Hasselter aak

The Hasselteraak “ANNIGJE”

This barge is a so called aak. The bottom simply bowed up at the forepart of a ship, named the  “heve”, is the identifying mark of an aak. The principle was already used during the Roman Empire and so the word “aak” is from Latin origin

The “Hasselter aken” were created at the end of the 19th century in the north of the province Overijssel where they initially were built from wood but later from iron.

The “ANNIGJE” was constructed in 1908 in the yard of van Goor at Kampen, on behalf of Mr. Hutten. The barge carried among other things hay from the Camper island to the Apeldoorn channel for the horses of the army. Often the ship also carried peat from Friesland to the cities along the IJsselriver. That was the own trade of the bargeman.
Around the year 1937 the barge became a little pusher tug. In 1946 the ship was laid up in the harbour of Zwolle but the family Hutten continued living on it.
Finally, the Rotterdam Maritime Museum bought the barge in 1976 and carried out a substantial restoration. Today the barge can be visited daily in the Rotterdam harbour near the museum. Visitors are often surprised at the very small housing in the stern of the barge, which is still in its original state