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Dutch ship
Oranda fune no zu
1859
Artist: Yoshitora
Publisher: Shimaya, Yokohama
36.5 x 25.5 cm.
Inv.nr.: NEHA SC 477 nr. 31
Slide: BG K9/450
Top left, the portrait of a Dutchman, top right, an admiring text about Dutch ship building and navigation.
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Text:
(right to left)
A long time ago the Dutch already were very skilled in navigation, and Dutch ships sailed around the world.
The Dutch are very well versed in shipbuilding and of how to use ships profitably for foreign markets.
They chose good materials and worked like when building up stone walls; they used iron nails and filled up cracks with tar and hemp.
In the fourth month they sailed from their country (from Indonesia, the journey from Indonesia lasted much longer) and in the sixth month they arrived here.
When (the ship arrives) in Nagasaki and the cannons, which are placed side by side, are fired, clouds appear and make the ship invisible. When the smoke has risen, the sails that had been visible in large numbers suddenly appear to have been rolled up.
Upon departure they also fire cannons, and before the smoke has risen they have already hoisted the sails, astonishing the spectators.
Their maneuvering is truly miraculously fast and mysterious.