Cheers Heinrich. Been an absolute pleasure following your build. Look forward to the time when you have the leisure of building again and continuing with this beautiful WB. Looking at the Kolderstock you see how small this vessel would have been (as evidence by the real replica) and brave these men were back then.
Thank you very much Grant and thank you for walking the journey with me - it is highly appreciated! I will not be away from the forum and will continue now with the historical updates as well as focus on the replica. Oh yes, she was small - approximately only 25 meters in length and as you say the men - they were very brave - "wild"!
Oké, other priorities for you from now on. I enjoyed your build updates and maybe even more the history lessons you so freely gave us. The WB/WS is a beautiful little ship, worth being honored, either as a scale model or as a replica, as build in the Netherlands.
Thank you my dear friend. It was my honor to share this build with all my friends and I am glad that you all enjoyed it. I hope and trust that the Tiger will roar loudly to all of us - not as a threat but as an omen of good tidings!
Thank you so much Ron! You have been one of the stalwarts in your support and I cannot thank you enough. This littles hip will always remain a priority to me and you can bet your bottom dollar that the first thing I will do is set up a shipyard once I have moved. Thank you for the kind words on her looks and of course I will troll the forum. For the next few days, I will take things easy and watch all my friends' progress.
Thank you for all the support and encouragement Daniel. Yes, I have been granted a two-year lifeline, so for that I am very thankful. As far as finishing the two ships go - most certainly - the Willem Barentsz though has leapfrogged into priority position #1!
Bluenose is a wonderful build Daniel. Like all kits, it has its shortcomings, but the BIG advantage is the fact that there is a massive amount of information available on the Group Build Page - both from a historical and research perspective whilst thanks to old stalwarts like @Robertd Robert, @Dean62 Dean and @Peter Voogt Peter you have some of the best build logs possible to follow. Then we also have the new guns - people like @The Sailor Piero, @RDN1954 Johan, @Henk Liebre Henk who are doing excellent work already. And then I am so chuffed that @Canoe21 Lawrence (Bluenose #1) has also started his build after finishing his magnificent scratch-build of the Oliver Cromwell. So you will be in the best possible company I can assure you.
Very interesting history , and beautiful structure.View attachment 271975
Barents Sea
Covering an area of 1,405,000 km2, the Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located along the northern coasts of Norway and Russia.www.worldatlas.com
Barents Sea
Covering an area of 1,405,000 km2, the Barents Sea (which includes the White- and Pechora Seas), is part of the Arctic Ocean, located along the northern coasts of Norway and Russia. It is bounded by the Svalbard archipelago in the northwest, Franz Josef Land islands in the northeast, the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the east, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea in the west, and by the Kola Peninsula in the south. The Barents Sea was one of the more difficult seas for the sailors and ocean rowers to cross - hence it also being called “The Devil’s Jaw” or “The Devil’s Dance Floor.”
The sea’s current name was first published in a chart in 1853, in the honor of the famous Dutch explorer, Willem Barentsz. A Dutch cartographer and navigator, Barentsz was born on the island of Terschelling and lived from about 1550 to 1597 in the region that would eventually become the Netherlands.
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Dutch Explorer - Willem Barentsz
“Find a Northern Passage to China”.
This order, issued by the Town Council of Amsterdam would be Willem Barentsz’s last chance to do so. Two previous expeditions which carried with them the high hopes of the States General of the Seventeen Provinces and that of the Dutch stadtholder, Prince Maurice of Orange, respectively, both resulted in failure and left these instances disappointed and disillusioned. No longer would they subsidize such voyages. Instead, it was replaced by a reward system in which expeditions would be compensated for, only if they returned with proof of a successful navigation to China.
Barentsz though, was still determined to accomplish this and fortunately for him, the Council of Amsterdam was willing to bankroll him. It also purchased the two small ships, crewed with Dutch mariners, on which Barentsz would set sail eastwards from Amsterdam in May of 1596.
To these Dutch traders it was imperative that an alternative had to be found to the Portuguese-and Spanish controlled southern route around the Cape of Good Hope. When Barentsz left Amsterdam, he did so right in the middle of the Eighty Years' War, or Dutch Revolt (1568–1648), against the Spanish King.
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Planning the voyage – Willem Barentsz and Jacob Heemskerck
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Jacob Heemskerck
Navigator and later admiral, Jacob van Heemskerck (1567-1607), took part in two of Willem Barentsz’s expeditions to the far north in search of a northeast passage to Asia. He survived and would oversee the survivors’ successful return. In 1607, Admiral Van Heemskerck, engaged the Spanish armada near Gibraltar and led the Dutch fleet to a resounding victory. However, he took a shot in the leg from an enemy cannonball and died from his wounds shortly thereafter.
Why build the Willem Barentsz?
1. It attempted to establish the first contact between the Netherlands and China. (This sentence turned out prophetic for me - a South African (Dutch origin) in China.
2. I wanted to build a ship in the purest sense possible - devoid of all ornamentation and paraphernalia which could detract from its wooden construction.
3. After I had followed and read @pietsan Piet Sanders's build log of the Willem Barentsz, I was amazed at how simple could so be so beautiful - I was hooked.
4. Piet has agreed to assist me - and thus indirectly any modeler who wants to build it. To those who are not familiar with Piet, let me say that I hold his work in the highest possible esteem.
5. It is a @Kolderstok model and I know the superb back-up and support that I will receive from Hans.
In summary, enjoy these two pictures of Piet's superb build of the Willem Barentsz.
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Thank you all for watching and following. In the next posting (very soon) I will start the actual build of the ship. I hope you join me as I embark on this expedition of my own.
Take care, look after yourselves and your loved ones and enjoy your model building.
H
Hello Chuck. A big welcome to the Willem Barentsz build log. I am glad that you have joined us and hope that you will enjoy what happens here. The Barents Sea until today is known as a "difficult" sea and we cannot overestimate the bravery of these men who attempted the impossible so many years ago. I am very happy that you like the historical aspect of the build and promise you that there is still lots more to come. I am just as chuffed that you like the shape and structure of the ship per se - this also draws my attention each time I see her afresh. Once more, welcome!
Hi Paul. I am really glad that you find the build enjoyable - it is great to have you here. Oh no! The build will not stop, but will be interrupted at times. It is just that when I start a rather big section of the build, I like to know that I have the time available to start and finish that section. I will most certainly keep fiddling until I have the time available for the bigger things. To be fair ... the last two months have been an absolute blast and what made it even more of a blast was the fact that I was able to share with it with my friends. So I suppose I must not complain when things return to normal - I have been in building heaven long enough!
Wow Roger - you have really made me blush! For me the real pleasure of model building lies in the interaction that I have with my friends - and I say friends, because I have made some very good friends over the time. Without SOS my life would have been so much poorer - therefore it is my pleasure and honor to share the little I know with you guys. Rest assured that I will still be around and I will still "haunt" SOS. The Willem Barentsz still has many stories locked up in her - we are just overwintering.
Now on the way back home and have some time in the car.
Jan, my friend, the shipyard will most probably the only part that will be carefully packed. Thank you for all the kind words over the years, the unswerving support and for being the "ear" when I sometimes found it necessary to "rant and rave" - those things I will never forget!
