How A Ship On The Shore Became a Beacon For My Dredging Career

Stranded Yo, us and another vessel to the rescue (Credit: Co Winkelman)
Stranded Yo, us and another vessel to the rescue (Credit: Co Winkelman)

Long ago, we were sailing with my parents and my brother into the Venezuelan archipelago of ‘Los Roques’.1 After clearing customs, we learned that there was another sailing vessel in trouble. It was stranded on the reefs at the east side of the islands. As we had some spare time we decided to lend a hand in getting them afloat. By eyeball navigation through the channel behind the coral reef, we found the stranded English catamaran ‘Yo’, but had to anchor 200m away. First we learned from a Swiss captain on another assisting yacht they had been pulling together with a maxi yacht on a long hawser to pull them off by power and sail. Alas, to no avail.

Location and map of the islands of Los Roques
Location and map of the islands of Los Roques

The next day, the swiss captain had to leave and we undertook the journey by dinghy to visit the crew on ‘Yo’. It turned out to be a couple with their son and two deckhands. They told us that the maxi yacht was ‘Drum’2 and one of the crew was no other than rock star Simon Le Bon3 himself. We just missed them by a day! He did all the best to cheer them up and you can image what a support that visit meant to these people in such a desperate situation.

Salvage plan to float ‘Yo’
Salvage plan to float ‘Yo’

As my dad was a chief engineer from the merchant marine, he surveyed the damage professionally. ‘Yo’ was sitting exactly on top of the reef. One keel was broken of and the other only half, but was sheared below the wreck and stuck between the coral heads, preventing any movement. After evaluating the state of the boat, the equipment and the location, he actually said: ‘We’re gonna science the shit out of this.’4 Together we devised a cunning plan:

  1. Lift/Float: Remove the rest of the keel. Plug the holes left by the bolts and increase buoyancy of the craft.
  2. Dredge: Lower the rock bottom to increase support from the buoyancy and create a channel to freedom.
  3. Move: Assemble all winches and tackle to leverage the pulling forces. The forces would be so high that we feared we would pull the catamaran in half. So we had to distribute the forces all around the hull.

The structural repairs on the hull were performed by my father. My brother and me were in charge of the winches and tackle. Any spare time was dedicated to cutting the rock below the wreck. For sure, that is a nasty job, we tore our clothes and cut ourselves on the sharp edges of the coral. By practice, I learned the different angles to aim the pickaxe for the best results and the lowest effort: an introduction into Specific Cutting Energy!5 Because we did our calculations careful and our assumptions were right, the boat moved exactly the moment we predicted and in the way we wanted. It was a great moment of revelation: you could actually use all this knowledge from physics classes6 to get you out of a nasty position. It set me on a path where I am now and you are reading this story.

The best home schooling: toolbox meeting for a salvage operation. (Credit: Co Winkelman)
The best home schooling: toolbox meeting for a salvage operation. (Credit: Co Winkelman)

Actually, we did not see them completely get off, as we had other obligations and had to leave. We were confident they would come off, but it was a mystery to us where they did end up. Finally after thirty years, I did a Google search and to my surprise I found they did get off indeed and were even reunited with their first rescuer, Simon Le Bon.7

‘Yo’ is away, but still scars are left behind in the coral where it all happened. (Credit: Google)
‘Yo’ is away, but still scars are left behind in the coral where it all happened. (Credit: Google)

That was my own story on dredging and salvage. Currently, there is an interesting exhibition at the National Dredging Museum8 with better documented cases and very interesting displays. Still, the three steps used for ‘Yo’: ‘Lift, Dredge and Move’ can be distinguished for the other cases there, also.

Exhibit of the salvage operation of the ‘Faustus’ from the Rotterdam breakwater
Exhibit of the salvage operation of the ‘Faustus’ from the Rotterdam breakwater

Remarks

Please keep in mind, that these events happened more than thirty years ago and were about saving the lives of five people in immediate danger. Dredging in coral should only be done under very strict conditions with the health of the ecosystem in the first place and in balance with the necessity of the operation.

