(Den Helder, the Netherlands, 30 July 2009) The 'Prins Willem' – a replica of a 17-century sailing ship – catches fire and burns. She would later be deemed beyond repair and dismantled.
Looks like it. The wood and knowledge to build timber ships is right about gone nowadays. Easier to build a steel hull and clad it in wood instead.
Centuries ago they'd spend centuries growing trees in just the right shapes to turn into ships later. That aint happening anymore!
I'm gonna need citations on that...
The same techniques, including shaped timbers are used in restorations of roofs and new barns regularly.
If you need specialty grown trees to build ships how did Britain massively ramp up it's ship production periodically? You might want to harvest carefully for things like masts...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visings%C3%B6#History
Not British, but it was done for oak specifically. There were forests earmarked for the British Navy and if you got caught poaching it, it would be serious consequences.
I'm pretty sure I read the British doing the same thing (planting trees), but cant find an exact source.
As for the shipwright comment, yeah no way. We can do all of that. What would be expensive is old growth wood which would be like 10x more expensive than steel, probably more. I work in the industry.
That's growing trees, not growing trees in just the right shape, which suggests them being grown in curves to fit the ribs etc.
Certainly wood from particular regions was coveted for being slow growth, naturally free from knots etc.
No but the original comment they replied to did specifically state it.
Don't mind me, I'm just here to see if they had gotten confused with the process of steaming wood to bend it.
Ah, fair enough!
I thought you might be into forestry or lumber for woodworking, and was going to ask you if you knew where to get kiln dried bloodwood (satine) logs that i could have milled to spec instead of the ”bloodwood¹” that you find for sale these days that really isn't bloodwood or if it is it's absolute shite.
i have a fair bit of it from like 20 years ago for building a desk that never really finished changing designs on⁴ until recently as the monitor i want will be coming out in july or august.
unfortunately i could use a few more board feet of it and nothing i've seen in the past decade or so even comes close to matching the deep red color.
i'll very likely have to pick a contrasting color wood and use use up the last of my gabon ebony as inlay around where the bloodwood and [wood that i end up picking].
---
thanks, though, and apologies for the info-dump :\ i hope you didn't find it bothersome.
speaking of ships: *are* there any traditionally made schooners or other 1-2 mast wooden sailing ships around any more?
i got to ride on one like 30 years ago in a weird highschool i went to. it was ran by an environmental group, and they were to head out a week later and sail from the hudson river to england.
after spending a day and evening sailing around the hudson and helping out a bit (we were probably useless), i really wanted to go with them. they said they'd love you have me. my parents told 16 year old me “hell no“ and shipped me off to university instead.
i was more than a little disappointed: they already nixed the sky-dive to scuba-dive⁵ trip to the caribbean i was supposed to do with my dive instructor.
anyhoo, apologies for text-walling you, but besides the reddit protest i just wanted to talk to someone this day.
if you're amenable, how about *you* tell *me* a story about ships or your life or something now that i've told you a few?
or if not, i'll wish you a good evening and be on my way :)
---
^footnotes
1: that may or may not be actually bloodwood (satine²)
bloodwood is:
- heavy. 66lbs/ft³ compared to white oak's 43.8lbs/ft³, or douglas fir's³ 32lbs/ft³
- very hard: 12,900N compared to white oak's 5,430N, or douglas fir's 2,760N
- very rigid, 20.78GPa compared to white oak's 12.14GPa, or douglas fir's 12.17GPa
- the heartwood is a deep, gorgeous fine-grained red. not brown, not pink, not ”i can see how the'd call it red”... but *red*. besides smelling a bit like perfume or incense when cut burned, if you mix the dust (which us very fine) with a few drops of sweat it really, *really* looks like blood.
- unlike purpleheart or nearly every other naturally colored wood that's not a normal ”yup! that's wood!” color, bloodwood keeps its color or slightly deepens redder over time if you take care of it.
--=
2: satine is another name for *[brosimum rubescens](https://www.wood-database.com/bloodwood/), but as even wikipedia doesn't have an entry for *b. rubescens*, when looking or specifying you have to specify (satine) or you'll end up with cardinal wood or something that *almost* looks like bloodwood if you don't know what you're looking at.
--=
3: what cheap 2x4s are (usually) made from in the usa.
--=
4: when i started designing it, it was supposed to be my forever desk. fortunately i had a slight delay as we switched from old crt monitors to lcds. then other changes kept happening.
--=
5: as it was a very shallow scuba dive (≤20ft) it was safe to do w/r/t the bends and decompression sickness.
I used to sail a wood planked boat (an old navy training boat, built in the 50s iirc), and it was a nightmare to deal with. The hull needed a complete coat of paint every year, and getting the planking watertight at the beginning of the season meant soaking the entire boat under water for a week or two. I can't imagine the cost of keeping a large wooden planked ship seaworthy.
btw. the boat is now serving as a pirate ship on a playground. Yarr!
I remember that ship, I'm from the area.
The replica was build in Japan for tourists. And bought by someone who tried to make a VOC-style attraction park in the Old Navy Wharf of Den Helder.
But the attraction park failed, what was understandable because it really sucked lol.
They made a small restaurant in it where you could have coffee and a small lunch.
It was really nice and cozy. After the failure of the attraction park they wanted they to make the ship part of the "ship museum" in the same area. But it burned down due to a short circuit. Its a waste, it would have been a wonderful place for tourists.
We have a real wooden VOC ship called "the Batavia" somewhere else in the country. This ship is build with the old building style and knowledge.
is it metal? interesting approach to replicas
Looks like it. The wood and knowledge to build timber ships is right about gone nowadays. Easier to build a steel hull and clad it in wood instead. Centuries ago they'd spend centuries growing trees in just the right shapes to turn into ships later. That aint happening anymore!
