Speeljacht (xvii century)

Speeljachts were among the first vessels used for entertainment. During the dynamic development of trade in Asia, Dutch merchants began to create great fortunes and the upper classes could afford to build ships used only for recreation. Until the 17th century, sailing ships of various types fulfilled basically only commercial and transport functions, war functions or were used for work, such as fishing. The very idea of "fun" on the water was, of course, not a Dutch invention, because in Tutankhamun's tomb an image of the pharaoh fishing on the Nile was found, which can certainly be considered entertainment and relaxation.

The decorations were chic, but not flashy. The Netherlands was a Calvinist country, so one had to be modest. There was usually a family coat of arms on the stern. In 1622, the first marina was opened in Amsterdam and it was perhaps then that "yachting" appeared as a form of spending time with family, friends or for business purposes. People on yachts not only relaxed and sailed for pleasure, but such trips were accompanied by delicious feasts, including plenty of drinks. Nicolaes Witsen even mentions a "beer house" under the aft deck. In addition to romantic trips, owning such a yacht meant prestige and wealth - a bit like modern billionaires and oligarches.

Speeljachts were equipped with one or two masts, were approximately 12 meters long and 3 meters wide. They were built with agility and speed in mind. They had very simple rigging and were easy to operate. Many of them used innovative spars in the form of thin, long masts inclined towards the stern. This solution was probably copied from the Far East from the Vietnamese boats.

The presented model is based on a contemporary development by Ab Hoving and Rene Hendrickx based on Nicolaes Witsen's treatise. At the stern of the model there is the coat of arms of the van Loon family, although it is not certain that they had such a yacht in the 17th century.