Bataviawerf is a shipyard/museum that provides a look at traditional shipbuilding. Here, they have reconstructed two 17th century ships. The reconstructed Batavia was completed in 1995 and sailed for 2 years to Australia and back. The original Batavia, a VOC merchantship, was built in 1628 for the United East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie). In June 1629, while making her maiden voyage, she foundered off the coast of Western Australia. Maybe they wanted to banish the bad juju.
The museum staff kindly switched the film to the English version, so we could watch the story of the reconstruction. We also smelled the spices that were typically brought back from the East Indies in these merchant ships: cloves, cinnamon, pepper, anise, among others. We toured the rigging workshop where they created the blocks and ropes for the ship. They had a neat hands-on display showing how much easier it was to lift 10 kg with 7 blocks (pulleys) verses 1 block.
The boat is really neat with awesome carvings all over the boat - bow, beakhead, sides, on the decks, stern. The size of the ropes, netting, and masts were immense. The ship itself made me feel a little claustrophobic, especially once you went below deck. The kitchen was interesting and tiny - a 6x6 room lined with copper plating and bricks to prevent it from burning down the wooden ship. It must have been very hot in there. Below deck we saw casks, cannons, and a toilet for the captain and his officers. Even the captain's quarters were pretty small. Mary and Miles are poking out of the steering stand.
posted by Whitney @ 3:23 AM
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