I'm gonna need citations on that... The same techniques, including shaped timbers are used in restorations of roofs and new barns regularly. If you need specialty grown trees to build ships how did Britain massively ramp up it's ship production periodically? You might want to harvest carefully for things like masts...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visings%C3%B6#History Not British, but it was done for oak specifically. There were forests earmarked for the British Navy and if you got caught poaching it, it would be serious consequences. I'm pretty sure I read the British doing the same thing (planting trees), but cant find an exact source. As for the shipwright comment, yeah no way. We can do all of that. What would be expensive is old growth wood which would be like 10x more expensive than steel, probably more. I work in the industry.
That's growing trees, not growing trees in just the right shape, which suggests them being grown in curves to fit the ribs etc. Certainly wood from particular regions was coveted for being slow growth, naturally free from knots etc.
I wasn't suggesting that at all...
Ah well thats how I read it. Glad we have sorted that out anyway :)
No but the original comment they replied to did specifically state it. Don't mind me, I'm just here to see if they had gotten confused with the process of steaming wood to bend it.
out of curiosity, which industry? if it is lumber and trees, can i ask you about bloodwood (satine)?
I wouldn't call myself a shipwright, but I'm a marine mechanic. I've had to replace planks on wooden boats before.
Ah, fair enough! I thought you might be into forestry or lumber for woodworking, and was going to ask you if you knew where to get kiln dried bloodwood (satine) logs that i could have milled to spec instead of the ”bloodwood¹” that you find for sale these days that really isn't bloodwood or if it is it's absolute shite. i have a fair bit of it from like 20 years ago for building a desk that never really finished changing designs on⁴ until recently as the monitor i want will be coming out in july or august. unfortunately i could use a few more board feet of it and nothing i've seen in the past decade or so even comes close to matching the deep red color. i'll very likely have to pick a contrasting color wood and use use up the last of my gabon ebony as inlay around where the bloodwood and [wood that i end up picking]. --- thanks, though, and apologies for the info-dump :\ i hope you didn't find it bothersome. speaking of ships: *are* there any traditionally made schooners or other 1-2 mast wooden sailing ships around any more? i got to ride on one like 30 years ago in a weird highschool i went to. it was ran by an environmental group, and they were to head out a week later and sail from the hudson river to england. after spending a day and evening sailing around the hudson and helping out a bit (we were probably useless), i really wanted to go with them. they said they'd love you have me. my parents told 16 year old me “hell no“ and shipped me off to university instead. i was more than a little disappointed: they already nixed the sky-dive to scuba-dive⁵ trip to the caribbean i was supposed to do with my dive instructor. anyhoo, apologies for text-walling you, but besides the reddit protest i just wanted to talk to someone this day. if you're amenable, how about *you* tell *me* a story about ships or your life or something now that i've told you a few? or if not, i'll wish you a good evening and be on my way :) --- ^footnotes 1: that may or may not be actually bloodwood (satine²) bloodwood is: - heavy. 66lbs/ft³ compared to white oak's 43.8lbs/ft³, or douglas fir's³ 32lbs/ft³ - very hard: 12,900N compared to white oak's 5,430N, or douglas fir's 2,760N - very rigid, 20.78GPa compared to white oak's 12.14GPa, or douglas fir's 12.17GPa - the heartwood is a deep, gorgeous fine-grained red. not brown, not pink, not ”i can see how the'd call it red”... but *red*. besides smelling a bit like perfume or incense when cut burned, if you mix the dust (which us very fine) with a few drops of sweat it really, *really* looks like blood. - unlike purpleheart or nearly every other naturally colored wood that's not a normal ”yup! that's wood!” color, bloodwood keeps its color or slightly deepens redder over time if you take care of it. --= 2: satine is another name for *[brosimum rubescens](https://www.wood-database.com/bloodwood/), but as even wikipedia doesn't have an entry for *b. rubescens*, when looking or specifying you have to specify (satine) or you'll end up with cardinal wood or something that *almost* looks like bloodwood if you don't know what you're looking at. --= 3: what cheap 2x4s are (usually) made from in the usa. --= 4: when i started designing it, it was supposed to be my forever desk. fortunately i had a slight delay as we switched from old crt monitors to lcds. then other changes kept happening. --= 5: as it was a very shallow scuba dive (≤20ft) it was safe to do w/r/t the bends and decompression sickness.
I used to sail a wood planked boat (an old navy training boat, built in the 50s iirc), and it was a nightmare to deal with. The hull needed a complete coat of paint every year, and getting the planking watertight at the beginning of the season meant soaking the entire boat under water for a week or two. I can't imagine the cost of keeping a large wooden planked ship seaworthy. btw. the boat is now serving as a pirate ship on a playground. Yarr!
Anybody got sauce for this? I love the big ol ships.
It was on the original *Prins Willem*'s Wikipedia page over [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prins_Willem).
Maybe this was practice for a viking funeral
I remember that ship, I'm from the area. The replica was build in Japan for tourists. And bought by someone who tried to make a VOC-style attraction park in the Old Navy Wharf of Den Helder. But the attraction park failed, what was understandable because it really sucked lol. They made a small restaurant in it where you could have coffee and a small lunch. It was really nice and cozy. After the failure of the attraction park they wanted they to make the ship part of the "ship museum" in the same area. But it burned down due to a short circuit. Its a waste, it would have been a wonderful place for tourists. We have a real wooden VOC ship called "the Batavia" somewhere else in the country. This ship is build with the old building style and knowledge.