EMH Newsletter 28 - European Maritime Heritage EMH

European
Maritime
Heritage
Newsletter
No 28. March 2012
A revival for lateen rig in Croatia the Latinski Idro regatta at Murter
by Mr Giovanni Panella
F
or several years regattas
for lateen-rigged vessels
have taken place in Croatia.
The most significant of these is the Latinski Idro event
held on the first Sunday of
October in Murter, a village
which, with neighbouring
Betina, is the main harbour
in the Kornati (Incoronate)
archipelago. This group of
more than 100 islands and
rocks provides an almostunspoiled natural environment which qualifies it as a
National Park. The islands
of the group lie parallel to
the coast of Dalmatia; they
are long, narrow and made
up of a whitish karst mineral with a remarkably
beautiful appearance when
viewed from a distance. But
from an agricultural viewpoint, they offer one of the
poorest soils of the Mediterranean. Only in a few spots
sheltered from the wind can
the soil retain moisture, and
here a few meagre olive
shrubs survive among the
stones. The inhabitants of
Murter rely on multi-purpose boats for access to
their agricultural plots some
bundles of shrubs which the
fishermen pummel with
heavy wooden hammers on
a large mortar slab. This
procedure is conducted in
solemn fashion by a group
of elderly sailors in traditional costume, and their
hard labour is rewarded
with a greenish liquid released by the stems and
leaves which they use to
treat their nets.
Shrubs are pummeled for a tannin solution
distance from their homes,
and these vessels are also
employed in fishing, as well
as personal transport and
for moving agricultural
equipment and the few domestic animals that these
rocky landscapes support.
Considering that the plots
are small and some distance
away, a boat is a real necessity for everyone, and each
household along the waterfront has access to a small
quay where its boat is kept.
Consequently there is a
lively tradition of small-
scale boatbuilding and repair.
A significant hardship for
the inhabitants of these islands is the shortage of tree
bark. Throughout the Mediterranean cotton nets are
protected against decay by
immersing them periodically in a tannin solution
obtained by boiling tree
bark. But in the Kornati
there are no woods and the
shortage of bark makes
such a simple operation difficult, so instead they collect
The regatta to which it is a
prelude is an authentically
vernacular gathering which
began about a dozen years
ago as a gathering of a few
boats. For its originator,
Professor Vladimir Skračić,
the regatta is not an end in
itself but a means of reviving a whole maritime tradition that was in danger of
dying out. Professor Skračić, explains “I want to keep
alive a particular experience
of the sea and its traditions.
The competitive aspects of
the regatta are part of this
but are not the sole purpose
of the event. We formalised
our intentions in 2005,
(continued on the back...)
The changing
face of Heritage Afloat
European
Maritime
Heritage
Newsletter
Published on behalf of the EMH
by: SME, Stjernegade 20 E, DK-3000
Helsingør, Denmark
Tel: +45 5051 6012.
E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial staff:
Ole Vistrup
Giovanni Panella
Contributors:
Holger Bellgardt
Julie Boénec
Jacopo Brancati
Didier Épars
Dörte Münstermann
John Robinson
Mike Smylie
Photos:
Holger Bellgardt
Werner Karrasch
Giovanni Panella
Mike Smylie
_______________________________
EMH
Office & Secretary:
Mr. Thedo Fruithof, Dijkweg 222,
NL-1619 JC Andijk, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 228 593 136
Fax: +31 228 593 136
E-mail: [email protected]
President:
Mr. Per Jessing
Tel: +46 705 100 038
E-mail: [email protected]
Vice President & Treasurer:
Mr. Hendrik Boland
Tel: +31 228 317 056
E-mail: [email protected]
Committee member:
Mr. John Robinson
Tel: +44 1 453 822 908
E-mail: rob.crusoe@btopenworld.
com
Committee member:
Mr. Pablo Carrera Lopez
Tel: +34 986 247 750
E-mail: pablo.carrera@museodomar.
es
Committee member:
Mr. Holger Bellgardt
Tel: +49 381 2085233
E-mail: [email protected]
President d’Honneur:
Mr. Anders Berg
2
by Mr John Robinson
S
ince 1994 Heritage Afloat has provided a forum for the owners and operators of traditional and
historic vessels on the rivers, lakes, canals and seas
around the United Kingdom. It has provided advice and support for individual vessel owners when
needed and has campaigned against the steady loss
of harbour facilities and
dry-docks required for the
upkeep of such vessels, and
has supported local initiatives such as the Hermitage
Community Mooring on
the River Thames which
provides a haven for visiting vessels that meet the requirements of the Barcelona
Charter (www.hcmoorings.
org).
Since 1996 Heritage Afloat
(HA) has represented UK
owners and operators at
EMH, and has hosted two
meetings of the Working
Group together with various other Council and Executive meetings aboard
traditional vessels in London and Southampton.
Members of HA voted recently to combine their resources with those of an
older charitable organisation established in 1969 in
response to concerns at the
progressive loss of historic
British vessels, some by
then lying in foreign waters. This was the Maritime
Trust, which repatriated the
London-built coastal steamship Robin from northern
Spain in 1974. Five years
later the MT intervened to
prevent the loss of the midVictorian ironclad warship
Warrior, then serving as a
floating jetty in Wales, and
went on to acquire more
than 20 other vessels, many
of which were the last survivors of their type and of
huge historical importance.
But for one, national organisation to maintain and
promote 20 vessels, some
dispersed around the country, proved intolerably costly, and all of the vessels
were eventually conveyed
to other custodians. Since
disposing of Sir Francis
Chichester’s yacht Gypsy
Moth IV in 2004, the Trust
has provided advisory services.
Heritage Afloat supports
the EMH view that, in most
cases, continued operation
offers the best prospect of
long-term survival for preserved vessels. Like the
Maritime Trust, it deplores
the failure of policy-makers
to include them in legislation for the heritage. From
henceforth, the two organisations will combine as a
charity under the new title
Maritime Heritage Trust.
