Sleepklipper Magdalena

The Magdalena was built around 1887 in Belgium as a tug clipper at a yard in Boom on the Scheldt. The age and yard are not entirely known, as the old tonnage certificates are no longer there. However, there are construction drawings and scale models of this type of ship from the same period in Scheepvaartmuseum Baesrode in Belgium, the dimensions of which match and are 22.76x4.92.

Also typical from those years is that the ship is not made of steel, but iron. Steel had not yet been invented when the Magdalena was built and large parts of the ship are still made of iron even now, after more than 130 years. This does mean you have to sail it more carefully, because iron is softer than steel and you can easily get a hole in the hull.

Most Dutch sailing clippers had a heavy and long sailing mast and, as a ship, are mainly recognisable by the somewhat higher sharp head. When she was built, the Magdalena only had a small mast, the tow mast, on the middle deck. She was pulled along the towpaths by vrouw, children, horse, donkey or train. Or she took advantage of ebb and flow to be 'washed' across the river. That mast was considerably smaller than the unwieldy masts needed for sailing. After all, a tow mast only needs to cope with the pull of a line to shore.

The bulbous wooden hatch cover is also special. Dutch ships usually had a pointed cap, while most Belgian ships had a convex hatch cover. Getting that bow in requires special techniques of steaming and clamping. Belgian shipyards therefore used to usually have a separate woodworking shop where, among other things, the bows were made.

In the early 1900s, before World War I, the Magdalena was motorised and at that time the current wheelhouse was also set up. She went on to help reclaim the Zuiderzee in the Netherlands. After World War II, an engine (GM 132 hp) from an American tank that had been left behind came in. Because of the lack of equipment at the time, many ships were put back into service this way.

This old lady has had many owners, all of whom have adapted her to the demands of the time as they saw fit. But the large rudder at the stern, the low clipper head and the small mast deck still clearly show that Magdalena was built as a tugboat. In the early 1970s, Magdalena was taken out of service and converted into a residential ship.