Batavia by *Hans* - FINISHED

[*Hans*]

Recently I have started the scratch building of the Dutch VOC Vessel Batavia, which shipwrecked on her maiden voyage on the 4th of june 1629 - near to the australian westcoast at morning reef near Beacon Island. If you do some research on the internet you will find a lot of information about the shipwrecking of the Batavia and all that happened afterwards...

 

As there is no wooden model kit for the Batavia I bought me the plans which where made on the Dutch shipyard "Bataviawerf" in Lelystad, Netherlands - and started the model from scratch. In this topic you'll find the pictures I made during the building proces - started beginning of december 2013 up until now. I'm about halfway building the Batavia.

 

I started with plywood and a jigsaw...

 

 

Keel and frames

 

 

same

 

 

First decks planked

 

 

Hull partly planked

 

 

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Nice Project Hans,

 

and yo layed down a good start, shall follow with interest....

 

Nils

[*Hans*]

Scratch building is - to my opinion - about the same as building out of a wooden kit. The only diffirence is that you have nothing - and have to buy every piece of wood and every fittingpart yourself.

 

 

Doors

 

 

Prefab upper hull planking

 

 

Hatches made

 

 

Coverings

 

 

 

 

 

[*Hans*]

I will not ad much comments to this topic, as the images already do say enough

 

 

 

 

 

 

[*Hans*]

I build this model for my eldest son who is studying to become a captain. He particularly choose this ship

 

 

 

 

 

Carving on the head

[*Hans*]

 

Stern

 

 

Hull plus rail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[*Hans*]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[*Hans*]

The stern with its nice carvings is a bit of a challenge.

 

 

 

 

My son doing some paintwork.

 

 

 

The shield is from the city of Amsterdam where the original Batavia was build in 1626-1627

 

 

[*Hans*]

 

With special modelling clay I make the small figures on the stern

 

 

 

This is the last photo for now. Overview over the deck with the hole for the main mast already drilled.

 

In the near future I will post some more photo's - but I think it will take another 6 months before she is ready for sailing out.

[*Hans*]

@Nils, danke! I will post once in a while, and if you have any questions - please ask.

[Louie da fly]

Very nice. I grew up in Western Australia, with stories of the Batavia massacre. The remnant of the ship's stern has been rebuilt and is on display in the Fremantle Shipwreck Museum, along with cannons and a considerable number of artefacts from the wreck. There is a copy of the stone gateway for the Batavia fort that was shipped as ballast on the Batavia - the original is in Geraldton, the nearest town to the actual site of the shipwreck. 

 

There is at least one West Australian who's on this forum (I'm over the other side of Australia, 4000 km away).

[*Hans*]

Dutch history in Australia - nice indeed. Although the original story wasn't that nice at all!

Yesterday I saw some pictures of the remnants in the Fremantle Shipwreck Museum, and that made me decide to post this thread 

 

As you (maybe) know in the Netherlands the Batavia was rebuild (at least in the way they thought it must have been).

I have visited this ship a few times, and it is quitte impressive to see on what rather small size over 300 people must have lived during their journey.

 

Hans

[NAZGÛL]

Nice project and good work!

 

I'm really impressed by the Batavia replica. Trivia: the replica is used in the Vasa film. 

 

 

/Matti

[*Hans*]

Hi Matti, thank you for your reply. Just have taken a look at your topic - wonderfull job you're doing!

 

You are reffering to a Vasa film which is unknown to me. Do you have any link to this film?

 

Hans

[*Hans*]

Although the hull and all its parts are not finished yet I already did start with the masts.

 

The carvings on the stern and gallery of the ship, the rudder and som rail still have to be made, but I like the view of a model with some masts on it.

 

[JanV]

Hello Hans

good to see you here also.

[*Hans*]

Hello Jan,

 

It's a small world, after all 

[*Hans*]

This evening I did some small work on the stern.

 

 

First some drawing

 

 

Then the carving

 

 

And adding some greenstuff for the difficult details

 

 

 

Because in the 17th century the Dutch did not goldplate it (too expencive) it was all painted in a yellow okre. This still has to be done on my stern.

 

[*Hans*]

On the Batavia there were many statues who were placed in such a way that they could look around the whole surrounding of the ship - thus preventing it against the influences of bad ghosts (people were very superstitious in the 17th century). 

 

It didn't help the Batavia...

