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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Onrust

Onrust is a Dutch word meaning 'restless.' This Onrust is a replica, built by hand with native trees and the construction methods of 1614.

Adriaen Block was a Dutch explorer who was stranded in Manhattan when his ship Tyger burnt. Rather than give up, he and his crew built a new vessel - Onrust - and proceeded to sail her up and down the East Coast from New Jersey to Massachussetts. Block Island is named for him, and the maps he made were so good they were still in use a hundred years later. That makes Onrust the first ship built by Europeans in North America.

I'm sure that's all interesting (yawn) but what has it got to do with Schenectady? The new Onrust was built just outside the city, at the Mabee Farm in Rotterdam Junction. She's currently tied up across the Mohawk River at the marina on Freeman's Bridge Road.

Why was she built in the first place? Because it was in the year 1609 - 400 years ago - that Henry Hudson made his voyages of discovery on the East Coast. And the current Onrust is part of the quadricentennial celebrations. She's already sailed to New York City and she's back up here for a while, enjoying the relative quiet.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you, Buck, for visiting The Villages DP and commenting. Much appreciated.

    And I was thus led to your blog. There are so many blogs out there, it becomes more difficult to get to all of my favorites.

    This is an excellent blog and the photo and story of the ship are most interesting.

    I shall be back!

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  2. WOW! very cool! Sweet boat, cool capture.

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  3. That is really interesting(no yawns):-). I would love to see the new ship for myself.
    I like the picture.

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  4. No yawning here either. I love history and I found this very interesting! She's a beauty too!

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