a visit to the Maritime Museum in Barcelona

We visited the Maritime Museum today in Barcelona. They have a great deal of emphasis on the Catalan contributions to seafaring (even downplaying Columbus and the whole “sailed the ocean blue in 1492) and it largely started in the 1500s, which seems kind of late. They have an amazing replica of a galley (do they mean galleon?), which was quite a flat ship, with countless oarmen (read: slaves), sails that encompassed 700 square meters of fabric and a fancy housing on the stern, where the illegitimate son of the King hung out during the battles, with fine herringbone floors and elaborate paintings on the sides. It had a weird Oriental feel (I realize we shouldn’t use Oriental anymore as a word, but honestly, it was that).

I quite liked some of the decoration on it – like cranes painted on the side and in relief, to signify a metaphor for the Captain, who must be alert night and day. There was also a painting of Diana, which also symbolized the Captain, who is full of understanding and reason and the dog accompanying her, that symbolizes the senses and obedience, of the crew, naturally. These are definitely elements I can use in the story.

On the back of the galley there was a golden Medusa head, which was believed to have magical powers and strike terror into anyone who saw it. On the front, was the most amazing Neptune figurehead, symbolizing dominion over the sea. These are definitely ideas I can use.

Other ideas from the museum, were various maps and books kept by captains and aspiring sailors, featuring sketches of landscapes, maps, and bits of gear on board, including some that remind me of some of the things I’ve done for the Inspired by Place eCourse. I wished there was more of that sort of thing and that they had some posters or at least postcards of the maps for sale, but alas, they did not.

The museum itself was a lovely building that was almost Danish in its skillful combination of new and old. In the last bit, which was aimed at children, there were some cool animated illustrations of various legends of the sea – mermaids, Leviathan, the Kraken, and sea monsters. Much inspiration there and I even stood and took some videos to remind me. I’ll have to do research into the those – everything always leads to more reading. And some of it was Biblical, which keeps popping up as well.

 I had hoped for more inspiration in the ships themselves, but alas, they were very focused on Barcelona-built ships, which were very different from the Dutch ships in our story. They played up their conquest of the Americas and there was nothing about the routes around the Cape to India and Java. This undoubtedly makes sense, as the museum is in Barcelona, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for.

Other things I learned, which are useful: the sextant was used to calculate latitude and the chronometer to calculate longitude. The items they had on board to trade – cotton, tobacco, sugar, slaves, “undeclared goods” or contraband. There were some very cool chests that had been used to carry goods, which I can use in the story. No talk of spices or even coffee, though the cocoa beans were mentioned, in this museum, and those were undoubtedly major items for the VOC.

I’ve been thinking about the figurehead on "our" ship. Weirdly, when I got home to the apt., I tried to Google what the Berbices ship looked like and I got no results for that ship. I asked Lynne and Judith if they had seen it and Lynne immediately came back with results, searching on the same terms I did! I wonder if Spain didn’t want me to access VOC ships when they are trying to sell me on their maritime heritage. That would be kind of funny and what else explains it? Just the vagaries of the algorithm.

There’s always more research to do and more to read to improve my writing and the story. It’s all part of the process and I’m very much finally truly enjoying it as I go along.

Captain van Dijk's diary

Captain Wouter van Dijk has a small shelf in his cabin. On it is a small selection of books. The most important book on the shelf is is a kind of diary he's kept for all his years of sailing, when he was on board the XXX in 17XX. This is his first voyage on the Berbices, but he has sailed the long trip around the Cape to Java before. In the diary, he notes down things that happen along the journey, as well as doing small drawings.* He harbors a secret artist/scientist inside himself and he sketches the plants and animals he sees along the way, carefully noting where and when he sees them and their size and appearance. But he also notes the everyday things from the voyage, when they passed another ship, storms they encounter. These he notes in the ship's logbook as well, but here, in his diary, they are more personal. He writes about those at home – his wife, daughters and yes, his mistress - who he misses and he does the odd sketch of them to comfort himself on the long journey. Also on the shelf, there are two other books (MUST DO SOME RESEARCH TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THESE BOOKS ARE) that.....

*NOTE: This book will later find its way into Lumka's treasure box, back in Copenhagen.

There are many legends at sea - the meeting with Neptune upon passing the equator, the ravages of the doldrums if they drift too far west at the wrong time of year. The albatross is another legend - the giant bird brings with it the omen of favorable winds, but if you kill the albatross, calamity will befall your ship and all your men. Captain van Dijk would severely punish anyone who shot an albatross. And of course, the Flying Dutchman, the legendary ghost ship captained by Barend Fokke, which was lost in a storm at the Cape, a century before him. Fokke was known as the Flying Dutchman for the speed with which he could make the trip to Java and back. They say he sailed with full sails, oblivious of the wind and weather and he could sail between Batavia and Holland in just 90 days, doing a round trip in only eight months! Many said he was in league with the devil for this feat and he was known for his devilish looks and stature. It’s said that the devil finally came calling to collect his soul, and Fokke and his ship were lost at the Cape, trying to enter Table Bay. To this day, she drifts on her own on the seas, sails in tatters, her crew of ghosts, bewitching the crews of other ships who see her glowing on the horizon.

These were busy days in Amsterdam, as the ship was made ready for her next voyage to Java. Stores were being taken on board and lashed in place in all the nooks and crannies of the ship and on deck. He was selecting his crew and signing them on. There were many soldiers, as well as experienced mates, cooks, a boatswain, a quartermaster, everyone he would need for the long voyage. He took on men he could trust, whom he had sailed with before. But he also took on new, young sailors who had never been on such a voyage. They would find their sea legs soon enough. He would lose some of them along the way, it was just the way it was, not everyone made it, the voyage was not for the faint of heart. They were setting sail in August, high summer in the Netherlands and it would be summer in the southern hemisphere when they reached the Cape, their halfway point, in November. They should be in Batavia by April. There, they would load the ship with spices and coffee and tea, which were the gold of this age, making him and the Dutch East India Company rich, and sail back for Amsterdam.

 **RESEARCH NEEDED – Need to look into what books would have been published and in fashion in 1723. When did the Enlightenment start? Would he have taken Voltaire with him? What about scientific books? I want him to be learned, thoughtful, a man of science, as well as an adventurer. But were the captains of ships of this class? Would it be highly unusual if he was interested in science and cataloging plants and animals ala Lewis & Clark, who came later? 

Reading the chapter on the Flying Dutchman in Myths, Stories, and Organizations (ed. Yiannis Gabriel) who suggests the legend is a symbol of two eras meeting in transition. He’s talking more about when the legend was written down, at the beginning of the nineteenth century (by Heine in 1831), but it could also have been so when it came about…the era of exploration, the first big multinational, the VOC, the trade routes between Europe and India/Java. The damned captain of the ship “is above all the sign and symbol of an emerging era, situated between utopian romantic social dreams, the restoration, the dawn of national states, and enlightened demystification.” (Peter Pelzer, p. 141)

When was the start of modernity?