 

On the stern are four  statues of men who where some more important in the Dutch history:

 

(from left to right)

 

- Brinio - leader of the Caninefaten. The Caninefates were one of the original tribes of the lowlands. They fought together with Julius Civilis, leader of the Bataven (another tribe living in the lowlands) against the Romans - roughly 69 AC

- Julius Civilis (aka Caius Julius Civilius) - leader of the batavian rebellion against the Romans as mentioned.

- Willem van Oranje (1533-1584), leader of the Dutch rebellion against Spain (which started the 80 year war against Spain) and in 1648 led to the foundation of the Netherlands as indipendent republic.

- Maurits van Oranje (1567 - 1625), his son - stadholder and commander of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands

 

 

These statues are all on the replica of the Batavia in Lelystad, Netherlands.

(It is not sure if these were on the original Batavia which shipwrecked in 1629)

[Keith_W]

I don't know how I missed this thread, but i'm going to start following it now!

 

I grew up in Perth as well, and have been to the Batavia museum many times. There is a very nice model of the Batavia in the museum. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. Maybe another West Australian can oblige.

 

You are doing a great job with this model. Thank you for posting!

[md1400cs]

Hans,

 

Nice project I'm glad that I looked in. I'm sure that you already know this, but in case that you don't (:-)

 

http://www.bataviaphotos.com/gallery.html

 

I'm building her cousin (:-)

 

Regards,

 

MIchael.

[*Hans*]

Keith, Michael, and all others who are following this topic - welcome!

 

On my own small Batavia wharf (lokated in our livingroom and my small office beside our house) I'm trying to do my best to build a nice replica of the Batavia.

 

Because I'm building from scratch I have to work with the Willem Vos drawings and the many photos I made on the replica in Lelystad. This makes it all a bit diffirent from the normal out of the box work, but on the other hand again not.

 

Making all the statues, carvings etc. is in fact the most demanding part of it - but I like it!

 

My model - which is a 70% scale of the 1:50 drawings will become roughly 80 cm long and 80 cm high. Width between 15 and 20 cm. This is ca. a 1:70 or 1:72 scale.

 

@Michael, thank you for the link - I did not have that one - will take me some time to have a look at it this evening.

Nice photos at it, and all very familiar somehow 

[flying_dutchman2]

Hans,

Beautiful work and I love your carvings. The stern's paint job is well done and thanks for explaining the four statues. I did not know this as I am always reading something about Dutch naval history.

 

In both SAIL Amsterdam and Philadelphia I have visited her. She is an impressive ship.

 

I will continue to follow your build.

Thanks for sharing.

Marc

[*Hans*]

Marc,

 

Thank you! In fact the photos aren't at their best - due to the dim light and the fact I made them with my cell (but that's because it's easier to upload them to my PC).

 

Every now and then I will post some pictures, and add some history about the Batavia, the VOC  - Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie  ( Dutch East India Company) and the naval history of the Dutch during their rich period which was called "de gouden Eeuw" (the golden age).

 

Hope you like it!

[*Hans*]

Last post I mentioned the statues. Building a model goes in small steps, many ot them hardly worth mentioning.

 

This one I'd like to show you the escutcheon on the lower stern of the ship, with the emblem of the VOC on it.

 

The A is for Amsterdam, VOC stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - Dutch East India Company.

 

Wikipedia says:

 

 The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC, "United East India Company") was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It is often considered to have been the first multinational corporation in the world  and it was the first company to issue stock.  It was also arguably the first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.

 

Link to the Wikipedia-site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company

 

 

(the ruler is in mm, not in inches  )

[NAZGÛL]

Great updates Hans!

 

Here is a link to a trailer for the film. The film has subtitles in english and german I think and it´s great if youre interested in this period. There are only quick glimpses of the Batavia replica though, so don't get it for that reason. 

 

 

/Matti

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Matti, thank you for your reply. Just have taken a look at your topic - wonderfull job you're doing!

 

You are reffering to a Vasa film which is unknown to me. Do you have any link to this film?

 

Hans

[*Hans*]

Hey Matti,

 

Thank you for your reply - but I am missing the link ...

 

Did I overlook something?

[*Hans*]

This time only a small post - I didn't do that much this weekend.

I made some further parts of  the bowsprit and mounted it.

 

[NAZGÛL]

Ah, forgot to  post the link:

 

http://www.svt.se/dokumentarfilm/vasa-1628-del-2

 

/Matti

[*Hans*]

Thank you! And indeed, you can regocnize (if you know the ship) the Batavia

 

Is there a way to see the whole documentary? As far as I do understand the Swedish language it was broadcasted january this year - correct?