HA has successfully resisted the closure and redevelopment of historic docks
and slipways needed for
vessel maintenance, and
the new Trust will campaign to retain and improve shore-based facilities
for traditional vessels in operation, and to foster maritime skills such as riveting
and sail-making. Among
the objectives listed in its
mission statement are to increase public interest and support for maritime heritage,
which in turn will raise
awareness of its cultural importance and have wider benefits for economic drivers such
as employment, education and
tourism.
The Duke of Edinburgh,
who was an active naval
officer when he married
Princess Elizabeth in 1947
and took an active role in
establishing the Maritime
Trust, has agreed to remain
as Patron of the new organisation. Under David Morgan as national Chairman,
it will encourage the formation of regional sections.
The first of these covers
Wales, where a major campaign called Wales and the
Sea begins early in 2012,
chaired by Richard James
of Milford Haven Port
Authority. Cardiff County
Council plans an international conference in October 2012 on the role of maritime heritage as an economic driver.
SS Robin, repatriated by the Maritime trust in 1974
Go to
www.maritimeheritage.org.uk
for more details of the new organisation.
Biche
by Mr John Robinson
T
he shoals of tunny fish
that were abundant along France’s Atlantic coast
in previous centuries were
eventually heavily depleted
by aggressive over-fishing.
A century ago, hundreds of
sturdy wooden sailing vessels, typically gaff-rigged
on two masts, left French
harbours each summer to
harvest mature tunny as
they made their way northwards feeding in the warm
waters of the Gulf Stream.
The tunny boats were distinguishable by the tall
booms, one each side of the
mainmast, from which the
baited hooks and lines were
trailed through the water.
For many decades, the tunny remained abundant, for
this fishery was ecologically
sound, relying for success
on the wind to propel the
boats and the individual
skill of the line fishermen to
capture their powerful prey.
The principal French tunny
port was Port-Tudy on the
Isle de Groix, where no less
than 244 of these vessels
were registered. Changing
technology made most of
these fine sailing vessels obsolete soon after the end of
the Second World War, and
tunny fishing under sail
from Port-Tudy ended in
1962. Within a few years,
dozens of the wooden hulls
were to be found abandoned in maritime graveyards along the Atlantic
coast.
Today the sole surviving
sailing tunny boat is believed to be Biche, built at
les Sables d’Olonne in 1933.
The decline in fishing had
left her without work already in 1957, when she
was acquired by members
of the Royal Belgian Sailing
Club who sailed her to Zeebrugge for use as an accommodation ship. A new owner sailed her to England in
1974, and she spent the next
few years on the River
Hamble awaiting overhaul.
In 1991 the Port-Musee in
(continued on page 9...)
vessels
National regulations for traditional seagoing vessels
are still in force. International (EU-) regulations beneath the Wilhelmhaven /
London MoU are expected
and will be supported.
Germany signed the London MoU 2005 and will go
on with it. Any support is
granted only to “historic”
vessels, as seen in the letters
EMH received from EU.
ditional vessels which had
been already approved as
traditional vessel since 2001
could not be approved
again because of their modifications, a right to operate
under continuation permit
is not granted. This means
that keeping a continuous
inventory of traditional vessels is not possible. A solution of this problem is in
discussion.
An overview of Germany
by Ms Dörte Münstermann
T
he GSHW is the umbrella organisation for
traditional vessels and together with the “Be rufsgenossenschaft Verkehr” (ex
SeeBG, mutual indemnity
society for transport) the
GSHW is appointed to the
approval of traditional vessels by the German administration.
There are about 150 seagoing traditional vessels approved according to the national “Richtlinie für Traditionsschiffe” .
The GSHW has about 50
members, mostly associations which operates one
ore more historic vessels.
Another organization is the
union of the German museums harbours AGDM
which is working mainly as
an informal committee for
their members. A harbour
almanac is planned.
Museums
There are only a few vessels
in operation which are
owned by a public museum.
Most of the historic vessels
are laid-up and could be
visited at their berth.
Politics 1
General: Germany has no
national Ministry of Culture, culture is matter of the
countries (Bundesländer).
This means 16 different interests, 16 different laws for
saving monuments etc.. In
some countries vessels are
accepted as monuments
(moveable heritage.)
Museums are mostly property of the township / communities. There is no interest on traditional vessels
under an academic aspect.
Politics 2
The Ministry of Transport is
responsible for traditional
seagoing vessels and inland
In practice there were severe problems regarding
the practical implementation of the national regulation. The executive administration (BG Verkehr) was
interpreting the definition
of traditional vessels very
rigorous in the meaning of
historic as not modified vessels. This interpretation is
supported by the actual
German jurisdiction.
From this it follows that tra-
Inland Vessels: The German
representative is very active
in the matter of Chapter
19 / 2006/87/EG within the
JWG. The German administration asked GSHW as
well as other German industrial associations for an
assessment for the proposal
JWG 10 /80 which was
given in January 2011. The
work should be finished
next year.
3
EMH collaborates in new
Mediterranean regional initiatives
by Mr John Robinson and Mr Giovanni Panella
U
ntil 10 January 2012,
the Maritime Museum
in Palermo, housed in the
only surviving building of
the Arsenal established there in 1621, is showing a remarkable exhibition called
Voices of the Mediterranean.
Remarkable because you
will not find any museum
objects there. Instead, using
recordings and electronic
displays, it celebrates the
role of the voice as the primary channel for human
communication. Featuring
material collected from all
around the Mediterranean
region, including Tunisia
and Morocco, it illustrates
the role of the voice in street
markets, in music and worship, in traditional storytelling and other cultural
activities, and demonstrates
that, however their vocabularies may differ, the nations that surround the Mediterranean rely heavily on
the voice for cultural exchanges across their national frontiers.
