Interesting article about the Batavia and the sources of wood used to build her

[Tim Holt]

Interesting discussion about the types and sources of the wood used in the ship.  Here's the link...

 

https://theconversation.com/we-studied-the-tree-rings-of-the-batavia-shipwreck-timbers-they-told-us-much-about-global-seafaring-history-171495

 

The scholarly article goes into a lot more depth.  It is at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0259391

 

Here's one little quote that's intriguing...

 

Quote

One frame timber has a different provenance than the rest of the framing timbers from the Batavia hull and matches best with chronologies derived from timbers of two other shipwrecks. One of these was found in 2017 at Skeppsholmen, in Stockholm, and has been identified as the remains of the Swedish-built ship Sceptre (1615 CE) [32–34]. The other one is the warship Vasa, built in 1628 in Stockholm, which also sunk like Batavia on its maiden voyage, in Stockholm Harbour [35,36]. Therefore, the outlying Batavia frame timber is likely originating from a forest in eastern Sweden.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Tim Holt

[wefalck]

The invention of wind-powered sawmills (waterwheel-driven sawmills predates this, but there was not waterpower in Holland) is attributed to Cornelis Corneliszoon through a set of patents:

 

BONKE, H. et al. (2004): Cornelis Corneliszoon van Uitgeest. Uitvinder aan de basis van de Gouden Eeuw.- 209 S., Uitgeest/Zutphen (Stichting Industrieel Erfgoedpark 'De Hoop'/Walburg Pers).

 

The above book also unravels, in a 'popular' way, the supply chains of woods for shipbuilding and other construction. I don't know, whether there is an English version of the book. It also puts the shipbuilding into its wider economic and social context at an European level. Essential the invention is one of the foundations of the Dutch Golden Age.

[Joe100]

That is an extremely interesting article.