Denmark: Birthplace of Beautiful, Seaworthy Small Boats
Another Great Book Showcasing Small Traditional Watercraft
Not long ago we shared images and details from a book on traditional small craft of Ireland (Shallow Draft, February 29 - “Love Those Traditional Boats of Ireland”), so today we’re following up with images from Wooden Boat Designs: Classic Danish Boats Measured and Described, by third-generation boat designer and builder Christian Nielsen.
Wooden Boat Designs, published in 1980 by Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York, is another remarkable work, accomplished by an author who over 15 years, starting in the late 1930’s, spent summer vacations visiting fishing villages along the shores of Denmark—by train and bicycle—to draw, measure and otherwise research traditional small fishing boats of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s…interviewing old-timers, studying derelict hulls and sharing everything he learned with his then-employer, the Danish Maritime Museum.
Nielsen’s book includes an introduction by Jonathan Wilson, founding editor of WoodenBoat magazine, who described the distinctive and unparalleled small boats of Denmark this way: “There was a time when all boats were conceived in experience and built by hand and eye alone—without models or drawings, but from the knowledge and good sense that had passed through generations of hard-working and resourceful people. They understood the demands of the sea and the potential of the wood that they shaped and fitted with such reverence and precision.”
So, today let’s take a look at some of the amazing smaller fishing boats that carried men and women to sea along the varied coastline of Denmark in the mid- to late 1800’s.
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