This exhibition is a result of
close collaboration between
the Museum of the Mediterranean at Torroella de
Montgri, on the coast of
Catalonia, and the Maritime
Museum at Palermo. Its
successful outcome exemplifies the close professional
ties between maritime museums that have developed
under the umbrella of the
Association of Mediterranean Maritime Museums,
with its secretariat in Barcelona where the Maritime
Museum sponsored the
creation of AMMM in 1998.
Its membership has since
grown to exceed 40 institutions, one of which is invited to host a Forum for its
members each year. Workshops on specialised topics
are also held on an annual
4
Italian trabacolo Il Nouvo Trionfo under restoration.
basis.
As maritime museums respond to technical advances
in seafaring by collecting
examples of disappearing
objects, some of their stores
and warehouses may become full. The cost of maintaining ships and boats as
open-air exhibits imposes a
heavy burden on museum
budgets. This practical consideration, coupled with
concern for the disappearance of traditional maritime
skills such as net-making
and the repair of wooden
boats, has helped to raise
the profile of the intangible
aspects of the maritime culture we share. In an effort to
identify priorities for more
effective protection of intangible maritime cultural heritage (IMCH), the AMMM
recently circulated a questionnaire to its members about legislative and other
measures operating in different Mediterranean countries. The findings were examined at an AMMM
Workshop on 25 October
2011, appropriately hosted
by the Maritime Museum in
Palermo where the Voices
exhibition from Catalonia
provided a working exam-
ple of intangible heritage
for public enjoyment. The
working group studying
this topic noted wide variations in how IMCH is treated in different countries,
and favoured a census across the AMMM area to
provide a tool for improved
co-operation between nations. A parallel working
group looked in detail at an
AMMM project for a Mediterranean-wide listing of
traditional and historic vessels. An earlier seminar at
the Museo della Marineria in
Cesenatico in 2009 had
launched a similar survey
of Italian working craft, some of whose methodologies
are recommended for adoption for the wider Mediterranean census.
Several speakers stressed
the urgency of compiling
the survey, to provide a
check against the inconsiderate destruction of important vessels at the end of
their working life. No time
is to be lost in lengthy discussions of how ‘traditional’
and ‘historic’ ships are to be
exactly defined; that process
can follow the gathering of
information. There was admiration for the simplicity
of the assessment criteria
adopted for the Australian
Register of Historic Vessels
(http://emuseumanmm.gov.au
and click on ‘assessment criteria’). Dr.Davide Gnola, who
as Director of the Museo
della Marineria had organized the earlier seminar at
Cesenatico in 2009, chaired
this working group and
found broad support for the
rapid survey strategy which
he proposed. He acknowledged that in the Mediterranean region, attention has
generally been directed towards ‘classic’ boats used
for recreational purposes,
while humbler working
boats have largely been neglected. Now they need to
be cherished, as the more
glamorous ‘classic’ vessels
already are. He included a
plea for ships and boats to
be considered as a part of a
wider heritage embracing
harbours, shipyards and intangible heritage. Dr. Gnola
agreed to provide a link
from the Mediterranean region to the International
Historic & Traditional Ship
Panel, established in July
2011 under the aegis of the
International Congress of
Maritime Museums, in
whose deliberations EMH is
also deeply involved.
Both of the initiatives discussed at the Palermo workshop correspond closely
with work already launched by EMH’s Cultural
Council, which was represented at the meeting.
Small teams were nominated there to work intensively on developing the
proposals and to report before the end of 2011.
AMMM’s next Forum is expected to take place at the
Naval Museum in Istanbul
from 28-29 May 2012.
Baltic Sail Agreement extended in 2011
by Mr Holger Bellgardt
The Haikutter Regatta 2011
B
altic Sail was established in 1996 by the cities
of Gdansk (Poland), Helsingør (Denmark), Karlskrona (Sweden) and Rostock (Germany). Its main
objective is cooperation in
the field of maritime tourism. It began as a response
to the dismantling of the
iron curtain, which had not
only divided Germany into
East and West but also the
Baltic Sea Region into North
and South for many years
before the 1990s. These four
cities decided to cooperate
by organizing consecutive
maritime events with and
for traditional ships in operation, designed to provide
a platform for the oldtimers to promote themselves and to earn the necessary money for their
maintenance.
Today the association contains six cities: Klaipeda
(Lithuania), Swinoujscie
(Poland) and the Port of
Sassnitz (Germany) joined
the group while Helsingor
left the family due to harbour-reconstruction. As a
re-sult of the EU-project
SeaSide (http://en.south
baltic.eu) the maritime museums of Gdansk, Karlskrona and Rostock became
members. That’ll probably
turn the work of the organisation slightly into the direction of a “Baltic Maritime
Heritage Preservation Association”.
Consequently invitations to
Baltic Sail events from 2012
will not only feature colourful maritime festivals in the
harbours but also offer access to cultural and maritime treasures in the maritime museums. Baltic Sail
combines efforts to bring
maritime traditions and the
cultural maritime heritage
to citizens and tourists and
to promote the Baltic as a
first class sailing and cultural resource.
Festival programmes will
offer maritime flair and a
large variety of activities;
seamen’s craftsmanship and
sail trips aboard lovely restored traditional ships,
with historical and scientific
support provided by the
museum exhibitions.
The competitive highlight
of the series of maritime
events might be the Haikutter-Regatta from Nysted
(Denmark) to Rostock (Germany); a race for this special type of old-time sailing–
or fishing vessels. Everybody can join the participating ships for the race; even
combination-tickets to go to
Nysted for the race or to return to Denmark after arrival to Rostock by Scandlines
ferries are available.
Keeping traditional ships
sailing - a world-wide problem
by Mr John Robinson
L
ook at the faces of spectators at a traditional
ship event or maritime festival anywhere in the world
and you will usually see
smiles of delight at the sight
of well-loved vessels afloat
and in action. Sail Training
International (STI) reckons
to attract up to 4million
visitors annually to its
events, involving between
70 and 135 sailing vessels.
