Vredebest

An almost hundred and fifty year old.

A so called “kraak” as a Dutch barge is already mentioned in 1673 in a resolution of the Committed Councils of the States of Holland and Westfriesland. The “kraak” was a small narrow tjalk, almost without a sheer and with a round prow. Usually it was a pavilion “kraak” with a raised aft deck and a window on both sides of the stern. In the second half of the 19th, they also began to be built in iron, which were quit different from the wooden type. This “kraak” was built in 1875 at the Otto & Sons shipyard, later van Duyvendijk in Krimpen aan den IJssel. After a long and eventful life in which the ship has sunk several times, it has now been given a berth in the Wijnhaven in Rotterdam. It is gradually being restored to its original state.