Building the Replica of the Half Moon for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration
Building the Half Moon - Holland Makes Replica of Hudson's Famous Ship The replica is being constructed in the navy yard at Amsterdam. To the accompaniment of rattling chains, the hammering of carpenters, and the hub-bub of a dockyard, we climbed the planks that formed a gangway and stood on the deck, not yet finished, of the replica of the historic vessel. It had been launched but two days before, and now floats alongside a pier near to the launching ways. The first thing that strikes the visitor is the smallness of the craft. It is but fifty-five feet in length, and the presence of several modern steamships in its immediate neighborhood strongly accentuates this feature. On almost any of the big modern liner the replica might be carried athwart ships and still leave plenty of room for passengers to walk around its ends. There are no masts as yet, only the places for them. Three are to be set up. A broad flat-topped wooden bulwark, a foot or more across, runs around the vessel, and is of thick smooth oak, rather suggestive of the broad bannister rail found in many large business establishments. Between this and the deck is the usual thickness of the vessel's sides. * * * Passing down a ladder used by the workmen we reached the bottom of the hold, lumbered with pieces of timber and carpenter's scraps. The hold is some six feet high, and one can just stand upright and move about down there, which is more than can be said of the 'tween decks. All presented a very solid appearance. The ribs are of solid oak, strongly put together with bolts of iron. The hold stretches the whole length of the vessel, and does not seem to be partitioned off in any way. Here we noticed the wooden pump, at first suggestive of the mast, it being a tree hollowed out and about a foot in diameter. On the upper deck we saw the handle, which is also of wood, and was not yet in place. Apertures were left for the insertion of the mast and bowsprit, and solid timbers here and there to make all firm. On the 'tween decks one notices a difference. Forward of the companion the space between decks is about a foot less than it is aft of that. Certainly not more than four feet was allowed the men who worked there, and it is difficult to get along in the cramped position which this low space allows. Further aft, about five feet between the decks, one can scarcely stand upright, and it remains a thing to wonder at that men could live and work under such conditions. The crew will be numerically the same as that of the mutineers who sailed with Hudson on the old Half Moon, eighteen men in all. The replica |
is to be carried to New York by one of the vessels of the Holland-America line. This duplicate of what was once a proud ship and one which in the opinion of our forefathers was fit to sail any sea, is now reduced to the level of a package of merchandise, and will be shipped to America as a piece of cargo. * * * A cradle is now being made ready, this consisting of two immense blocks hollowed out to fit the vessel when it is hoisted into place on the deck of the liner that is to carry it across the Atlantic. The present intention is to tow the Half Moon to Rotterdam some time in June, and there to hoist it on board the vessel that is to bring it to New York. It is understood that the replica will be swung overboard somewhere off Sandy Hook, that the crew, carried y the same vessel, will then take charge of the craft, rig and unfurl the sails, and steer the vessel to an anchorage inside the Hook, and there await word from the Celebration Commission as to when the official entry into the Hudson shall be made. Through two square portholes on each side will project the muzzles of the four replicas of the four ancient cannon with which the old Half Moon was armed. These cannon were already packed and fitted in stout wooden boxes, ready for nailing down, and half an hour later would have been shut in from sight of the curious until they reach America. One curious anacronism is that the name of the founder is shown upon them, just near the touch hole. There it stands, "C. van Hoek, Fyenoord." The touch holes were carefully protected by strips of metal form injury en route. These guns were made with the usual swivel bearings, and have a bore of about three inches. They are six feet long, and in the boxes they looked like black corpses ready for burial, the box much resembling a coffin. After the vessel is complete it will be pickeled, that is it will be saturated inside and out with a solution made of yellow, wax, linseed oil, sulphur, and resin. Above the deck proper at the forward end is the forecastle deck - a very small affair, it being raised but a few feet from the deck proper and designed as sleeping quarters for the crew. At the other end two such tiers or decks are built, one above the other. Here in the old Half Moon slept the Captain and the first mate. The whole thing is suggestive of a dog-kennel rather than a cabin, and any self-respecting brood of chickens would decline to take up quarters in the forecastle, which represented the men's quarters. The stern is squat and cut off sharp, lie the vessels of the Spanish Armada while the prow is towering and built out over the water with a figurehead in the manner of Spanish galleons. The bulwark-rail, the broad, flat bannister before mentioned, runs around the entire vessel, and rises from the main deck to the other decks in curves or sweeps. One can imagine such a vessel at the time of a fight, with the barefooted crew swarming along the rail, and the men who worked the guns sweating in their cramped position between decks. |