Elsewhere there are hundreds of smaller events attracting more modest
crowds but bringing pleasure to millions of people,
whether as spectators or
participants. But from all
parts of the world come reports of increasing obstacles
to the continued operation
of such ships and boats.
What is the reason for the
increasing complexity of the
regulatory procedures under which they have to operate?
Commercial shipping constantly looks for new tonnage with which to replace
worn-out or obsolete vessels. Shipowners constantly
seek to reduce their operating costs, often by replacing
human crew members with
machines and sophisticated
electronics. Over-reliance
on such gadgetry can encourage a sense of complacency among seafarers
which can provoke accidents, and the web of legislation intended to forestall
such mishaps at sea be-
comes increasingly complex. Regulations intended
to improve evacuation procedure, for instance, in a
large modern cruise liner,
may have unintended consequences for historic and
traditional vessels. Is it really necessary, for example, to
fit an open-decked Viking
longship with illuminated
arrows showing Way Out ?
With a view to tackling
such anomalies, and thanks
to an initiative from the International Congress of Maritime Museums, a new advisory group came together
for the first time in Rotterdam on 1 July 2011 under
the title International Historic
& Traditional Vessels Panel.
This meeting brought to-
gether 17 specialists from 12
maritime organisations
throughout Australia, Europe and North America for 2
days of discussions on how
historic and traditional vessels can be operated in compliance with modern safety
regulations without adverse
impact on the very features
that provide their historic
appeal. With its world-wide
perspective, the ICMM has
noted that the problems
faced by operators in individual flag-states are often
shared in other countries far
away, and there is extensive
scope for sharing solutions
too.
Alan Edenborough, specialist consultant to the Sydney
(continued on page 7…)
5
Viapori project: Art
exhibition in Suomenlinna
by Ms Julie Boénec and Mr Jacopo Brancati
B
uilt on a cluster of
rocky skerries, the sea
fortress is situated on a
group of islands off Helsinki. Suomenlinna is a fortress
dating back to the 18th century, a shrine enclosing a
shipyard whose main activity includes maintenance
and restoration of traditional ships. UNESCO protects
the fortress as a World Heritage Site and it’s one of
Finland’s most popular tourist attractions.
The Viapori shipyard boasts
almost three centuries of
uninterrupted activity.
Where once galleys and war
frigates where built, ships
with historical significance
are today repaired or restored.
Why the Viapori experience
is unique? This is a place
where the future is built on
historical foundations - a
cultural heritage is kept alive for the future.
Viapori is the meeting point
of different human experiences that developed during the history of Finland.
Personal experiences and
knowledge are shared to
fulfil a common goal: keeping the ships alive and
handing over to the forthcoming generations a heritage which is not only material, but cultural, technical
and emotional.
It’s a heritage belonging to
the whole nation; work and
study keep it alive through
space and time.
An ever growing number of
young people take interest
in traditional sailing, learning its features, appreciating and rediscovering the
identity that was about to
fade.
Ships come to Suomenlinna
6
from various Finnish costal
regions. In the dockyard
young crews are learning
working methods from the
elders and take this knowledge back home.
The added value of Viapori
lies in its human capital, in
knowledge, development
and transmission of traditional work techniques used
on traditional ships.
The Exhibition Project
The exhibition leads the
public to discover Viapori
through different sensory
experiences.
Photos and videos tell about
men, ships and the dockyard; sounds and music recreate the atmosphere of the
place.
The touch and smell of raw
materials remind the visitor
that the ships are made
with traditional components.
The exhibition develops
through four sections presenting the work and skills
of men, the ships and their
stories.
Over a surface of approx.
120 m², the exhibition describes the Viapori experience through 60 large format pictures, 6 video documentaries, authentic working tools, equipment and
historical items.
The exhibition is planned to
be ready in 2013, circulating
and adaptable to the cultural programmes of other
museums.
A complementary section
can be created in order to
contextualize the exhibition
in sites other than Suomenlinna and enrich it with local content.
All the photos and videos
are by Jacopo Brancati.
The Viapori Dockyard
Most of the Finnish traditional ships are docked and maintained
here every winter.
The sound installation is
made, and the music composed and performed by
Arja Kastinen. You can follow the project on the Infine
Arts web site at:
www.infine-arts.net
Arja KASTINEN is a kantele player and was the first
folk musician to take the
doctor of music examination in the artistic study
programme at the Sibelius
Academy. She released several albums and published
two books on kantele history and playing techniques.
For more information about
her works visit: www.
temps.fi
Questions to Arja Kastinen:
Q.: How did you hear about
the Viapori project, why did
you choose to take part of it?
A.: I had known Jacopo already for several years
when he asked me if I was
interested in taking part in
this project. When he introduced the idea of combining the photos with music
and the work sounds, I was
immediately enthused and
said "Yes - I'm in!"
Q.: Could you tell us more
about your music instrument?
A.: I'm making music, based
on improvisation, with kantele. It is the Finnish national instrument, roots about 2000 years. The instruments I use are either exact
or a little modified copies
from the museum originals.
The original model for the
15- and 14-stringed kanteles
was found in Korpiselkä,
Finland, in the early 20th
century and is now kept at
the National Board of Antiquities.
I am using the old playing
technique and the very old
way of making the music
from the moment. In my
performances, I mix old and
new playing techniques
presenting the versatile timbres and acoustic properties
of the kantele. I want my
concerts to be experimental
journeys to the dim and distant past seeking to uphold
tradition while creating
new things.
Q.: How do you plan to integrate music in the museography?
A.: I find it quite natural to
interpret the marvellous art
of photography by playing;
it is like travelling into the
pictures and sensing the
feeling inside them and
turning it into tunes!
Q.: To which extent do you
think sounds and music can
enhance the project?
A.: Music has the universal
capability of opening peo-
ple's minds, and I hope
(and believe) it will work
marvellously in this project
too.
Jacopo BRANCATI is a photographer and journalist
specialized in maritime history and ethnology. He develops cultural projects
with European maritime
museums and is correspondent for the French magazine “Chasse-marée” covering different European cultural areas.
