In the last century indispensable for the peat ship, decades later used as a houseboat but eventually discarded. Nearly, ship ‘De Vijf Gebroeders’ was saved from demolition, got a second life and will even be one of the eye -catchers during Sail Amsterdam in the coming days.
The centenary has already passed the five brothers, an anniversary that could be celebrated thanks to Jan Postma. The resourceful inland navigation skipper visited the neglected houseboat in Zwolle in 2009 and had the historic aakschuit renovated.
That recovery job leads to a piece of Drenthe history in the Amsterdam waters. In the old days, the ship transported peat from the peat areas of New Amsterdam to Genemuiden. There it was immediately used as a fuel or further shipped. “The ship has been used for about thirty to forty years for this,” is the estimate of chairman Jan van Dijk of Stichting De Vijf Gebroeders.
The vessel has an incredible number of kilometers on the clock, but not yet had its longest time. “The construction was in 1914,” Van Dijk is calculating. “After the use of peat became superfluous, the ship became a houseboat, but it expired over time.”
The breaker was waiting for the five brothers. Until skipper Postma redeemed the hidden gem from her suffering. He laid a new soil under the cabin and the volunteers of the foundation of the same name did the rest.
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