Dutch Ironclad Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden

S. Walters (mentioned on object), 1866

Fotografische reproductie van een schilderij van het ramtorenschip Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden, varend op stoomkracht, gezien op de bakboordzijde. De verschansing bij de twee geschuttorens is neergelaten. Zeilschepen op de achtergrond.

  • Artwork typephotograph
  • Object numberNG-MC-1329
  • Dimensionsheight 45.5 cm x width 58.7 cm
  • Physical characteristicspaper

S. Walters

Photograph of a Painting of an Ironclad

Liverpool, Birkenhead (Merseyside), 1866

Inscriptions

  • inscription, bottom centre:S. Walters Liverpool / IRON-CASED DOUBLE-SCREW TURRET-SHIP / Building by Messrs Laird Brothers, Birkenhead / 1866 / TONNAGE 2100 TONS / POWER OF ENGINES EACH PAIR 200 HP / ,, COLLECTIVE 400 HP / NUMBER OF TURRETS TWO / GUNS IN EACH TWO 300 POUNDERS / WEIGHT OF BROADSIDE 1200 LBS

Provenance

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-1329

Entry

Framed black-and-white photograph, slightly damaged, of a painting by S. Walters from Liverpool of the Dutch ironclad Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden, sailing on engine power, seen from the port side. The railing is lowered near the two turrets. Sailing ships can be seen in the background, and a floating buoy in the foreground.

This photograph was probably a gift from the Laird Brothers of Birkenhead to the Dutch Navy after the completion of the ironclad. The ironclad ram ship Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden, measuring 70.14 metres in length, was the first seagoing ironclad of the Dutch Navy. It was built by the Laird Brothers from 1866 to 1867 to a joint design by Laird and the Dutch engineer Bruno Johannes Tideman (1834-1883). It was armed with four 23 cm guns in two turrets and four 12 cm guns. It did not function well as a sailing ship. After 1876 the ship served in the Dutch East Indies and took part in the Lombok expedition in 1894. It was decommissioned at Surabaya in 1899 and used as an ammunition depot until at least 1905. Its fate after that date is unknown.1A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 89.

Literature

B.J. Tideman, Memoriaal van de Marine, bevattende opgaven betrekkelijk de afmetingen, constructie, ... van Nederlandsche oorlogsschepen en omtrent enige havens, dokken, sluizen, werven enz., Amsterdam 1876-80, livret F; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1329; A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 89; J.M. Dirkzwager, ‘De introductie van pantserschepen in Nederland’, Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 4 (1985), no. 1, pp. 23-41, pp. 31-35

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'S. Walters, Photograph of a Painting of an Ironclad, Liverpool, 1866', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200316153

(accessed 6 December 2025 19:10:17).

Footnotes

  • 1A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der gouvernementsmarine 1814-1962, The Hague 1962, p. 89.