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History of the Dutch Association


Our goal:
  • Taking care that the old seamans craft 'The building of Ships-in-Bottles' will not vanish.

  • To encourage the contacts between bottleshipbuilders and collecters in Holland as well as abroad.

  • To provide for a unique hobby for those who are interested.


Founded : September 1985

Members : Average through the years: 80

Meetings : Once a year

Exhibitions : Since 1985: eight

The Dutch association was established upon their first meeting in September 1985.
In the beginning of 1985 the few Dutch bottleship-builders were member of the European Association of Ships-in-Bottles (EASiB). At that time the EASiB counted only about 29 members in total. Five of them were Dutch. Among them, the secretary/editor of the EASiB, the late Mr. Aubry Dunning, lived in Utrecht (NL).
Then in august 1985, in conjunction with the great sail parade 'Sail Amsterdam', one of the sponsors started an advertising campaign, in which Hans de Haan participated with his bottleships. This resulted in an increase in Dutch members.
In September 1985 the Dutch members met in the 'Veluwe Museum' in Harderwijk. There were quite some members who had problems with the English language, but still wanted to be member of an association. So Bob de Jongste from The Hague took the initiative to create a 'Dutch magazine', with information about the Dutch Ships-in-Bottles scene. It was and is called 'Welkom aan Boord'. From that time on we can speak of the Dutch Association of 'Ship-bottlers'. The magazine started as a 'one-sheet-A4' leaflet, but in the years has grown to a beautiful (A5 size) booklet. With the growing of the magazine, also the number of members of 'Welkom aan Boord' increased.
Our first exhibition was set up in 1985 in Harderwijk. About 80 bottleships were displayed. The Dutch television was also present, to record this day for a ten-minute broadcast. Since that time we have had several exhibitions in different places in Holland, mostly invited by a museum.
Every year we organise a meeting somewhere in Holland, where we bring our latest models that we built. We swap experiences, show pictures, books on bottleships and home made special tools etc.

Hope to see you there.