Listen to the music - of a paddle steamer

The paddle steamer 'De Majesteit' features a real steam engine, a sight to see for the passengers, because they can look into the engine room through a huge panorama window.


Steam, used for propulsion, is also available to play a steam organ.
This organ is so loud that it can be heard for literally miles around. So I jumped on my bike to make sure I could share this experience with my friends the world over.
This is not a unique European feature; I have come across internet sites about American paddle steamers with similar organs - and similar trouble to get them properly tuned.

Two movies below:
• 25 seconds, low quality image and sound, 280 KB, pleasant for dial-up connections;
• 1 minute 18 sec, higher quality image and sound, 6.7 MB, different tune and well worth the longer download time, I think.

Looks can deceive...

Some of the classic barges on our shipyard are at the end of a long restoration process. The only reason for taking them out of the water periodically is to make sure that the part that is normally under water remains as good as it is, like our friends Aad and Carla's barge Anthonetta.

Others are at the beginning of all that work of repair and restoration, as is our guest of this week.
The hull under water is still very good, given the age of over 80 years.
The side of the aft cabin, however, is in a sorry state. To repair this is not just rough steel work, as you will see after following me inside.

All this stunning woodwork comes totally unexpected and is really overwhelming.

Right behind this panelling is the rusted-through steel outside. Great care nust be taken not to damage this beautiful interior during repair work. The wooden bits probably need to be taken apart.

To complete our grand tour through the tiny interior, here is the door to the bedroom...

...containing two double bunks, made to the size of people who lived eighty years ago - and were much smaller on average than we are nowadays!

Photos: Koos Fernhout

Extra! Extra!

Do yourself 4 favours: follow these links to listen to a rare version of Tommy (or right-click and save target)
Download Side 1 (19.6MB)
Download Side 2 (16.9MB)
Download Side 3 (12.0MB)
Download Side 4 (16.3MB)

After a rainy day

Yesterday, after it had been raining almost all day, the evening atmosphere looked incredibly clean, the sun was bright and low, so I took the camera on our walk to see if it could capture that brightness.


Our port mirror-like, a complete contrast with the river a few hundred metres further on.


The light gives the water of the river an unusual dark glassiness.


The river traffic surveillance post looking like it was painted only yesterday.


Arrival of the water taxi.


Subject of this picture is not the modern-city scene, but the light itself.
Val's leg magically disappeared from this picture.

So can my camera capture the brightness of the evening light? I think it can!

Photos: Koos Fernhout