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Ab, this is truly amazing. Ships are not really my territory but those 17th century Dutch ships have always fascinated me. As a child my father often brought us to musea (yes, also to the Rijksmuseum), which we kids obviously never appreciated, but those huge images of ships, also in the many catalogues he bought, have always been in the back of my head. My father and his father were enthusiastic amateur painters/sketchers, so eye to details was always paid.
Equally impressive is that with all the limited technical means of those days, the ship builders managed to complete a ship within the year. That must have been an organization!
One and a half years ago I visited the Batavia wharf (not for the first time), and as it was just an ordinary weekday somewhere early June, there were not many visitors. I took my time to check out the Batavia and I think I must have covered every corner, much like walking the virtual Pinas tour. In the museum shop I saw your name as author of several books.
It's a pity that the "Zeven Provincien" never got built, but the 1:10 scale model is stunning. My hat off to the builders, now that's real modelling! So, when are you going to build a new ship model?
Regards,
Erik
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