The Voorne Canal (Also "Canal through Voorne", In Dutch: or ) is a former ship canal on Voorne-Putten in South Holland, the Netherlands. It was the first canal to connect Rotterdam to the sea. Construction of the canal started in 1826 and was completed in 1829. Until the completion of the Nieuwe Waterweg in 1872 it was the main connection from Rotterdam to the sea for ocean going ships.
Characteristics
The path of the canal traverses Voorne, with one end at the eastern harbor of Hellevoetsluis and the other near Heenvliet. It starts at a point just west of Heenvliet on the north coast of the island. About 200 m south of this point, it has been dammed of. The dam has culverts to enable the Brielse Meer to discharge to the south. The hamlet Nieuwesluis and the northern lock have been demolished and have disappeared below what is now the southern bank of the . North of where it is dammed off, a small section is still accessible from the Voedingskanaal Brielse Meer. This section is used as a marina.
The current Voorne Canal ends at a point just east of the Fortress of Hellevoetsluis on the south coast of Voorne-Putten. At this end, the harbor and lock of the canal remain operational. Here another big marina stretches out into the canal. About 1.5 km north of the lock, part of a shopping center has been built over the canal. This effectively closes down the section between the shopping center and the dam for all but the lowest recreational boats.
Today, the canal is a favorite spot of anglers, and is a famous place to catch big common breams. The canal has facilities for kayaking.
Name The name of the canal has changed over time. In the 1850s, there was a slight preference for the over . The people next preferred , and the current preferred name is . In English the canal is generally called Voorne Canal, and less often Canal through Voorne.
History
Context
In the middle of the eighteenth century, the Nieuwe Maas, the main connection between Rotterdam and the sea, began to silt up. By the early nineteenth century, there were multiple waterways from Rotterdam to the sea: A short shallow route from Rotterdam past Maassluis over the Nieuwe Maas and Het Scheur A short shallow route from Rotterdam past Brielle over the Nieuwe Maas and Brielse Maas A relatively short, but shallow route from Rotterdam over the Nieuwe Maas and Oude Maas to Oud-Beijerland, and then through the Spui and Haringvliet to the sea. A relatively short, but shallow route from Rotterdam eastwards over the Nieuwe Maas, then over the Noord to Dordrecht and then to the Hollands Diep, and to the sea either via the Haringvliet or the Grevelingen The longest route, i.e. from Rotterdam over the Nieuwe Maas and Oude Maas to the Dordtse Kil near Dordrecht, and then as the previous
As the short routes silted up, they remained suitable only for ships that had a draft of somewhat over 3 m. In general, this forced ocean-going ships to take the longest route, i.e. the huge detour over the Haringvliet, Hollands Diep, Dordtsche Kil and Oude Maas to reach the last stretch of the Nieuwe Maas before Rotterdam. It meant that for ships, Dordrecht was closer to the sea than Rotterdam.
The consequences of the situation were bad. The detours over Dordrecht not only made the road to sea about three times as long, it also required different winds and multiple tides to sail the zigzag route, which led to even more delay. Even on the long route, ships with a draft of slightly over 20 feet could not be brought before the city without transloading part of the cargo. A further complication was that it often forced ships to sail the Haringvliet under dangerous conditions.
The transloading process was very costly. Its necessity was specifically related to some shallow parts on the long route. These were later mentioned as: De Beer, De Lint, De Krap, and the Vissersgat. These made that ships had to transload at 's-Gravendeel, or even outside the Dordtsche Kil on the Hollands Diep. Most of the big ships that American shipping lines used were even completely loaded and unloaded at 's-Gravendeel.
Construction
The first plans for a ship canal through Voorne dated from the early 17th century. Such a canal would grant easier access to Rotterdam, but could also provide a secure connection between the naval base at Hellevoetsluis and the admiralty shipyard in Rotterdam. The final plan that was conceived by Job Seaburne May. In 1815 he became commander of the Naval department of the Meuse, and its base, the Rijkswerf Rotterdam. As such he had a professional interest to create the canal. In his original design, the canal would end at the wet dock of Hellevoetluis, and be wide enough to allow ships of the line to retreat inland to Rotterdam.
Already in 1823 it was known that the canal would start at the Nieuwe Haven of Hellevoetsluis, i.e. just east of the fortress. It signaled that the commercial interest prevailed over the military interest, even though the latter was still served by the canal. According to the plan, the Nieuwe Haven would be slightly realigned to the east. It is now the Koopvaardijhaven. On 18 March 1826 the plan to dig a canal from the Nieuwe Haven at Hellevoetsluis till the Nieuwe Sluis (literally the new lock, the later hamlet Nieuwesluis) in the Nieuwe Maas was approved by the king.
The orders for the construction of the canal were given over a couple of years. The construction of the canal itself was tendered in 6 parts on 7 April 1827. Construction of the locks was tendered on 3 May. On 5 July, the second part of the construction of the canal had to be tendered again. On 6 September construction of the harbors on the seaside of the locks was tendered. Construction of the raft bridges across the canal was tendered much later, i.e. in August 1828, and was repeated on 18 September. In June 1829 the construction of a brick watermill and several other drainage facilities for the surrounding polders was tendered. This had to be repeated on 23 July. On 8 October 1829, the construction of dolphins and pile moorings in the canal was tendered. This had to be repeated on 19 November. Finally, on 28 October 1830 delivery of the sand required for the tow paths was tendered.
