite substantial. At the same time they are not as fierce as the black ones that I used during the hull planking.
 
The wale is out of the clamps on the Port Side - in the clamps on the starboard side.

微信图片_20220114215104.jpg
Now I have to wait three hours before the clamps on the starboard side can be removed. Seeing that I will never be able to sleep without knowing the final outcome of this process, it means I will only go to bed at 01H00 tomorrow morning. :)
 
Heinrich said:
The wale is out of the clamps on the Port Side - in the clamps on the starboard side.

View attachment 282533
Now I have to wait three hours before the clamps on the starboard side can be removed. Seeing that I will never be able to sleep without knowing the final outcome of this process, it means I will only go to bed at 01H00 tomorrow morning. :)
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Acknowledging you have an addiction is the first step toward recovery Heinrich ROTF.
 
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