Bumps and high holds on board Amsterdam II A tour in the Dutch National Maritime Museum. text and photos Päivi Seppälä
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he National Maritime Museum is one of the top tourist destinations in Amsterdam attracting more than 300,000 visitors each year. As one of them, I managed to escape the late-November rain outpours by entering the museum building that once housed the main storehouse of the Amsterdam Admiralty. Originally built in 1656, the building was completely reconstructed in 2011. The finest result of the reconstruction work is the inner courtyard glass roof which connects the four exhibition wings of the museum. It was the maritime gems of the four exhibition wings I set out to discover. As someone coming from as far north as Finland, the most natural starting place was for me the northern wing. This meant that I had to step outside the museum building on an outdoor wooden pier
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to face again the moist and the wind of the city. The step proved to be worthwhile. Next to the pier, I encountered the most impressive wooden merchant sailing vessel that I had ever seen. It was Amsterdam II, a real-size replica of Amsterdam, an United East India Company (VOC) vessel. The original Amsterdam was finished in 1748 as one of the 1,700 East Indiamen
The 33-year old Captain Willem Klump tried to save the vessel Amsterdam by running it aground.
long-trade vessels that sailed between the Netherlands and the East Indies. The story of the original Amsterdam is a tragic one, since it was during her maiden voyage in January 1749 that the vessel lost her rudder in the English Channel. The 33-year old Captain Willem Klump tried to save the vessel by running it aground. All the passangers and most of the 330-head crew were saved. However, at least fifty crew members either died ashore or were too ill to leave the ship and died on board. In the end, Amsterdam was buried about six meters below the mud surface of the shoreline, and it was not before 1969 that the wreck was discovered near Hastings on the coast of Great Britain. The replica Amsterdam II was built between 1985 and 1990. The wood used for building was iriko, a tropical hardwood, and it replaced oak that comprised the 1 • 2020 VAPAAVAHTI FRIVAKT
