Vlieboot »De Zwane« 1592 — Barents discovers the Arctic

[Bela]

I think we'd make better progress if we focused on the actual topic. Phrases like 'Of course you don't' come across to me as somewhat condescending rather than constructive. If my post was unclear, I would have found an explanation more helpful.

 

[-Waldemar-]

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I’m sorry, Bela, but I’ve recently fallen victim to a surprising act of manipulation. It’s true that I later received an apology, but only in private, which of course doesn’t resolve the matter fairly given the harm caused in public, and is in fact a continuation of the manipulation. You must understand that my trust and willingness to engage, especially with anonymous users of unknown intentions, have once again been severely curtailed as a result. The late, kind Don was absolutely right when he advised me to simply ignore provocations and potential provocations by leaving them unanswered.

You must also understand that providing additional substantive explanations at someone’s individual request, in return for not even a polite ‘thank you’, is not a particularly appealing prospect for me, and perhaps for anyone else for that matter.

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[-Waldemar-]

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Beakhead

As the contracts make no mention whatsoever of the beakhead, the reconstruction of its appearance and structure must necessarily be based on illustrations of ships from the expedition itself, as well as a wealth of other iconography from that period which does not directly relate to Barentsz’s ships. In order to maintain the greatest possible consistency with all the depictions in de Veer’s account, I have essentially opted for a so-called ‘closed bow’ and a beakhead deck height at the level of the sheer line (gunwale) level, which in turn also allows for the bowsprit to be secured by breasthooks, as in the previously shown model of the Danish ship from 1634.

As for the figurehead decoration itself, I have taken the liberty of interpreting the simplified illustrations from de Veer’s account somewhat more freely, whilst remaining consistent with trends evident in other contemporary engravings dating from just a few years later.

In this way, I am slowly approaching the end of the conceptual reconstruction phase in the stricter sense. Admittedly, the contracts still contain quite a lot of other data; however, this relates to the scantlings and number of structural elements which are either irrelevant to the conceptual reconstruction and can be easily and directly replicated during the actual model construction without the need for much interpretation, or, for the most part, will not be needed at all for building the model using the planned POB technique (for example keelson, beam shelves, deck beams, frame components etc.).

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[Heinrich]

Dear Waldemar. You have done an admirable job on the beakhead - a very challenging part of the design. With only the available iconography to draw on and your obvious experience and expertise, your rendering is entirely convincing. Looking at the overall profile picture of the ship, my attention was not drawn to the beakhead - indeed my focus fell on the utterly compelling and perfectly proportioned lines of the ship. Whilst that may sound as a strange thing to say (we are after all, discussing the beakhead), to me it is a very good sign. The design of the beakhead blends in so well with the rest of the ship that it does not draw any attention on its own.

I was really tempted to build this ship as a POF model, but at some point, sanity must prevail. Once the frames-and lines plans have been completed, I must give those to someone who can do the laser cutting of the false keel, actual keel, stem, stern, rudder, frames, decks etc. for me on a once-off basis. This will not be a cheap exercise as there will be no economy of scale to talk of - unless, of course, I can convince a manufacturer to produce a kit of De Zwane. With all of these limitations in mind, I do believe a POB build will be the more viable of the two options.

 

[-Waldemar-]

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Many thanks, Heinrich, for your positive assessment and favourable reception.

Indeed, it is immensely satisfying to do something much better than academic researchers can: As far as Dutch shipbuilding is concerned, it can be repeated that, until now, historical design methods have not been identified. What is more, in the academic world it was even widely believed, following the lead of a few researchers, that principles of naval architecture, properly understood, had no application whatsoever.

It is only my latest research and findings that shed entirely new light on this completely neglected field, which may be rightly regarded as the most important in the shipbuilding process (one need only look at and compare the fees charged by individuals involved: designers, carpenters, loftsmen, riggers, etc.). As a result, even the very creators and notorious proponents of today’s misguided doctrine of ‘eyeball’ shipbuilding seem to be finally changing their views, though in the process of reversing their stance they naturally point to their own decisive contributions to this particular achievement (which in fact do not exist, and in reality the opposite is true), whilst I am left to contend with the hostility of the most die-hard admirers of these well-known researchers. What a perverse life…

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This will not be a cheap exercise as there will be no economy of scale to talk of - unless, of course, I can convince a manufacturer to produce a kit of De Zwane.