The Voorne Canal was dug from 1827 to 1829. It started at Nieuwesluis, a since disappeared hamlet just north of Heenvliet, see 1850 map. From there it went to the southwest, and ended just east of Hellevoetsluis. On 8 November 1830 the canal was opened for shipping. In May 1831 the regulations for the canal were published.
Cost The cost of the Voorne Canal was 132,800 GBP. At the time, this amounted to about 1,600,000 guilders. The relatively small scale of the project is shown by comparing this to the estimated cost of the North Sea Canal, which was 27,630,000 guilders. A Dutch florin ( or guilder) at the time was equivalent in value to "nearly gold dollars" (US), so nearly 0.657 grams of gold.
Early use + Vessels passing through the Canal Year Ships Incoming Outgoing Boats 1830 183 116 1831 1,622 924 1832 1,937 1833 1,736 1834 2,024 1,285 766 1835 1,804 1,129 675 1836 2,015 1,214 801 1837 2,172 1,284 888 1838 2,459 1,353 1,106 1839 2,800 1,604 1,196 1,441 1840 2,490 1,398 1,092 1841 2,372 1,340 1,032 1842 2,360 1,408 952 1843 2,568 1,540 1,028 1844 2,502 1,350 1,152 1845 2,428 1,441 977 1846 2,836 1,736 1,100 1847 3,068 1,764 1,294 1848 2,292 1,276 1,016 1849 2,650 1,417 1,233
The canal was an immediate success, not in the least because of the Belgian Revolution which had started in August 1830. This diverted a lot of maritime traffic from Antwerp to Rotterdam, especially that to the Dutch overseas colonies. In the first 6 weeks after the opening over 200 ships used it. In the first months of 1831 over 500 ships used it, some of them fully loaded with a draft of 15–17 feet. On 1 May the frigate Le Heros Captain B.C. ten Ham arrived in Hellevoetsluis from Batavia, and succeeded in reaching Rotterdam before the news of her arrival at Hellevoetsluis had reached the city. In October 1831 the use of the canal for the navy was demonstrated. At 11:30 am the war frigate Ceres left the Rijkswerf Rotterdam, towed by the royal steamyacht De Leeuw, and was in the Nieuwesluis lock at 4:30 pm. On the morrow, favorable circumstances allowed 18 horses to draw Ceres through the canal in two hours.
The table shows some figures about traffic on the canal. These have to be carefully interpreted. Loaded ships would come in over the canal, and use the Nieuwe Maas on the return trip, because they were not loaded. This is a phenomenon also observed on the Noordhollandsch Kanaal. The climate also played a big role, with waters often being closed by ice for months. From 1832 to 1836 these numbers show no significant growth. The year 1833 was very bad due to the blockade of the Dutch coast by the French and English navies. The first year that shows a significant lasting growth is 1837. It was followed by a few years of very rapid growth. However, the main benefit of the canal was the huge cost reduction that it brought. It led to an initiative to commemorate Job Seaburne May.
Characteristics in 1833 In 1833 the canal was described as running from Nieuwesluis to Hellevoetsluis, where it exited just east of Hellevoetsluis on the roadstead of Hellevoetsluis. Both locks were 14 m wide, and had a double set of gates, meaning that they could lift ships in both directions. At the locks were draw bridges. On the canal there were raft bridges () at Nieuwen-Hoornschen Dijk, Ravensche weg and Wilweg. Ships of almost 6 m draft could use it, and the canal was 34 m wide when the canal level was low. Both sides had double tow paths, a sanded one for horses and somewhat lower, a path for humans. Four sluices served the surrounding polders. The locks could be used to increase the canal level to almost 7 m if necessary. The locks also had facilities to function as sluices. This gave the canal operators the ability to flush the canal, keeping it up to depth.
The Goereesche Gat before Hellevoetsluis While the Voorne Canal was built for and suitable for sailing ships of the time, it did not realize its full potential. The main reason was that the access from the sea to Hellevoetsluis was via the Goereesche Gat, a natural trench in the sea bottom. In 1780 scientists noted that this canal was steadily deteriorating. By 1858, the normal high water level of the Goereesche Gat was only 5.7 m and required an experienced pilot to cross it. Meanwhile, the draft of ships was ever increasing.
To the south of the sea arm that gave access to Hellevoetsluis, was the island of Goeree or Westvoorne, with the village Goedereede. South of this island was the natural canal Brouwershavensche Gat, with a depth of 11.80 m at high tide. These circumstances caused that by 1848 many ocean going ships first went to Brouwershaven to transload part of their cargo. They then went back to sea to access the Voorne Canal via the Goereesche Gat. After 1855, the Hellegat (east of Ooltgensplaat) of 5.2 m high tide depth became usable again, and the majority of ships took the inside route.
In 1836 the condition of the Goereesche Gat led to a plan for a canal through Goedereede. It would be a prolongation of the Voorne Canal, giving access to the Brouwershavensche Gat. This plan came to nothing because there were severe doubts about whether it was possible to give enough depth to the section between the two canals.
The Nieuwe Waterweg is built + Vessels passing through the Canal Year Ships Incoming Outgoing Boats 1870 5,640 1872 6,072 1876 1877 1,183 1,027 156 2,327 1878 1,311 1,150 161 2,675 1879 1,040 925 115 2,261 1880 1,222 1,042 180 4,255 1881 1,487 1,206 281 5,199 1882 1,077 896 181 3,867 1883 375 305 70 1,560 1884 346 291 55 1885 57 1,620 1886 36 20 16 1.690