For more information about
his works visit:
www.infine-arts.net
Questions to Jacopo Brancati:
Q.: Why is the name of the exhibition Viapori?
A.: Viapori is the Finnish
name of the island, Suomenlinna is also the name
but it comes from the translation from the Swedish
Sveaborg.
So Viapori is the old (and
still in use) name of the island.
Viaporin Telakka ry is the name of the association running the dockyard.
Q.: Suomenlinna’s main activities are not related with exhibitions, why does the association want to create one?
What’s the main purpose?
A.: The ships are vulnerable
because of the material they
are made from, and the
heritage they represent is
“VIAPORI, a Bridge to the Future”
is a culturel project supported by:
Suomenlinna Hoitokunta
European Maritime Heritage association
Skutföreningen Kustkultur i Finland rf
Chasse-marée
vulnerable too. If memory is
lost, the object – the ship – is
like an empty shell. Thanks
to the exhibition, we can
display all the human, historical and ethnographical
dimensions.
Q.: How did you come to that
project?
A.: I am a specialist of maritime heritage. The artistic
group I founded, Infine
Arts, aims at enhancing and
keeping it alive. Further to
an important exhibition I
created for the Finnish National Maritime Museum I
came in contact with Viapori association. They invited me to visit their fortress and dockyard. When I
discovered the site, I stayed
breathless. I knew what I
could do for them!
Keeping traditional...
(...continued from page 5)
Heritage Fleet and the man
responsible for overseeing
the salvage from Tasmania
and restoration of the iron
barque James Craig now sailing in Sydney, chaired the
proceedings hosted by the
Rotterdam Maritime Museum. Among those who
brought to the meeting their
extensive knowledge of operating historic vessels were
Frits Loomeijer, Managing
Director of Rotterdam Maritime Museum and President
of ICMM, his brother Gerd
Loomeijer from Register Holland,
Bernard Heppener
from STA Netherlands and
the directors of the maritime museums at Mystic
Seaport and San Diego in
the USA. Hendrik Boland
and Paul van Ommen attended on behalf of EMH’s
Safety Council, while Michael vom Baur (Past Presi-
dent) and John Robinson
were also there.
Thedo Fruithof attended on
the second day, and EMH
participants played a prominent part in the discussions. The retired HollandAmerica liner ss Rotterdam,
now a hotel-ship and conference venue in Rotterdam,
provided an appropriate venue for dinner on the first
evening. The Panel has
maintained contact by tele-
phone and email since the
Rotterdam event, and a follow-up meeting is planned
in Bristol early in 2012. The
Panel currently lacks participants from Asia, Africa
and South America and
would like to be able to fill
those gaps. For further information on the Panel, contact Alan Edenborough, the
Sydney Heritage Fleet, at
[email protected] .
7
The Zompen of Enter (Enterse Zomp)
by Mr Mike Smylie
T
he unsuspecting casual
visitor passing along
the thoroughfare of the
village of Enter in Holland
might notice the ‘Zompen
en Klompen Museum’ and
become intrigued enough to
stop and investigate. However on entry the subjects
inside this wonderful building - known locally as the
‘Buisjan’ though don’t ask
me what it means - will become clear for zompen are
the particular type of flatbottomed craft used in the
canals and rivers hereabout
whilst klompen are the clogs
that fishermen, farmers and
anyone else traditionally
wore on their feet. Whilst
hundreds of pairs of exotic
clogs (one pair having its
footprint carved in reverse
so that anyone following
the wearer’s footprints
thinks they have gone in the
opposite direction!) decorate the walls of one part of
the museum, the other is
taken up by the remains of
the last working zomp, the
Regt Door Zee (meaning
‘Right to the Sea’), built in
1875, which was on display
in the museum at Arnheim
until a grenade exploded in
it during Operation Market
Garden in September 1944,
severely damaging it (A
zomp too far?!). It eventually
found its way here, on display as it was found after
the explosion.
Zompen (plural) are another
individual type of Dutch
boat, such as is seen in an
endless list containing the
likes of botter, schokker, aak,
tjalk, pluut, hoogaars…. They
were the workhorses of the
rivers Berkel, Dinkel, Regge, Schipbeek and Vechte in
the 17th and 18th centuries,
working from the Zuyder
Zee inland, through this
eastern part of Holland and
8
into the
Germany.
northwest
of
The zompen ranged between
about 8.5 and 12m in
length, all built from oak
and open except for a short
foredeck with a cuddy below housing a stove and
seating. There was never a
need to sleep aboard as
there were hostels along the
riverbanks for overnight
stops. Often pulled along
the river bank by the socalled Toe-rags, the were
the general workhorses of
the rivers. Rigged with one
single mast, they set a
spritsail main and small
foresail and could carry
some 10 tons of cargo. In
this part of Holland there
were some 120 zompen
registered in 1825, all of
which came home at
Christmas time to attend
church so that the small
creek at Enter was simply
crowded with these boats.
Enter was in the middle of
these shipping activities
and shipped geese and
ducks, eggs, clogs, oak
trees, cattle, ham, hay and
later locally produced calico
to Zwolle where it was
loaded onto bigger ships. A
few zompen sailed as far as
Amsterdam and Friesland
or Groningen to hawk their
goods, acting as sort of
mobile shops. On the
journey back they brought
furniture, clocks from Friesland, coffee, tobacco, rice,
vinegar and spirits. However, once bigger canals enabled larger barges to travel
along and the railways industrialised the area, the
zompen became out-dated in
the mid to late nineteenth
century and numbers decreased rapidly into the
twentieth century. Finally,
with the placing of the Regt
Door Zee into the Arnheim
museum in the 1930s, their
demise was complete.
That was, however, until Dr
G. J. Schutten took the lines
off this zomp in the early
1980s which in turn rekindled interest in Enter.
