Dutch Rinkelaar (ship) – Joseph Sipkes, 1832

“Rinkelaar – Texelsch Lootsvaartuig” [‘Rinkelaar’ – pilot boat from Texel.] Watercolour with pen and washed ink by Joseph Sipkes. Signed…

“Rinkelaar – Texelsch Lootsvaartuig” [‘Rinkelaar’ – pilot boat from Texel.] Watercolour with pen and washed ink by Joseph Sipkes. Signed and dated in the lower left “J. Sipkes, 1832”. Size. approx. 12,5 x 18,5 cm.

In the 18th century, 20 percent of the working population on the Dutch island of Texel consisted of pilots. Ships needed help around Texel on two sides, the North Sea side and the Wadden Sea / Zuiderzee side. The ever-changing channels and sandbanks of the outer delta made this a dangerous coastal area, too dangerous for larger ships to sail in or out without a pilot.

The local pilot boats of that time were two-master flat-bottomed ships, so-called ‘rinkelaars’. These small sailing boats sailed close to the ship to be piloted, where then a small rowing boat was lowered, which transferred the pilot to the ship.

A lighthouse with a keeper appeared on the northern tip of the island only in the late 1800s.

Little is known about the marine painter Joseph Sipkes (1787-1852) except that he worked in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century. In addition to a number oil paintings, he made beautiful ship portraits in watercolour.

Price: Euro 675,-