Fluyt
A fluyt (archaic
Ship design
The standard fluyt design minimized or completely eliminated its armaments to maximize available cargo space, and used
The design of fluyts was largely similar to that of the early galleons (a ship invented in Spain, and received by the Dutch as a part of the same Kingdom). These ships typically weighed 200–300 tons and were approximately 80 feet (24 metres) in length.
It is a persistent myth that the fluyt was developed and functioned to evade Sound Tolls. The toll registers, however, show that during the 70 years from 1562 to 1632 it was a well-established procedure in the Sound for the toll-officers to use the bills of lading to determine the loading-capacities of the vessels passing through. They did not employ any sort of measuring device to assess the width, length, and depth of the vessels and then calculate the size of the ships.[7]
The fluyt was
The Swan
In 2003, Martin Mattenik and Deep Sea Productions, using side scanning sonar, discovered a shipwreck lying on the floor of the Baltic Sea. The wreck was visited five times between 2003 and 2010. The Baltic is unusual in that there is a thick layer of fresh water inhospitable to saltwater-loving shipworms and shipwrecks are protected from the ravages of shipworms. The top of the wreck's rudder is decorated with three flowers which is typical of Dutch-built ships of the era. This ship is believed to be named the Swan due to the sculpted body of a swan found in the wreckage. At the time it was customary to attach a figure depicting the name of the ship to the transom. Dutch fluyts were built and used in the 16th and 17th centuries as a contract-for-hire vessel. England had not yet established its own large-scale shipbuilding industry and the Dutch dominated the market.[8] During the 17th century, English companies leased ships like the Swan to carry colonists to America.
Replicas
The Hector, constructed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and launched in 2000, is a replica of an early 18th-century fluyt which, in the summer of 1773 carried 189 Scottish immigrants to Nova Scotia. The replica was constructed according to line drawings from the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, and built using traditional shipbuilding techniques. As of 2017, the Hector is operated by the Hector Quay Society and is open to the public.[9]
See also
References
- ISBN 9789087040475.
- ^ Wheatley, Joe. "Fluyts and Katts". The Captain Cook Society. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-521-29050-0.
- ^ a b c Boxer, CR (1965). The Dutch Seaborne Empire 1600–1800. Alfred A. Knopf.
- ISBN 978-0-670-06320-8.
- ISBN 0-7153-5462-0.
- ^ Mogens, Jensen (2018). "Was the flute a vessel designed to evade paying toll in the Sound?" (PDF). Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis [Marine History Magazine]. 37 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ^ Unger, Richard W. (April 1981). "Dutch Shipbuilding in the Golden Age". History Today. Vol. 34, No. 1.
- ^ "Hector Heritage Quay – The Symbol of Scottish Immigration in North America". shiphector.com. Retrieved 2017-07-05.