An Association was started
with the intention to build a
replica from Dr Schutten’s
drawings which resulted in
the first new zomp for over a
century. The vessel, also called Regt Door Zee, was built
in a boatyard specialising in
wooden craft at Giethoorn
and launched in 1984. Over
the intervening years this
boat, moored under the
shadow of a working lin-
seed oil windmill at nearby
Rijssen, takes passengers along the river Regge during
the summer. In winter it is
housed in its purpose-built
boatshed alongside the
river although, at Christmas, it is always used to
carry Santa Claus into the
village.
In 2009 the Association was
finally given the go-ahead
to build their own boatyard
at Enter although their
application for European Union funding came in February that year with the
proviso that the building
was completed in 4 months!
This they managed – the
chairman Gerrit Harbers explained how there were
four companies working on
the roof as the deadline
came close and if they
hadn’t finished by 30th June
then the money was not
have been forthcoming.
Anyway, with the building
so funded - € 450,000 from
the E.U., € 300,000 from the
regional government, €
100,00 from the Waterschaap (local river board for
the rivers Regge & Dinkel)
and € 100,00 from local
sponsorship and the Association’s own funds – it
was opened on time.
The centre, with its wonderful tiled and thatched
roof, houses an interpretation centre, a café with its
own outdoor verandah
overlooking the river and a
superbly fitted out inside
boatyard, as well as a boatshed accessed directly from
the river and a huge steam
box upon the slip. The boatyard has two hefty gantries
overhead and space to build
a 12m zomp.
The current project is a
10.5m zomp that is being
built by the eight skilled
boatbuilders, all members
of the Association and working on a voluntary basis
twice a week. The resultant
boat, built entirely of oak,
will be launched in September 2011. The 2-inch (5
cm) oak planking, each in
one continual length, came
from Denmark which has,
according to Gerrit Harbers,
superb supplies of 200-year
old oak that was planted
after Scottish supplies dried
up because of the Napoleonic Wars. Frames, all
grown oak, came from
France and Germany. Trenails were used throughout
and the only pine in the
vessel is in the wedges
driven into the trenails –
wedges only on the inside
of the hull though with
pegs being preferred on the
outside. This boat, called
Friendship, will also be used
to take tourists along the
local rivers.
The Association has 11 voluntary boatmen capable of
running the present boat so
another will present no
problems. The Regt Door Zee
has been adapted to make
sailing simple. A diesel engine sits under a box forward of the tiller which
runs a hydraulic outboard
motor (designed and built
by Gerrit Harbers whose
background was engineering) as well as hydraulics for lowering the
mast. Sails can be set on
wider stretches of water.
The new boat will have an
electric motor running off
batteries capable of lasting
eight hours on an average
use, rechargeable at the
boatshed. With the new
boat costing about € 20,000
in timber, the same amount
has been spent on the motor
and batteries. However,
with all labour being voluntary including iron fittings
which were supplied by an
Association member (there
are about 40 members in
total), the cost of any future
boat built for customers
would obviously be much
higher. Two orders have
tentatively been placed.
Although the building is
new, the building methods
are time-honoured. Apart
from these surroundings,
everything else appears to
reflect what might have
been expected 200 years ago
in a yard producing flatbottomed craft. Thus tradition can be said to have
been happily married to
modernity in a way that the
best of both worlds can
flourish. With the addition
of teaching these age-old
boatbuilding skills to new
generations, the picture
would be complete. As a
trend, though, this boatyard
is a pointer towards what
can, with determination and
contact, be achieved.
It’s a place to stop if passing
nearby. The tranquility of
the setting matches the purpose. A place to linger over
a coffee gazing at the birds
of the river and, hopefully,
view the progressing work
in the yard. Learn a little about life on the canals
through the short films. It is
all well recommended. Oh,
and of course, you can get
married there as the centre
is also licensed for
weddings!!
See www.entersezomp.nl
Feb 2012 … the boat was
launched in late 2011 and
has successfully had trials
so that it can begin to carry
passengers this year.
Biche...
(...continued from page 3)
Douarnenez repatriated Biche to France, but lacked the
resources to carry out the
work required. On two occasions the vessel sank, and
was refloated. The sight of
this sole survivor of
France’s sailing tunnymen
beached and neglected in
Douarnenez in 2003 prompted the formation of a support group, Les Amis de Biche. Her new friends were
unable to conclude an
agreement for her restora-
tion in Douarnenez. In a
controversial rescue operation, Biche was moved to
Brest, and subsequently to
Lorient in 2006 where fundraising began in earnest.
They publicised their campaign with a 1:5 scale replica of Biche which they took
to every possible maritime
festival and regatta in their
search for support. Eventually they had enough
money to commission a full
restoration at the Chantier
du Guip in Lorient, a few
miles from her original
home port of Port-Tudy.
An extra offer of sponsorship late in 2011 made it
possible to fund the purchase of more timber, and
hull repairs are expected to
terminate in January 2012.
There will then be a determined drive to complete the
re-rigging and outfit in time
for the Brest Festival six
months later, and Les Amis
de Biche are still seeking
sponsorship and funds for
the work that lies ahead.
For an update on this ambitious restoration and videos
of the Guip shipwrights at
work, go to www.biche.
asso.fr
9
Book review:
Nyhavn and the old ships
by Mr John Robinson
A
lthough it is one of the
oldest harbours in Europe, Copenhagen’s Nyhavn has never lost the description ‘new’ in its title.
Since it was excavated in
1673 to serve ocean-going
ships, this rectangular dock
has witnessed huge changes
in the size and role of ships.
One hundred years ago, the
White Star and Cunard
steamship companies had
sales offices overlooking the
Nyhavn from which emigrants could book passages
to the New World. But forty
years ago came a proposal
to disable the lifting bridge
over the harbour so that
masted vessels would no
longer have access. This
threat galvanised local residents to defend the harbour
against effective closure. After many years of campaigning to retain its essen-
tially maritime role and its
architectural values, the Nyhavn is today acknowledged as one of the most
authentic traditional harbours in the world, and is a
destination for architects
and urban planners from all
over the world seeking to
follow its example.