References

  1. Los Roques archipelago, Wikipedia
  2. Drum (yacht), Wikipedia
  3. Simon Le Bon, Wikipedia
  4. The Martian: Mark Watney Quotes, IMDb
  5. Experiencing The Cutting Edge Of Dredging Technology, Discover Dredging
  6. BINAS, Noordhof
  7. Rescued woman reunited with pop star, BBC
  8. Scheepswrakken bergen of baggeren? National Dredging Museum

See also

Book Review: Donald Duck A Muddy Fine Business; Artistic Equipment Design

Front page of Penny Pincher magazine with Donald Duck as dredge master (Credit: Disney)
Front page of Penny Pincher magazine with Donald Duck as dredge master (Credit: Disney)

Donald Duck is a Jack of all trades, that he eventually he would end up on a dredge was inevitable. The story was already published in 1977 in a Donald Duck comic magazine. It is written by Freddy Milton1 and drawn by Daan Jippes2. At that time, I read it and already liked it very much. Later, I had it in a comic album3, but lost it moving to a new house. I wanted to review this story here already for a long time. Eventually, I consulted ‘Bul Super’ in Delft4, he advised me to search for Daan Jippes. That helped to find the story back on the internet.5

Opening scene of ‘Muddy Fine Business’ or ‘Success Test’ (Credit: Disney)
Opening scene of ‘Muddy Fine Business’ or ‘Success Test’ (Credit: Disney)

The story revolves around the endless feud between Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander. This time they have to compete in a success test by operating two different vessels: a ferry, ‘Seagull’ and a dredge ‘Aristoteles’. They have varying degrees of success and the outcome is unexpected.

The best known illustrator of Donald Duck is Carl Barks6. But Daan grew into his footsteps and eventually his stories are at the same level as the original master. He was with the Disney studios in the USA, but was working mostly in the Netherlands. In this edition, Jippes drew one of the most Dutch professions: dredging. Jippes had a keen eye for the elements that make up a dredge, tough the execution lacks some reality. Here I want to highlight some shortcomings that will help to illustrate the tricks that should have made it work and explain how real life dredging equipment functions.

Various details of the ‘Aristoteles’ (Modified from Disney)
Various details of the ‘Aristoteles’ (Modified from Disney)

The ‘Aristoteles’ is a truly multi-functional dredging vessel. It features both a grab and a bucket chain and the sediment can be loaded unto the vessel itself like a hopper or into a barge in tow. It is also self-propelled, although there seems to be a magical power generation as there is no visible exhaust pipe. Maybe Donald is again ahead of his time and running fully electric already?

Than the dredging equipment; the grab is suspended from a gantry, but it does not seem to be able to swing. Loading the tow barge would be difficult, as he has to reposition either the dredge or the barge. Apparently Donald should know about the technology of a rotating crane, as the picture on the front page has such a crane. And how would the material end up in the hopper?

Discharging buckets with reception carriage on a bucket ladder dredge
Discharging buckets with reception carriage on a bucket ladder dredge

Maybe with the other dredging tool: the obvious bucket chain? Though it is not supported on a ladder. Maybe that makes sense, as the buckets seem to be positioned on port or starboard in various panels. The material falling from the buckets might end up in the hopper. The vertical orientation presents some difficulty, as the material will fall onto the previous bucket and eventually through the well. In a normal operation, this is controlled by moving a carriage receiving the load and bringing it to the chutes. With a real vertical orientation, this would not be helpful anymore.

I once saw a solution for working with a vertical bucket chain on an exhibit in the National Dredging Museum7. A manual operated drawer-like slide was moved between every passing bucket to catch the load. It seems very labour intensive and prone to accidents.

Even after breaking down these operational details in the design of the ‘Aristoteles’, the vessel serves its purpose in the story: it is a really useful dredge for dredge master Donald. Well done Daan.

Exhibit with vertical ladder at the national dredging museum
Exhibit with vertical ladder at the national dredging museum

Call to the audience

The exhibit is still there, but unfortunately, it is broken. The mechanism has to be repaired, any model building fanatics are invited to help the museum restore it. There is a special event for new volunteers, now!

