Trekschuit ~ Treckschuyte

Er wordt verhaald dat tijdens het beleg van Groningen in 1672, de trekschuit tussen Groningen en Appingedam, gewoon volgens dienstregeling doorvoer. Op zoek naar afbeeldingen van contemporaire gebouwen vond ik deze leuke site over de Haarlemmertrekvaart.

Trekschuiten worden in Nederland geassocieerd met stilstand en zelfs achteruitgang. IK weet eerlijk gezegd niet of deze vorm van transport ook buiten Nederland en Vlaanderen voorkwam maar deze vorm van watertransport was echter uitermate geavanceerd voor zijn tijd en ook zeer comfortabel. Vervoer over land over de onverharde wegen per postkoets en diligence was geen pretje en de trekschuit was tot de stoomtrein het snelste vervoermiddel.

De wiki over de trekschuit vind je hier en een ander artikel vind je hier.


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And thou, much plumper dame, whom no airy forms nor phantoms of imagination cloathe; whom the well-seasoned beef, and pudding richly stained with plums, delight: thee I call: of whom in a treckschuyte, in some Dutch canal, the fat ufrow gelt, impregnated by a jolly merchant of Amsterdam, was delivered: in Grub-street school didst thou suck in the elements of thy erudition.

(From the 'History of Tom Jones', Henry Fielding)

The dutch 'trekschuit', is a small canal boat used for transporting people and/or goods, normally using a horse to pull ('trek' is the dutch word for 'pulling') the boat.

During the siege of 1672 it is reported that the boat from Groningen to Appingedam traveled normally according to schedule. The 'trekschuit' was a rather innovative way of transport: special canals were dug for them, and the boats travelled using a schedule and were very comfortable and fast to travel with, up to the time that the steam train arrived. Travel on land was hard, as the roads were terrible or even non-existing on the countryside.

Trekschuiten have a rather bad reputation as they are associated with 'old times' and certainly compared with the steam train it was rather slow, but the boats were at times the most modern way transport around.