K. Vermaes

Model of the Navy Dockyard at Hellevoetsluis

Rijkswerf (Hellevoetsluis), 2006

Inscriptions

  • inscription:Klaas Vermaes Wz heeft dese cappen gemaakt intjaar 1834 int 70sten jaars ; zijnes ouwerdoms, in dienst als meesterknecht op srijkswerf te Hellevoetsluys ; Nadat hij de marine werven zoo te Rotterdam als te Hellevoet had bedient als leerling ; 7 jaaren / als knecht 14 / als modelmaker 14 / als commandeur 6 / en als meesterknecht 17 jaaren

Conservation

  • H. Ketting, 1980: restored
  • G. Calkoen, 1982: restored
  • Ab Hoving, maart 2007: five new ship models added (frigate, brig, pilot, cutter, ship on the stocks)

Provenance

...; Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1834;1NHA 476 KKvZ, inv. no. 852, no. 9. transferred to the museum, 1883

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-1

Entry

Polychromed model showing the layout of the Navy dockyard of Hellevoetsluis with part of the town and fortifications.

The small town lies to either side of the entrance of the basin, which has a double lock gate and a swing bridge. After a narrow section, in which a model of a rigged three-masted ship lies, the basin widens with a broad curve towards the north-west, with dockyard buildings, slipways and sheers to either side. The basin is occupied by a couple of workboats and a three-masted ship with its topmasts taken down. At the north-west corner of the basin a double dry dock is indicated,2For a detailed model of this dry dock see NG-MC-7. containing the hull of a three-masted ship. The ramparts of the fortifications are indicated on the west side of the model.

This model of the dockyard was made by K. Vermaes from 1828 to 1830,3J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 1; HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 2/12/1830 N56. with additions until 1847 and in 2006.4HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 19/2/1847 N23, 3/3/1847 N87; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 168-73. The Koninklijk Museum in The Hague expressed its interest in the model in 1829, but instead it was transferred to the Navy Model Room in 1834.5NHA 476 KKvZ, inv. no. 852, no. 9.

Scale (derived) 1:225.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 1; N. de Roy van Zuydewijn, Verschanste schoonheid. Een verrassende ontdekkingstocht langs historische verdedigingswerken in Nederland, Amsterdam 1977, pp. 114-17; J.F. Grosfeld, Het droogdok te Hellevoetsluis, Hellevoetsluis 1986; R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, pp. 164-85; H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 34-37; A.J. Hoving, ‘Een lege haven is geen haven’, in G. van der Ham and E. Sint Nicolaas (eds.), Buitengaats. Vierentwintig verhalen over havens, Amsterdam 2008, pp. 42-45; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 168-73; H. van der Biezen, ‘Hellevoetsluis’, Scheepshistorie 15 (2013), pp. 32-47

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'K. Vermaes, Model of the Navy Dockyard at Hellevoetsluis, Rijkswerf (Hellevoetsluis), 1828 - 1830', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.242726

(accessed 18 July 2025 15:44:53).

Footnotes

  • 1NHA 476 KKvZ, inv. no. 852, no. 9.
  • 2For a detailed model of this dry dock see NG-MC-7.
  • 3J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 1; HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 2/12/1830 N56.
  • 4HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 19/2/1847 N23, 3/3/1847 N87; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 168-73.
  • 5NHA 476 KKvZ, inv. no. 852, no. 9.