THE “SCHOLSCHUIT” OR “BAZAANSCHUIT”—THE ZWARTEWAALSCHE GAFFELAAR.
There was met with formerly, alongside of the “bushes” and “howkers”, a fishing boat belonging to the “smack” group: the Scholschuiten (boats used for the sole fishery) also called Bazaanschuit. At Zwartewaal, these vessels carried gaff sails (gaffeltuig) whence their name of Zwarlewaalsche Gaffelaar.
The Scholschuiten were shorter than the “howkers”; but fairly broad and with a strong frame. They resembled greatly the “Visscherssnikken” of Paessens and Wierum (not to be confused with the “Binnensnikken”) and the “Palingschuiten” of Heeg and Gastneer which used to carry eels to London.
The “Scholschuit”, met with at Pernis, Middelharnis and Zwartewaal, was replaced later by the “sloop”.
The whale fishery, formerly so flourishing, had disappeared completely in the XIXth century. There were 186 boats still following this industry in 1756; but this number had fallen to 66 in 1785, this change being brought about especially by the large premiums granted by England.
As this industry gradually died away in our country, it became more flourishing, on the contrary, in England. In this latter country, only 26 whaling vessels were to be found in 1750; this number increased to 152 in 1785. Premiums of 3000 to 8000 florins, given in that country according to the size of the vessels brought about the result of causing our whaling ships to disappear and only two vessels put out to sea in 1854. (KOENEN, p. 164).
“Noortsvaerders” as well as the “Fluitschepen” already described, were used for this fishery.
The land of the “bushes” was at Vlaardingen and Enkhuizen; a few are found also at Maassluis and Delfshaven, that is: along the Meuse and in the North-West part of the Zuiderzee.
The country of the “Bom” was Scheveningen, Katwijk and Noordwijk, along the flat beach of the North Sea.
That of the “sloop” is Middelharnis, Zwartewaal and Pernis, while the “lugger” is met everywhere.
The old “howker” was found particularly at Maassluis and the “Loggerbom” or “Lelybom” at Scheveningen.
An erroneous idea of the Netherlands fishing fleet would be formed by supposing that only the 724 fishing vessels given in the above list belonged to it. Alongside of these boats, are still found many smaller boats used exclusively for this industry.
If a glance be cast over the Report on the Netherlands Ocean Fishery for 1905, it will be seen that, in this year (p. 342), the fleet contained in all 5334 vessels with a total tonnage of 234,766 tons and a total of 20,141 men in the crews. These figures for 1891 were, respectively: 4427, 164,357 and 15,482.
| Situation of the Netherlands Fishing Fleet and of its Crews. | |||
| YEAR | NUMBER OF VESSELS | TOTAL TONNAGE | CREWS |
| 1905 | 5334 | 234766 | 20141 |
| 1904 | 5781 | 215873 | 21228 |
| 1903 | 5922 | 218249 | 21467 |
| 1902 | 5938 | 215660 | 21225 |
| 1901 | 5851 | 199248 | 20164 |
| 1900 | 5719 | 195950 | 19498 |
| 1899 | 5661 | 191530 | 19232 |
| 1898 | 5385 | 186554 | 18709 |
| 1897 | 5318 | 184576 | 18387 |
| 1896 | 5211 | 181953 | 17895 |
| 1895 | 5189 | 179782 | 17643 |
| 1894 | 5151 | 176649 | 17286 |
| 1893 | 4902 | 172603 | 16700 |
| 1892 | 4647 | 167549 | 16142 |
| 1891 | 4427 | 164357 | 15482 |
The small fishing boats work on the North Sea, along the shores of Friesland and Groningen, on the maritime rivers of Zeeland and of the province of Holland as well as on the Zuiderzee.
All sorts of names of fishing boats are found among them, so that it is very difficult to determine from this point the places whence they come. Then too, these boats have become so numerous in our country during the last fifty years, that the presence of a given type at any place is no proof at all that it had its origin at that place. Thus, for example, “Schokkers” and “Botters” are now to be found on the Upper Meuse where not one of them was ever built. Just so soon as fishing becomes flourishing, there are brought into use all sorts of boats which were never intended originally for any such purpose. In order to form an exact idea of fishing boats and their evolution, only such vessels as were built especially for this use should be considered.
As was said in the general classification, these boats can be divided into principal orders as follows: a) the group of the “Schokkers”; b) that of the “Botters”; c) bluff bowed boats (“Knots”, “Akes”, etc).