Model of a ship camel

anonymous, c. 1780 - c. 1840

The shallow waters around the Pampus sandbank off Amsterdam formed an obstacle for larger ships. To prevent them running aground, tanks filled with water were attached to their sides. Pumping the water out of these ‘ship camels’ raised the vessels, allowing them to be towed over the shallows. One side of this model has been curved to fit against the ship’s hull. The planking has been omitted to reveal its internal structure.

  • Artwork typedemonstration model
  • Object numberNG-MC-21
  • Dimensionsheight 12.5 cm x width 97.5 cm x depth 21.5 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass and rope

anonymous

Model of a Ship Camel

? Amsterdam, c. 1780 - c. 1840

Conservation

  • Ab Hoving, april 1995: minor repairs
  • Ab Hoving, april 2008: missing parts reconstructed; woodworm treatment; repainted; revarnished

Provenance

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

Object number: NG-MC-21

Entry

Wooden construction model of a ship camel, the starboard one of a pair.

The planking has been left off, revealing its construction. The hull has the shape of a rectangular box, with one of its sides resembling the impression of a ship’s hull. The model has three levels: the bottom, between decks and the upper deck; the inside is divided into six compartments with bulkheads. The aft compartment has living quarters between the decks; the chimney aperture for the galley is indicated. The model is fully detailed with twenty-eight pumps in two rows, ten cocks for flooding, thirty windlasses with their tackles running to the bottom of the camel through wooden casing, a cathead, a riding bitt and eleven hatches. The rudder is missing.

Ship camels or lighters were invented by Meeuwis Meindertsz Bakker (1641-?) from Amsterdam around 1690 to lift the bigger ships over the shallows of Pampus into the river IJ at Amsterdam. They were placed one at either side of a ship, joined with tackles underneath the keel and pumped dry. Their shape would assure maximum support and stability for the ship. Camels were usually towed by so-called ‘waterschepen’.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 21; G. Doorman, Octrooien voor uitvindingen in de Nederlanden uit de 16de-18de eeuw, The Hague 1940, pp. 53-54; G. Boven and A. Hoving, Scheepskamelen & waterschepen. ‘Eene ellendige talmerij, doch lofflijk middel’, Zutphen 2009, pp. 44-45; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 50-53

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Ship Camel, Amsterdam, c. 1780 - c. 1840', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200314889

(accessed 28 November 2025 09:23:46).