Zeldenrust

Unique ship model of the blazer "ZELDENRUST" WL-3

Dimentions: 73 x 21 x 67 cm.  over all.
Scale: 1:33
Price: EURO.1350,00
Incl. 19 % BTW
Excl. display case.
EXW Papendrecht.
Not an antique.
SOLD

The catastrophe of Moddergat.

“Go and see if dad has already come”,  said mother and the little girl clambered enthusiastically in her clogs the dike to scour the horizon. Yes, there’s the ship with a piece in her sail, that’s it!” said the little girl as she recognized the ship of her father.
Later, when she was more than 90 years old and living in the retirement home,  she would often tell her grandson from her time in Moddergat. And her grandson decided to build a ship model from such a ship. In the model you can see again that little piece of sail.
The blazer was a new type of fishing ship in the second half of the 19th century. In Moddergat  fishermen were exited about it. They had  two masts because that was usual in Moddergat
The ships had to go a few kilometres from the coast to anchor. Hence with high tide the fish was brought with prams to the dike and sold on the spot or peddled by the women.
In March 1883 the blazer “Zeldenrust”WL-3 and 20 other ships lay ready on the moorage to sail for the first time that year. On Sunday night the 5th of March  the decision was made and  the fleet went to sea. Unfortunately on that voyage the fleet was surprised by a heavy storm. 17 ships got lost and 83 fishermen from Moddergat died. The fate of the blazer “Zeldenrust”WL-3, with her old and experienced skipper Gerben Visser (62) was uncertain for quit some time but after a week the overwhelming message came that the ship was grounded on the Bosplaat of the island Terschelling. Of the crew of five men,
all related, not a trace was found. Among them was Jasper Visser (29) the great-grandfather of this writer. His young wife Aukje was left behind with three little children.
The “Zeldenrust”was retrieved and came back into service. This ship was stranded in the First World War on the Engelsmanplaat and was totally wrecked. Fortunately this crew was saved.
Around the year 1900 English steam trawlers on the coast, took over the fishing industry. The fishermen of Moddergat were no match for them with their old sailing ships. Their future was over. The young son of Jasper, also named Gerben, must have realized that there was no future for him in fishery. He was an enterprising man, broke with tradition, and sought a new field of work.
It became sailing the river Rhine.