As Chairman of the local
Residents’ Association, Arne Gotved has been closely
involved in defending this
harbour where he keeps his
boat and close to where he
conducted his architectural
practice. No one is better
qualified to write such an
appreciation of the Nyhavn;
Arne is the principal author
of the Barcelona Charter,
well-recognised as an ethical standard for the restoration and care of traditional
ships throughout the world.
In 144 richly-illustrated pa-
ges, he chronicles the constant struggles against insensitive development. The
attractiveness of this area as
a tourist destination brings
new threats of inappropriate commercial exploitation,
and a few months ago when
he completed his text, Arne
and his colleagues were
campaigning for the resiting elsewhere in Copenhagen of a floating restaurant and a ‘theatre ship’
which have no claims to
historic significance and
which both defy the aesthetic harmony of the harbour building and of the
traditional sailing vessels
berthed there. One half of
the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of all 24
vessels which qualify for
inclusion in this historic
harbour. Jurgen Josephsen
(who like Arne is an Honorary Member of EMH) has
contributed an English text
parallel to the Danish original. All photographic sources are listed. This book is a
delight to handle and to
browse and will be a powerful manifesto for the protection and sensitive management of our historic harbours and the vessels that
frequent them. You can order the book on the internet
on www.weilbach.dk
Nyhavn and the old ships
By Arne Gotved
pub. C. Weilbach & Co. Copenhagen 2011
ISBN 978-87-7790-210-9. DKK 279.00
Notes from Canada
by Mr Didier Épars
Tall Ships at the Quays
Last September, the second
edition of the event Tall
Ships at the Quays has occurred at the Port of Montreal and it seems that the
event is there to stay. There
was a 6% increase in attendance at the event from the
previous year. The team of
the schooner Grosse Ile was
invited to attend the event
by presenting two conferences and having a booth to
publicize the project. The
collaboration with the Sail
Training Association USA
will last, as the Port of
Montreal is registered as a
partner on the site of the organization. It is hoped that
the regular coming of old
ships or having a vocation
of sail training, will make
10
the Canadian authorities
aware of the economic and
educational value of maritime heritage.
Bluenose II
Unfortunately, the Bluenose
II was destroyed in midDecember 2010 and a replica is being built using
laminated and glued methods for the structure, while
using traditional method
for the exterior shell planting. They used woods from
the rainforest of Ecuador,
which is a non-historical
and non-ecological sense
especially in this International Year of Forest conservation. The new replica
will keep the same rig from
the Bluenose II and keep the
same name.
We also learned that despite
the 15 million dollars allocated to the project, the new
vessel will not comply with
SOLAS nor IMO standards.
Quebec City
The mayor of Quebec City
is planning a big event in
2017 for the bi-centenary of
Canadian Confederation.
In early November, he went
to Toulon to sign an agreement with the Sail Training
International, for the coming of the ships association
in Quebec City. It is hoped
that Quebec City will, by
then, have more than only
the Don de Dieu (the ship of
Samuel de Champlain) on
its arms to welcome the foreign armada.
Mr. Didier Épars, President of the schooner
Grosse Ile and Associate
Member of the EMH, received on December 2,
2011 the Certificate of Achievement for the Individual of the Year, from
the Council of Monuments and Sites of Quebec. The certificate was
awarded to Mr. Épars in
recognition of services
rendered to the conservation and enhancement
of the heritage of Quebec, in particular for his
continued commitment
to the cause of Quebec’s
maritime heritage as a
communicator and restorer of the schooner Grosse
Ile.
Ole Crumlin-Pedersen 1935-2011
M
odestly discounting
his status as one of
Europe’s foremost maritime archaeologists Ole
Crumlin-Pedersen would
sometimes introduce himself humorously as “old
crumbling Pedersen”. He
will be remembered instead as a dynamic, painstaking and imaginative
researcher and teacher
whose practical understanding of seafaring in the
Viking era has enriched
Europe’s appreciation of its
shared history.
Ole was born in Hellerup
in Denmark in 1935. As a
young naval constructor,
he took a keen interest in
the ship timbers that were
discovered at Skuldelev,
about 10km north of Roskilde, and excavated from
1957-62. He was among the
first to identify these as Viking in origin, and confidently made a case to the
National Museum in Copenhagen for their recognition and protection. Archaeological diving, followed by a sophisticated
recovery utilising an artificial island surrounding the
site, revealed them to be
five clinker vessels, believed to have been sunk in
the 11th century to protect
Roskilde from attack from
seaward. Ole was instrumental in setting up the Viking Ship Museum where
the remains are elegantly
and eloquently displayed.
His procedures for the survey and recording of such
sites were meticulous, and
set standards for similar
archaeological excavations
throughout the world. As
Director of the Danish
Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Ole led an impressive programme of re-
Ole Crumlin-Pedersen
(Photo: Werner Karrasch)
search and publication; his
own list of publication
spans more than 50 years;
his first published paper
on the Skuldelev ships
dates from 1958.
His enthusiasm for the archaeology of Scandinavian
seafaring was infectious,
and Ole was always ready
to share his knowledge
with those whose historical
knowledge fell short of his
own. He encouraged
young researchers to think
for themselves and to develop their powers of observation and deduction.
For Ole, the Skuldelev
ships were a direct link
with practical seafaring in
the Viking era, and he instigated the construction of
accurate full-size replicas
of each of them, beginning
with Roar Ege launched in
1984, on which trials of
ship-handling were made
on the Roskilde Fjord and
beyond, proving that Viking ships could be every
bit as versatile as modern
sailing yachts in their ability to progress against the
wind. Dendrochronology
had established that the
largest of the Skuldelev
vessels had been built in
Dublin when it was a Vi-
king settlement, and a full
size replica, Havhingsten,
was built using authentic
tools of the period, and
sailed from Denmark via
Scotland in 2007. The following year Havhingsten
sailed back from Dublin
via the English Channel;
the severe weather she encountered on the way
demonstrated the excellent
qualities of such long-ships
and earned her a rapturous
reception back in Roskilde.
