Eiderschnigge

The Eiderschniggen were cargo vessels of the Eider River, the Eider Canal and the North Wadden Sea. They were good sailors in calm, coastal waters, although they also made trips to England and Russia. They had a massive and long-looking hull, with lengths of between 15 and 17 meters.

The bottom of the ship, practically flat, rose only minimally towards the sides and the transition from the bottom to the sides was rounded and not bent at right angles as in the Ewer, the Elbe freighters, much more extended than the Eiderschniggen.

Another difference with the Ewer is that the Eiderschnigge did not have a flat stern but a round one. Like all flat-bottomed boats, they had to use lee daggerboards, otherwise they would not have been able to sail in cross or headwinds.

The Eiderschniggen had one or two masts and were rigged either as a ketch or as a sloop, as is the case of the model presented, which has a single mast with a gaff sail and a topsail, carrying a staysail and two jibs towards the bow.

Most Eiderschniggen were built in the shipyards of Nübbel an der Eider, although they were also built elsewhere on the Eider and Elbe. The Schniggen of the Elbe were not as full and thick in the bow as those of the Eider, presenting sharper lines with the somewhat inclined foredeck.

Although Eiderschniggen were never built in large numbers, in 1900 there were still 75 Schniggen, which disappeared shortly after the First World War.

The flag carried by the model, similar to the Dutch one but with the colors inverted, with the upper blue stripe, is that of the state of Schleswig-Holstein.