THE KOFF.

The “Koff” (kuf) is a purely Dutch type mentioned neither by WITSEN nor VAN YK. It seems to date from the end of the XVIIth century and later it replaced, in many cases, the “flutes” and the “cat-boats”. (LE COMTE, p. 10.)

The forms of the kuffs are very much rounded and show in this way their affinity to the “smacks” and the “hoys”. They are flat-bottomed with a square bow or, as VAN LOON says (p. 64), “stomp rond” (round and bluff). Later, some were built with finer lines.

They are solid ships and withstand storms very well, whence the saying: “Koffen en Smakken zijn waterbakken” (Kufs and Smacks are reservoirs of water). I cannot partake of the opinion of Mr. Koenen, who claims that “Kof” is descended from “Kog” because the “Kofs” made their appearance much later than the Kogs and are descendants from small inland boats. They are, as a rule, vessels of light draught, 72 feet long, 17 feet wide and 8 feet, 3 inches deep. Their capacity varied from 100 to 300 tons. They have ordinarily two masts, the larger being at one-third the length of the vessel from the bow. They are provided with a slightly raised deck aft without “statie”. The small “Kofs” have lee-boards, the large ones, none.

Making the bow of these vessels finer was begun in the XIXth century (VAN LOON, p. 65), and this caused their old characteristics to disappear. It was desired to give to them, in this way, greater steadiness in steering. These vessels are still built in the province of Groningen, where they originated. Now, they are made, however, as are the “hoys”, with a more rounded bow. Formerly they were also met frequently in the province of Holland; they ran not only to the Baltic Sea, but also to Norway, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Portugal and the Mediterranean and even to Rio de Janeiro. (LE COMTE, p. 11.)