Ole was both delighted
and proud.
As an authority on Viking
seafaring, Ole earned a
world-wide reputation.
This fame may have eclipsed the contribution he
made to safeguarding Denmark’s more recent maritime heritage. He was among the first to respond
to the steady disappearance of wooden trading
vessels from Danish waters. He identified a wooden motor coaster as the
classic cod-schooner Fulton, launched at Marstal in
1915. Under his wise counsel, she was accurately rerigged as an exhibit for the
National Museum, and he
ensured that she acquired
a social role taking disadvantaged young people to
sea. The experience of handling the ship and her sails
continues to teach them
that ‘no action is without
consequence’; a rope inadequately secured could
lead to a blown-out sail or
worse. Ole possessed a natural authority, but seldom
imposed it autocratically,
preferring to carry his colleagues with him by example. In any new initiative,
he identified one or more
partners to share with him
responsibility for carrying
the work forward. He convened the meeting of wooden boat owners in Roskilde that resulted in the
foundation of the Danish
umbrella organisation Træskibsejernes Sammenslutning
in 1971, and much of the
credit for persuading his
Government to establish
the Skibsbevaringsfonden
(Ship Preservation Trust)
and support it from 1989 is
due to Ole. He championed the role of Copenhagen’s Nyhavn as a setting
for traditional vessels displayed in an authentic historic environment, and opposed threats of tasteless
commercialisation around
its perimeter.
So many enterprises were
launched by Ole’s original
thinking, yet he was keen
to share any credit with
those who laboured alongside him. In all his work,
he set high standards and
expected the best from his
colleagues. Tinna Damgård-Sørensen, Director of
the Viking Ship Museum
in Roskilde, described him
as having a heart that beat in
rhythm with the breaking of
the waves. Sadly, that
rhythm is now stilled. But
the work he began for Denmark’s maritime heritage
has a heart still beating vigorously. You can watch
his masterly lectures at the
University of Tennessee on
the website www.vikinge
skibsmuseet.dk, where you
will also find details of
how to subscribe to the
Sunita School for illiterate
girls in the hills of Nepal,
which Ole’s family has
chosen as the recipient of
donations in memory of
this singular sailor and humanitarian.
John Robinson
11
A revival...
(...continued from the front)
when we set up a new association Latinski Idro to support a range of educational
and environmental initiatives within the Kornati National Park.
For this purpose we have
encouraged the restoration
of several boats, and promoted a revival of lateen
rig”.
The association seeks to
achieve a balance between
the competitive element of a
regatta and a respect for traditional maritime observances, and its success is evident in the progress of the
Murter event from year to
year, to its current status as
one of the best-attended lateen gatherings in the Mediterranean calendar. It is
timed to coincide with the
festival of Saint Michael, patron of Murter, so that the
regatta is one contributor to
an atmosphere of authentic
popular celebration.
The event includes an elaborate religious procession
and an afternoon of music
and dancing which fill the
harbour area with people. It
is hardly necessary to add
From the Latinski Idro regatta
that all participants are generously provided with white wine, grilled sardines
and sausages.
In 2011 some 80 vessels attended the Latinski Idro , divided into three classes; gajeta, leut and batana. The
start procedure is spectacular and involves close public participation, since it all
takes place in the tiny harbour under the gaze of
spectators. No place here
for the nicety of a “fiveminute gun” or the flag signals familiar to yachtsmen.
In Murter until the very mo-
ment of the start, competitors remain moored by the
stern, their sails furled and
their boats attached to an
anchor submerged no more
than twenty metres from
the bow. The start signal
provokes frantic activity by
some crewmen as they try
to move the boat forward
with energetic pulls on the
anchor rope while others
unfurl the sails with equal
urgency. The spectacle is
further enlivened as boats
cut across their rivals to
steal their wind. As a measure of the renewed interest
in lateen rig, many of the
vessels joining the regatta
are of new construction or
are the product of a restoration project.
They carry a minimal suit of
sails appropriate to a working boat, and none of them
flies a jib. To tack the vessel,
they rely instead on the
long oars always carried on
board, together with heavy
movable thole pins. Many
of these vessels have no engine. The wide public appeal of this event is mirrored in the makeup of the
crews among which are
family crews, all-girl teams
and juvenile crews.
The boats attending Latinski
Idro in 2011 included many
originating in harbours several hundred kilometres
away, such as Rijeka and
Rovinj on the Istrian coast.
A welcome awaits lateenrigged vessels from Italy
and further away willing to
make their way to future
regattas. In terms of popular support and authenticity, these festivals in Murter
have much to show to other
Mediterranean nations.
Flashlight:
Generał Zaruski
by Mr Holger Bellgardt
T
he reconstruction of the
first Polish Sail Training Ship Generał Zaruski
continues. The repair of the
hull is complete. The vessel
was lifted into its element in
the Gdansk shipyard on December 5th 2011. With the
protection-project the city of
Gdańsk wants to invest in
sail training.
The wooden gaff ketch was
launched in B. Lund’s
Swedish shipyard in Ekenäs
in 1939 and was brought to
Poland in 1946, just after the
12
Second World War. For 57
years generations of young
people were trained on
board the vessel. Working
on the ship built their characters and taught them discipline, fulfilling the ideals
of General Mariusz Zaruski,
the initiator of the ship’s
construction.
In 2003 the vessel fell out of
use. Eventually the city of
Gdańsk decided to restore
the vessel’s former splendour. The ship is to be used
once again for the purposes
of sail training for young
people who need positive
role models and noble objectives. The ship will facilitate the tightening of relations and cultural exchange
between Baltic cities.
After the renovation process
ends, the monument will
become the city’s showpiece - it will be moored at a
quay in the centre of
Gdańsk, from where it will
set out on voyages.