The replica of VOC ship De Halve Maen moors in Enkhuizen today. Since 2015, the ship has visited some places. The museum ship was previously moored in Hoorn and Volendam.
The replica of the East Indiaman will be received today with two gun salutes and will be moored on the Dijk in the old harbor of Enkhuizen next sailing season. In 2016 and 2018, the Halve Maen was also in the port for a short time.
Horn really wanted the ship back and offered the ship a berth, but the Halve Maen foundation chose Enkhuizen. The chairman of the foundation, Eduard van Breen, tells NH Nieuws from the ship that he is very happy with this choice. He is very much looking forward to the reception at the port.
Too expensive
Between 2015 and 2020, the museum ship, originally from the New Netherland Museum in New York, was in Hoorn and was then part of the Westfries museum. In those 5 years, the museum ship has received 100,000 visitors. The municipality found the maintenance too expensive, after which the ship sailed to Volendam. Not everyone in Hoorn liked that. Bee volunteer Theo Vink the news hit hard. “It’s my third child and I’m going to miss it terribly.” All the happier was he when it looked like the ship was coming back to Hoorn, even though it wasn’t 100 percent sure at the time.
The Halve Maen sailed from Volendam to Enkhuizen, where it has been for the past 3 years. Although the ship arrived in the middle of the corona time, it got there received as a bright spot. At the time, Eduard van Breen was happy to be able to go to Volendam, to be able to tell many stories there. A comparable ship of these dimensions was in fact in the harbor in 1605.
Although Sail was canceled in 2020 due to corona, the Halve Maen still showed up, on the Amsterdam IJ. It then sailed back to Volendam after suffering in several places.
No fixed place
It turns out to be difficult to find a permanent place for the historical replica. In Hoorn, the picture with costs and benefits was not tenable, and the municipality of Edam-Volendam did not want to give the replica a permanent place. Whether the ship will remain in Enkhuizen is still unclear, although it can stay here for the time being. The question remains whether there is a future for such a large replica, which has wandered from destination to destination for the time being.