flying_dutchman2

Abel Janszoon Tasman Biographical Note Abel Janszoon Tasman (c. 1603-1659) was born in Lutjegast, near Groningen, in the Netherlands. Not long after his marriage in 1632, he sailed to the East Indies and in 1634 he was the mate on a vessel sailing from Batavia to Ambon. He spent two years in the Moluccas seas, before returning to the Netherlands in 1637. In the following year, accompanied by his wife, he left the Netherlands permanently and settled in Batavia. Between 1639 and 1641 he commanded a number of expeditions to Japan, China, Formosa and Cambodia and acquired a reputation as a competent commander of long-distance expeditions. In 1642 the Governor-General and Council of the East Indies resolved that Tasman should command a major exploring expedition to determine the extent and coastline of New Holland. He was to proceed to Mauritius and then sail eastwards at 52-54 degrees S. lat., a latitude never sailed before. He would then sail eastwards as far as the longitude of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to establish if there were any lands at that latitude. He was also directed to examine the northern coast of New Holland and ascertain if a passage south divided the west coast of Cape York from the coast of New Holland to the west. Sailing in the yacht "Heemskerck, burthen 120 tons, and the fluit "Zeehaen, 200 tons. Tasman discovered the southern coast of Tasmania, which he named Anthony Van Diemens Landt, and the western coasts of New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt. Landings at both places were very brief and the Batavian authorities later expressed concern that he had not fully examined the lands and people that he had encountered. Tasman then sailed north to Tonga and Fiji and returned to Batavia around the northern coast of New Guinea. In 1644 Tasman commanded the Limmen, Zeemeeuw and Bracq on a second voyage to New Holland. Leaving Banda in February 1644, he sailed along the southern coast of New Guinea, but failed to discover Torres Strait. He then charted the Gulf of Carpentaria and the northern and western coasts of Australia as far as North West Cape. The expedition covered a huge stretch of coastline, but because it sailed some distance from the coast it failed to establish that Croker, Melville and Bathurst and various other islands were in fact islands. Tasman was a member of the Council of Justice of Batavia in 1644-48. In 1648-49 he led a fleet of ships with the intention of attacking Spanish vessels in the Philippines, but the expedition had only limited success. In his last years he was a merchant in Batavia. Next, some information on the book and plans. (If you got this far.... Thank you for reading and now you have a basic understanding of this unique and very successful ship) Marcus

For my next build which is the Zeehaen 1639, a Dutch fluit used by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. But first some historical background information of a Fluit. Shipbuilders, skippers and other curious people, from near and from far, travelled to Hoorn in Noord Holland to look at the new ship. A prominent merchant, Pieter Janszoon Liorne, had turned his view of the ideal merchant vessel into reality. By the end of the sixteenth century there existed a ship type called a fluit, which had some specific characteristics. Seen from the side a fluit looks just like any old three-masted sailing ship. The mainmast and the foremast have square sails and the aftermost mizzenmast has a triangular lateen-sail occasionally supplemented with some smaller sails on the bowsprit and mizzenmast. The particularities of the fluit’s hull become apparent when seen from above or from astern. From above the outline of the hull appears as a rectangle box with slightly rounded corners. Seen in cross section the sides of the hull slope inwards, so-called ‘tumble-home’, which result in very narrow upper works. The rounded lower parts of the stern are crowned by a narrow flat transom, giving it a pronounced pear-shape. It might be that this shape, which stern-on gave the impression that the after works looked something like a thinly shaped glass, a flute, is the origin of the name. The Dutch fluit was a classic merchant ship of the 17th century. It was built to be economical in operation, carrying the largest cargo and smallest crew possible. The rigging was designed to be sailed and operated with proportionally small crews (12 to 13) , and its narrow upper deck was designed to evade Danish customs dues when passing through the sound in to the Baltic, where duties were levied according to the size of the breadth of the deck. There are several reasons for building a hull of this shape. Keeping the center of gravity low is perhaps the most obvious. The idea that the hull shape of the fluit was adjusted to cut costs probably derives from the general reputation of the Dutch merchants at the time. Creating a ship type that kept costs to a minimum becomes just another way to confirm their superiority and skill when it came to making profit. The fluit was a total success. From the end of the 16th century to the mid 18th century fluits were amongst the most common type of merchant vessels in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea. In the Dutch Golden Age, 80% of the ocean going vessels were fluits and were built at an average of 400 to 500 annually. They were easy and cheap to build thanks to standardization of design as well as a technological improvements, such as the sawmill, which was invented by the Dutch. The fluit was a ‘multi-purpose’ vessel, a ship that with slight adjustments could meet a wide range of demands. Even if the term embraces a range of ships which share some important characteristics, there are variations with important differences. The size of fluits varied considerably. The smallest versions, sometimes referred to as the boot, were 86 feet at most (around 24m), whereas the largest versions were 140 feet (just over 39 m) and larger. Variations of the basic concept did not only affect the size, but included some special features connected to the trades in which these ships were used. Noortsvaarders or Houthaalders - Woodhauler was developed with ports in the bow and stern for loading long beams and timbers, They were of about 300-350 tons, with simple hulls and an armament of small guns. Ostervaarders, especially designed for the shallow harbours of the Baltic Sea. Fransvaerders, Spaensvaerders and the Straetsvaerders, so called because they were used in the trade with France, Portugal or Spain and the Mediterranean (through the straits). From the exterior, they differed from the other varieties through the beakhead The Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC, (United East India Company), employed a number of fluits. Fluits were also used as whalers which are easy to distinguish in depictions as they have davits on the sides for lifting whaling boats. Next, a biography about Abel Tasman Marcus

