This elongated nautical chart depicts the Nieuwe Waterweg from the Hook of Holland to the harbours of Rotterdam and Schiedam, rendered with an exceptional level of detail entirely geared towards maritime navigation. At its core are the fairway and the depth soundings, given in English feet and recorded for the summer of 1926. Along the route, beacons, lights, piers and anchorage points are carefully indicated, as well as the course of the river, groynes, dykes and harbour works.
The chart was intended as a practical tool for shipping and pilotage services. This is evident not only from the precise hydrographic data, but also from the inclusion of sailing routes, course lines and instructions relating to communication and services. Dirkzwager, a Rotterdam-based ship reporting agency founded in 1872 (today Royal Dirkzwager), played an important role in collecting and disseminating maritime information. Their annual guides provided captains and shipping companies with up-to-date data on tides, depths and port facilities.
The waterway depicted is itself the result of one of the largest infrastructural projects in the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. The Nieuwe Waterweg, excavated between 1866 and 1872 under the direction of the engineer Pieter Caland, provided Rotterdam with a direct and navigable connection to the North Sea. Ongoing silting and shifting currents necessitated regular dredging and adjustments, which explains the importance of up-to-date charts such as this.
The map also clearly illustrates how the port area of Rotterdam expanded westwards in the early twentieth century. New harbours, docks and industrial sites along, among others, the Maas- and Rijnhaven testify to the city’s rapid growth into one of Europe’s principal transit ports. At the same time, the chart still shows a landscape in transition, in which older structures coexist alongside newly constructed harbour installations.
