THE “BOVENLANDERS”.
The craft frequenting our upper rivers are called Bovenlanders. They are totally different from the types met with so far. They are all relatively long and narrow, flat-bottomed and draw but little water. It may be said, as a general rule, that the “Bovenlanders” appear where the tidal rivers end. They have been in existence since the most distant times although they are rarely ever seen in the engravings. If they were not often mentioned, it was doubtless because they were not considered as being worth a description, or, perhaps again, because they were not sufficiently known. WITSEN mentions only the following vessels (p. 170-171) of which he says textually:
“A) The Overlanders, which come to us from the Upper Rhine, are vessels with high sides, heavy and rather unfinished. Whole families live on them.
“B) The Samoreuzen are very long flat boats which bring wood down the Rhine. They carry a very high mast, made in two parts, and fastened by lines to the ends and sides of the boat.
“C) The Aeken, which bring wine from Cologne, are long, high and very full. Their rudder is very wide.
“D) The Dortsche Koolhaelders are very long, open boats, flat-bottomed, so as to be better able to cross the shoals of the river. They have near the middle a square deck house which serves as a dwelling for the boatmen. They are square at the corners and the rudder is long and broad. The sail is square and is hoisted on a short mast, near the deck house, by means of a curved yard.”
VAN YK speaks of “Geldersche Samoreusen” (p. 348) and LE COMTE, of a “Samoreus” or “Keulenaer” (p. 44) which are to be seen on the Groenewegen engraving. (Series F, No 3.)
The “Overlanders” mean the “Bovenlanders”, and the “Samoreuzen” mean the boats coming from above Cologne, while the “Aeken” are probably big “Keenaken”. Finally, the “Dortsche Koolhaelders” are undoubtedly the “Dorstensche Aken”. Neither engravings nor description give any exact idea. But the types of these craft have been very well preserved on the Rhine until the introduction of iron; the clinker built hulls have even remained intact, and this enables us to appreciate even now what these boats of by-gone days were and whence they came.