Essentially, the conceptual reconstruction of De Zwane was carried out for your and my personal benefit and satisfaction. The idea of turning it into a commercial venture seems also a very attractive, except that it represents a complete paradigm shift in the process, requiring a different approach — in particular, establishing the scope of responsibility, terms of cooperation, technical issues, and so on.

The best course of action would be direct contact with a potential manufacturer willing to produce a model kit of the ship based on my reconstruction. On the other hand, I have presented the essence of the design method used to recreate the shape of De Zwane in such detail that attentive readers should be able to repeat the process themselves without too much difficulty. Provided, of course, that enough time and inclination are available…

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[Roger Pellett]

Nice job! I find these Sixteenth Century vessels to be interesting. Unfortunately advancing age convinces me to stick to shorter term projects.

A question? Is the replica that you show on the previous page that of the Red Bay Galleon?

Roger

Answered my own question. Didn’t realize that she had been launched.

 

[-Waldemar-]

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A question? Is the replica that you show on the previous page that of the Red Bay Galleon?

Thanks, Roger. That’s right, it shows a very recent and ambitious life-size replica of the Basque whaling ship San Juan from around 1560, which is quite close in time to ‘our’ De Zwane. I’ll also take this opportunity to say that I had the San Juan (particularly its similar characteristics) in mind during this specific investigation. I had previously analysed the San Juan in greater detail, but the (nearly completed) thread was lost in the recent MSW forum crash and I still need to reconstruct it (fortunately, I have a backup).

Apart from that, your use of the term ‘galleon’, also in reference to De Zwane, may even be quite apt: personally, I am not entirely sure that the term ‘vlieboot’ is relevant to Barents’ ships. But fortunately, it is just a name, which does not really change the essence of the matter.

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[Heinrich]

Essentially, the conceptual reconstruction of De Zwane was carried out for your and my personal benefit and satisfaction.

And I believe this is exactly what will happen - it will remain a highly exclusive build with the aim of redefining that oh-so-elusive concept of "historical accuracy". And quite frankly, this is the route that I would ultimately prefer. My reference to a kit manufacturer was more tongue-in-cheek than anything else.

whilst I am left to contend with the hostility of the most die-hard admirers of these well-known researchers. What a perverse life…

The first time that I encountered hostility from this "well-known researcher", was precisely the moment when I realised that I was on the right track. In any case, that is all behind us now and the next challenge at hand will be to bring this wonderful rendition of yours to fruition by creating a tangible construction. At this very moment, I have no idea of how, when and where that will happen, other than to say that it will happen. I also aim to bring to light one of the most influential figures in Dutch history - both on national and maritime levels - who, until now, has been shrouded in obscurity. I suppose the theorem of the prophet not being recognised in his own time, holds true on many fronts!

 

[Roger Pellett]

The archeological reports use the term Galleon. Maybe just to attach a familiar name in order to raise public awareness. I don’t claim enough expertise in these old vessels to question. I’ll leave that to you guys!

Roger

 

[Heinrich]

The archeological reports use the term Galleon. Maybe just to attach a familiar name in order to raise public awareness. I don’t claim enough expertise in these old vessels to question. I’ll leave that to you guys!

Roger

Roger it is great to see you here! The naming of Dutch ships was a very arbitrary matter at best. Some sources have tried to define "vlieboot, jacht and pinas", but in reality, these nomenclatures meant little to historians who seemed to name them whatever they pleased. De Zwane was called a "Boot, Boodt, Vlieboot and Jacht" in official transcripts.

During the 1595 expedition, De Zwane's sailing partner was De Griffioen, which was named as a war pinnace when it was - in all likelihood - a galleon.

 

[-Waldemar-]

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Broadly speaking, it can probably be said that for the Mediterranean world — and, by extension, for the English as well, given its deep roots in the former — the term ‘galleon’ is entirely appropriate. However, at the time, this term did not catch on at all in the Germanic languages of northern Europe (it has only done so in modern times). Instead, in a structural or design context, apart from the examples given by Heinrich, the term ‘spiegelship’ or similar — meaning basically ‘square-tuck ship’ — was used for more or less equivalent cases.

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