Thanks, Nils Marcus

To the King of Itty bitty scale: The attention to detail is awesome. The paintings are a nice touch. Marcus

The picture below is the start of my personal maritime museum of Dutch ships. On another note, Getting some background information on fluits and Abel Tasman for my next build and I have already started prepping in my unorthodox way. Marcus

Thank you Hartmut, it was a challenging build Marcus

In a message asked Ab. Hoving about building a ship "shell first". It is doable, prepare to make many mistakes and the learning curve is very steep. Marcus

Cog, I will do that, even though he is not a regular participant on this forum (he said that himself) Marcus

Jan and cog, I think Jan has mentioned the following in one of my builds. It was mentioned that a modeler in Holland attempted to build a Dutch ship "shell first", and he had difficulty doing that. Can you give me a link to that? I am assuming one has to be able to read contracts. I have tried that and once I get to the measurements of the stem post and the transom I am stuck. Everytime I read a contract I draw it out on paper and it works for the keel and the bow. But the rest I can't figure it out. I know that reading a contract and taking the measurements to build a ship is possible because Ab Hoving has done it. The ships in the 17th century merchant ships book are done this way Any information would be appreciated. Marcus

Thank you Kortes, Unique ship to built. Marcus

Some more Note. Next build. Collecting some history of the Fluit (and their is a lot of that) and working on the paper templates that make up the frames. Like I said before, this is going to be a large model with lots of detail. Marcus

Took some more pictures of her and this time it was outside. Brighter pictures Marcus

Thanks cog, The Fluit will be to your liking Marcus

Thanks G. L The Zeehaen is a fluit. Has a few canons but that is minimal. In general, fluits were pure cargo ships and were escorted by warships Marcus

Jan, Thank you and especially for the advice and clarification throughout this build. Like you, I like building these ships more than what everyone else builds. I can guarantee you that very few ship modelers build Dutch merchant ships. Maybe too difficult, or no interest. Very few modelers scratch build something that hasn't been tried yet or the ship has been built a few times. I like the challenge. Once you start building more Dutch ships you get the hang of the difficulties that arise. Marcus

Thanks, Patrick Building the Boyer was a significant challenge. Lots of improvising as there is little or more like non-existing information of these ships out there. Marcus

Thanks, Piet. Yes, the older ships are beautiful and different from mainstream ships from that era Marcus

Thank you. Marcus

Thanks, glad you liked it. Marcus

Some more pictures. Let me know if they are too dark. My next ship is the Zeehaen (sea rooster) , which is a Fluit and one of the ships from Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer. The scale will be 1:37.5. The other ship from Tasman was a war yacht and will be building her as well. Marcus

The Boyer is completed. I thank all of you for your interest in this built. I had a lot of fun building her with all the challenges that came with it. Marcus

Piet and Patrick, thank you for the compliments Marcus

Most of the rigging has been installed except for the 4 vangs that are attached to the main sail. Now, in the process of making the rope coils of various sizes. I will add a Dutch flag from that era. This is large model, 31 inches from the tip of the bowsprit to the tip of the mizen yard. Marcus

Four sails are installed. I am working on the topsail. The rigging is not permanent yet. Everything still needs to be tightened. Yesterday I created more. belaying pins and a couple of racks were the pins will located. I have added two more racks with belaying pins as the plans do not show where all the roping is going. Sort of disappears around the main mast. Overal I am pleased with the model. It is a very unique ship. Marcus

Jan, thank you for the reply. Now I can continue with the sails. Everybody else, thank you for the likes. The bowsprit has a kbob on the end. I wondered why this is so or is it a characteristic of the Boyer. Marcus