Amsterdam Ship Museum
Scheepvaartmuseum
August 14

The Ship Museum is worth a couple of hours browsing. There's a 1985 reconstruction of a 1748 cargo ship, The Amsterdam, which lost it's rudder, ran aground, and sank on it's first trip. You walk and crawl through the entire vessel except up the masts. A highlight is the hourly firing of a cannon - which happened just as a tour boat came alongside much to the amusement of the "captain".

There were at least 4 groups of singers doing naval ditties the day we were there. The ones dressed as SNL killer bees were the best.

Some folks were also sailing model ships in the protected harbor at the museum. These are incredibly detailed RC models which really went in the water. The servos control two masts of sails plus the lateen on the ship to the right.

Two rooms of the museum hold navy models built in the 1800s to document advances in both Dutch and other warship building techniques.

Dinghies from 1819.

Prototype sub modeled in 1836 - never built.

Ironclad turret made before building The Netherlands's first ironclad ship in 1868.

Also on view is the Royal Barge, built in 1818 and last used in 1982. Too bad the room wasn't big enough to get a picture of the entire boat.