References

  1. Freddy Milton, Wikipedia
  2. Daan Jippes, Wikipedia
  3. Oom Dagobert En De Ondergrondse Kluis, nr34, Disney
  4. Stripboekhandel Bul Super
  5. Read online Walt Disney’s Comics Penny Pincher comic – Issue #4, ZipComic
  6. Carl Barks, Wikipedia
  7. Nationaal Baggermuesum

See also

Paying Tribute to the Hard Life of Peat Dredgers

Sculpture ‘Verveners’ by John Rijnen
Sculpture ‘Verveners’ by John Rijnen

It’s been a while since my last update. Don’t worry. All is well. The delay was due to my change in habitat. Moving can be draining attention and creativity, but can also create opportunities for exploring the new neighbourhood. And that is exactly what I will share as this first post. One of the first dredging related discoveries was a sculpture on a roundabout nearby. Probably most passers-by will not notice it or at most will be puzzled by the strange flat figures. To us, as dredging community, we immediately recognise the typical posture of manual dredging. Intrigued by the unexpected discovery of dredging art at this location, I went on an investigation on the background of this statue.

Sign at sculpture ‘Verveners’
Sign at sculpture ‘Verveners’

The sign at the sculpture did reveal some details on the name, date and artist of this monument1. Obviously, the topic of this statue was a tribute to the people who have been working as peat dredgers and contributing to the wealth of the town. It is also a reference to the origin of the current geography of the municipality: lots of lakes and ponds that are a recreational area for the population and a resting place for nature, that were unbelievably all excavated manually over ages.

The most characteristic feature of the sculpture are long poles2 in combination with the posture for back breaking manual labour. The long pole has a hoop at the lower end with some kind of fishing net attached. The hoop is used to scrape sediment (in this case peat) from the bottom and collected in the pouch. Mud and peat are sticky enough to stay in the net for vertical transport, but the flexibility and openness enables easy discharge. For peat dredging the material was scooped up on shore and dried3. For maintenance dredging, the material was brought on board and discharged at a convenient disposal location4. The Dutch dredging industry cherishes this and remembers it with all kinds of small statues found in many offices.

Paper weights about manual dredging with a ‘baggerbeugel’ (Credit: Hendrik Jan de Kluiver)
Paper weights about manual dredging with a ‘baggerbeugel’ (Credit: Hendrik Jan de Kluiver)

Manual dredging shaped much of Holland’s geography, either the canals and lakes or the reclamation of marsh into pasture land. It has been identified as a typical Dutch tradition. But is it?? Preparing this post, I’ve discovered it is not. Several references say that we did not invent the ‘baggerbeugel’2. Before we started to use it, it has been applied already for ages in East Anglia5, which had a very similar landscape. Already from the tenth century, peat has been excavated from the Fenlands and later on from the 14th century, they started manual dredging already. Only later on in the 16th century Holland started to take over this practice. And in good Dutch tradition, we refined the trade and even exported consultancy on these projects back to England!

Stills from an instructional video on peat dredging (Credit: modified from Open Beelden Project)
Stills from an instructional video on peat dredging (Credit: modified from Open Beelden Project)

Peat dredging is a laborious procedure and later on, this industry was mechanised. There is a nice video explaining about peat dredging in the Netherlands. Especially the hydraulic dredging starts at 08:10 into the video. All processes in a regular dredging project are identifiable: a) dredging, b) discharge, c) bulldozering, d) compacting, e) drying and f) further transport of the merchandise.

Viewing a video is one way to experience manual dredging. In the dredging garden of the National Dredging Museum6, there is an exhibit to experience this trade first hand.

Visitors experiencing manual dredging in the National Dredging Museum
Visitors experiencing manual dredging in the National Dredging Museum

References

  1. De oude tol, Rotondekunst
  2. Baggerbeugel, Wikipedia
  3. Vervening, Wikipedia
  4. Barges, IADC
  5. A Tale of Norfolk Peat Cutting, Norfolk Tales, Myths & Beyond
  6. Bagger Praktijk Tuin, Nationaal Baggermuseum

See also