Date Added: 21 March 2007
This is a wonderful model of the Het Duyfken, "The Little Dove," the 1606 Dutch VOC jacht which discovered Australia. The Jacht is built as a whole hull model in a decanter. The ship's hull is painted white on the bottom half and the rest in natural wood. It displays the keel and rudder. The ship has three masts and is displayed without the sails. The rigging is very detailed showing both standing and running rigging. The fore and main mast shrouds have tied ratlines and block and tackle are used in the rigging. The ship has 4 cannons. The ship is highly detailed and accurate to the original ship. Henny Fransen, the artist, provided the following: "First, I drilled a hole in the bottom of the decanter. Then the stand was fitted to the bottom with a small screw. After that, the hull was launched into the decanter and fitted to the stand. Then the three masts, including shrouds and other rigging followed one by one. When all masts were glued in their position, the rigging was completed in the bottle and tuned, glued and cut. A wooden globe is closing the neck of the decanter. I built the ship in 2003 and finished it in 2004. I bottled it for an exposition in the SIB-museum in Enkhuizen (about 20 km from Hoorn). In the year 2004 we commemorate that the Dutch EastIndia Company (VOC) was founded. Hoorn and Enkhuizen were both important VOC trade centres."
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