Oldest wooden fishing vessel N.116 Nostalgia gets permanent protection

The N.116 Nostalgie is one of the last wooden fishing vessels in Belgium. The ship was built at the Leon Degraeve shipyard in Zeebrugge in 1961, making it the oldest Belgian-made wooden fishing vessel still in service. The ship has changed names several times. For example, it was previously deployed in Ostend and sailed as O.116 Caroline. They then used the ship in Nieuwpoort waters, which resulted in it being renamed N.116 Nostalgie.

Fishing Vessels Evolution

At the beginning of this year, the fishing vessel already received provisional protection, so that is now final.

The specific construction method was passed on from master to student and further experimentally perfected into the ideal ship for fishing off the Belgian coast. The ships of this type show an evolution from the wooden coastal fishing vessel as a round bilged keel vessel with sails to a motorized wooden vessel suitable for plank fishing (a technique of fishing where two planks hold the mouth of the net open).

The ship illustrates an end point in a millennia-long evolution of timber shipbuilding. Of the hundreds of fishing vessels that were built in this way, only two remain. The first ship, the “Crangon” was already protected earlier. The N.116 Nostalgia was protected for its historical value, socio-cultural value and industrial-archaeological value.