East Indiaman Amsterdam

The "Amsterdam" docked in the Amsterdam Maritime Museum is a very large collection in the museum. The Amsterdammers spent years imitating the "East India Helmsman" with government funding. The "Amsterdam" was one of the large sailing ships used to trade with the Far East at the end of the 16th century, these ships were called "East India Helmsman". These large ships travel across the ocean, bringing back large quantities of goods from India, Ceylon, China, Siam, Japan and Indonesia, and are held at the port of Amsterdam four times a year for auctions. Since merchant ships could be attacked by typhoons or pirates, each ship weighed like a warship and was built under a certain "contract". The new "Amsterdam" is a replica of an East India helmsman that sank in 1749 after being disturbed off the coast of England. The replica is now parked in the special pier of the Netherlands Maritime Museum, and the wreck of the original ship can be seen on the real deck. During major local festivals such as King's Day, the Crown Prince of the Netherlands will also board the ship and set sail.