Expositie “Schepen zonder zeil”

• van 28 March 2026 t/m 2 April 2027

The exhibition ‘Ships without Sails’ opens at the Bottle Ship Museum in Enkhuizen on March 28.

When people think of a ship in a bottle, they often think of a sailing ship in a bottle. This is often true, but in reality, every interesting ship has been “bottled” at some point. This is why the museum is now focusing on this other group in this exhibition: ships without sails. For this exhibition, various builders have provided bottles, featuring ships that don’t travel across the water by sail, but by motor, by the “kloet” (roller-boat), or even by push!

Many of the ships in these bottles have fascinating stories. The enthusiastic volunteers at this museum are happy to share them with visitors. Take the story of the lightship (or floating lighthouse) “Surinamerivier.” A lightship doesn’t need an engine; it stays moored in the same spot. However, this ship was built in Haarlem and had to go to Suriname. The solution: the lighthouse was dismantled and masts were installed. The ship sailed to Suriname, where the masts were removed and the lighthouse was replaced.

Nostalgic memories come flooding back when you see the ‘Norderney’, the transmitter ship from which the radio broadcasts of Radio Veronica originated.

But even non-existent ships can sometimes challenge a builder. Henny Fransen, who once sailed in a submarine himself, set out to create Jules Verne’s Nautilus in a bottle. This iconic, futuristic submarine (1870) of Captain Nemo was powered by electricity from sodium/mercury batteries, a superior design that was far ahead of its time and laid the foundation for modern submarines. Just try building that in a bottle.

These and many more bottles can be seen from March 28th to April 2nd, 2027. For opening hours, see the website: www.flessenscheepjesmuseum.nl