Object data
wood, brass, iron and lead
(A): height 19.8 cm × diameter 34 cm
(B): height 20.5 cm × diameter 36 cm
(C): height 19.4 cm × diameter 34.9 cm
anonymous, after Hendrik Aeneae
Three Models of Artificial Reefs
Netherlands, Netherlands, 1799 - 1800
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-805
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Three models of artificial reefs (NG-MC-805-A, NG-MC-805-B and NG-MC-805-C).
Seen from above, the three models are all octagons with sharp points at the corners. From the side, they look like upturned pyramids with chains for anchoring at the tip. The lower section of one of them (on the right-hand side of the photograph) is an inverse pyramid with a square base, the sides closed with planking. The second one (middle) has a lower section in the shape of an upturned pyramid with octagonal base, the sides closed with planking, the radial beams supported with knees and an anchor fixed to the chain. The third (left) is left open, the radial beams also supported by knees. Kingposts in the centres connect all the construction elements.
Obreen mentions only one model,1 whereas three were found. Artificial reefs were an invention by Hendrik Aeneae (1743-1810), member of the Central Committee for the Navy of the Batavian Republic. Anchored and floating slightly beneath the surface of the water, they were designed to defend harbours against enemy fleets.
One prototype was tested in the harbour of Den Helder. When, during a storm, a hospital ship drifted towards the contraption, the reef was damaged, but not the ship. The chains to which the cannon, serving as anchors, were attached, did not hold and the reef had to be towed on to the beach.
Swedish Admiral Carl Olof Cronstedt (1756-1820) was interested in the design for the defence of the Sound and the Belts and obtained drawings and a description, as did the Italian engineer Salvini.
Literature
J.P. Asmus, Verzameling der verhandelingen over de defencie der zeegaten ... , s.l. 1800, manuscript in HSM, inv. no. B.0216(0322); J.C.J. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen, 5 vols. and index, Haarlem 1858-62, vol. 5, pp. 509-11; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 805; R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, no. 45; M. Marzari, Progetti per l’imperatore. Andrea Salvini ingegnere a l’arsenal 1802-1817, Trieste 1990, p. 84, possibly pl. XLVI; A.A. Lemmers, ‘De kunstklip van Aeneae (1800) en de leugen van Asmus’, Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 12 (1993), no. 2, pp. 111-27; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, pp. 100-15; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 108-11
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Three Models of Artificial Reefs, Netherlands, 1799 - 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.663762
(accessed 5 October 2024 10:21:30).