“Take the Roundabout 5th Exit”

First of all, my apologies for the infrequent posting during the past week. I was quite busy with many different things, including school, work, thesis and social obligations. Sometimes, also, I just don’t feel like blogging.

This weekend I visited with some relatives in Capelle aan de Ijssel which is a borough of Rotterdam. Saturday morning, however, I first explored the historic Delft Harbour. Thankfully, because I have a GPS, I was able to navigate the complex interchanges of Rotterdam; hence the title of this posting!

The Delft Harbour has particular significance to us. It is where the Puritans left Holland for the New World aboard the Mayflower in Anno 1620. 389 years ago these people left Rotterdam in quest of religious freedom and a better future for their posterity. Now, in the year 2009, I had the priviledge of walking the same piers they have, studied the “Pelgrims Kerk” adjacent to the wharf’s where they worshiped, and seen some of the same old houses they may have lived. One house I saw was dated 1653. It was very interesting. Here is a picture of the Pelgrims Kerk:

And here you can see the wharf’s looking away from the city:

Also, that morning I visited a museum which was actively building the Dutch warship “De Delft” which fought in the war against England. The Delft sank in 1797 during the Battle of Camperduin, when the English navy decided not to play by the conventional rule book which dictated the two opponents to sail side by side and shoot as many cannon balls at the other party in order to sink the ship. What the English did in 1797 was novel: They sailed behind the Delft and shot cannon balls through the back. The result was, it traveled through the entire ship and out the front end again, wreaking havoc. Soon De Delft surrendered and after several days of being towed to England as war booty, sank in the North Sea. This boat, as I mentioned, is now being rebuilt.

It was interesting to see the details the military expended on the boat: ornate carved details throughout the boat; a huge tiger mascot carved from oak, etc. Actually, the museum is currently building two boats: one at 1/5 the scale of the real boat; and two, the real boat. They are doing this because they need to learn exactly how the boat ought to be built and can’t afford to make mistakes on a 63 meter long ship! Currently, only the ribs of the new ship are in place. Ever wonder how these wooden beams can be made into the graceful curves required for the ship’s hull? I didn’t. The answer is they grow crooked trees! I’m serious. Throughout Europe during this time epoch, Oak forests were maintained for the specific purpose of growing crooked trees. Often this included bending the saplings, and a business planning horizon of 100 years. Who would have thought!

So, I had a very interesting and informative time in the Historic Delft Harbour!

Now I am going to do some more work on my thesis. There is movement in that too again.

Hoist the Sails!

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