Hi All,
this has been an interesting thread to follow. Now I have one for you which is particularly interesting. The Old Gaffers Association of Western Australia, of which I confess to being president, was invited aboard the Duyfken (Little Dove) in Perth last November. This is a replica of the original Duyfken in which Willem Janzoon discovered Australia (at least the first recorded landfall on Australian soil) in 1606. (Capt. Jim Cook came and did the job properly some 164 years later in 1770).
The Duyfken or The Little Dove is a replica of the 16th century Dutch jacht and was constructed and fitted out in Fremantle by the Duyfken Foundation based on plans drawn from accumulated knowledge of the Dutch jacht as there were no extant plans or exact images of the original Duyfken available, in fact she was probably built by eye rather than from plan.
Construction was of the “plank-first” method understood to have been used in the creation of the original. Timber used was European Oak from Latvia. Sails and rigging use natural flax and hemp. The Duyfken replica is as near an exact replica as possible given information available.
Some of the interesting features of the Duyfken include the elm pump for pumping the bilges, Dutch whipstaff steering system, the one and only cabin (captain’s cabin as the crew slept on deck), the galley in the forecastle, the hold which was dedicated to the sole purpose of storage of freight, rigging and sails (discussion on relative performance of natural vs synthetic fibres).
Future plans for the Duyfken which include relaying of the deck timbers and replacement of the ballast.
Some key facts for the Duyfken replica are:
LOA 24 metres
Displacement 140 tonnes
Crew 16-20 (on the original vessel)
The original Duyfken was built in 1596 for the Dutch East India Company or VOC and completed a return voyage to the East Indies and proved herself to be a fast and manouverable vessel.
On the second voyage in 1606 under Willem Janzoon, discovered Australia at the Gulf of Carpentaria.
In July 1608 Duyfken was condemned as beyond repair after being involved in a battle with larger Spanish ships.
Further information regarding the Duyfken replica and the original are contained in the following websites:
http://www.duyfken.com/ and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuyfkenA photo taken by Paul Ricketts the OGA of WA's esteemed photographer follows and have a look at
http://www.gaffrigsailinginwa.org/blog/ for more photographic details of rigging and so on.
