How has merchant shipping developed over the course of its history? What did the great voyages of discovery by Christopher Columbus and Fernando Magellan mean for Europe and the world? How did trade work in the past and how does it work today? - Questions with a nautical connection from the lessons at the Spiekeroog island boarding school.
"Where better to find answers to these and many other questions than on board a ship," thinks Tobias Marpert. That's why the teacher at Hermann Lietz School meets with ten ninth-grade students every Saturday from the beginning of April to mid-June on the school's own boat. Flat-bottomed ship "Tuitje" in the harbour of the East Frisian island of Spiekeroog. When the wind and weather allow, the lines are cast off and the sailing classroom sails out into the Wadden Sea in Lower Saxony. Half of the crew is responsible for sailing on deck under the watchful eye of Skipper-AG leader Jonathan Binder.
The other half works below deck on the topic of the day on the history, present and possible future of international trade by sea. The tasks on and below deck are swapped halfway through the four to five hours.
This type of learning and experience is very popular with the students, as it is fun, brings the group together as a real crew and challenges all the senses. Thanks to the lessons on the "Tuitje", some of them may even develop a taste for embarking on a great sailing adventure at High Seas High School (HSHS). Teacher Marpert has already signed up for the Atlantic cruise organised by the boarding school.
The "Tuitje" is at sea two to three days a week
Since the founding of the island boarding school in 1928, sailing has played an important role. Central role in everyday school life. Fritz and Hilke Wolff from Leer know this too. The enthusiastic flat-bottomed boat sailors had their "Tuitje" (Low German for "little girl") built in 1990 at the Bültjer shipyard in Ditzum on the Ems. This is where they know their way around sturdy vessels made of heavy planks. In 2009, the Wolffs switched to a motor yacht for reasons of age and donated their Eichenbotter to the boarding school.
"I was thrilled! It was immediately clear to me that the 'Tuitje' could be perfectly integrated into the Lietz sailing fleet and would give it an even higher status and further utilisation possibilities," recalls Swaantje Fock of the unexpected addition to the fleet. The qualified biologist followed her husband to Spiekeroog in November 2004. Florian Fock had been working as a biology and geography teacher on the island since 2001. Together, the couple built up the school's own National Park House Wittbülten, which Swaantje Fock has managed since it opened in March 2006.
During the season, the "Tuitje" is available to all pupils and teachers of the boarding school for smaller trips. The average two to three day trips per week are always led by an experienced skipper. The members of the Skipper-AG would like to grow into this role. This is why they usually form the crew, which can also include other pupils, and learn step by step how to practise sailing with flat-bottomed boats. This is accompanied by theory courses.
The flat-bottomed boat is ideal for the Wadden Sea
Biologist Fock, born in 1973, comes from a Hamburg family in which sailing has always played an important role. "There were numerous captains, ship owners and yacht sailors. The line of my ancestors from Finkenwerder also included Rudolf Kinau's grandmother, after whom the writer took his pen name Gorch Fock."
In the winter of 2006/2007, Mr and Mrs Fock sailed the six-and-a-half-month Atlantic cruise on the "Thor Heyerdahl" as project leaders in the High Seas High School (HSHS) boarding school project. Daughter Merle was born in 2008 and son Lasse in 2010. Dad Florian took over the management of the Hermann Lietz School in 2011.
Instead of being ponderous and unathletic, I think flat-bottomed ships are great today"
Although Swaantje Fock started sailing at an early age, she had no experience in sailing the heavy and keelless flat-bottomed ships when "Tuitje" came to Spiekeroog as the school's own yacht in 2009. "I even have to admit that I thought flat-bottomed boats were a bit sluggish and unathletic." This opinion has changed. "Today I think flat-bottomed boats are great. I have learnt to really appreciate their special uses here in the Wadden Sea!"
Respectful behaviour on board
On a sunny July morning, the skipper meets up with her crew on board for a day trip. The five students scurry around the ship, hoist the foresails, prepare the mainsail for setting and put the mooring lines around the way Lorena wants them for her casting off manoeuvre. The blonde schoolgirl briefly warms up the 55 hp diesel engine, carefully steams "Tuitje" into the stern spring and a little later chugs confidently out of the harbour. The mainsail is quickly hoisted, the jib and jib follow immediately and the engine falls silent.
Benjamin and Maximilian are shooting up the mooring lines while Noomi and Lasse stow the fenders. The polite, respectful tone on board is striking. Off Spiekeroog harbour, the young crew cruises back and forth with "Tuitje". The Marker Botter was built according to original plans. The twelve-tonne ship sails surprisingly agilely, turns quickly and is obviously a lot of fun for everyone. The students take turns at the tiller, chill out in the sun on deck, laugh a lot and munch on jelly babies.
Flat-bottomed ship tradition with modern equipment
In the past, everyday life on a botter was much tougher. Hundreds of these oak boats were used for fishing in the Zuiderzee and the Wadden Sea of the North Sea. Depending on the fishing technique used, the crew consisted of two to four people. At some point, the fishermen began to compete to see who could sail their boat the fastest. Members of the court and wealthy businessmen were the first to come up with the idea of using sailing boats exclusively for leisure - the birth of yacht sailing, which became fashionable on a larger scale in the Netherlands and England from the beginning of the 18th century. The first trophy was won in 1749, when the Prince of Wales started a regatta. Regattas with flat-bottomed boats still take place in large numbers in the Netherlands today. Many newer boats are optimised for regatta sailing and are sailed extremely ambitiously.
After all, "Tuitje" takes part in the Spiekeroog Starfish Memorial Regatta every year. State-of-the-art materials are also used on the classic wooden ship, at least in part. When Sebastian Henschel's Greifswald fabric workshop tailored the new jib in 2020, it fitted it with sheeting made from high-strength, lightweight Dyneema. The centreboard halyards are also made from this modern cordage. "We thought long and hard about whether they should remain authentic wire," says Fock almost apologetically. She particularly appreciates the fact that the sailing of the "Tuitje" is so strongly rooted in time-honoured traditions.
The 48-year-old biologist has been responsible for coordinating the ship since 2015. "I'm certainly not the perfect sailor. But I can network." An extremely important skill. When "Tuitje" came to the Hermann Lietz School in 2009, it was clear that she would not be able to be maintained solely by the school. However, it took a few years before a sufficiently large group of experienced volunteers had come together. Fock helped to ensure that both the volunteers and the pupils involved in maintaining the ship were happy to carry out the work during shipyard hours.
In addition to sailing training, the Botter is now also increasingly being used for recreational education; the younger pupils now also regularly take part in excursions. In addition, several sailors have acquired the necessary expertise in handling "Tuitje" in order to skipper it independently.
"Tuitje" as an object of identification with the school
The maintenance of the boarding school's own flat-bottomed boat is now on a secure footing, which makes day trips like today's even more enjoyable. After two hours, the sails are raised again. Noomi steers "Tuitje" back into the harbour of Spiekeroog - with one foot on the tiller. A golden wolf sits on the tiller, just above the rudder blade head, just like the carvings that can often be seen in this spot on Dutch flat-bottomed ships. The wolf on "Tuitje" was chosen in reference to the surname of the donor couple Wolff.
Noomi generally enjoys sailing and on different vessels, but calls "Tuitje" her favourite boat. She also used the winter storage work to take responsibility for her beloved boat. Her sailing commitment during her time at school in general and for the school boat "Tuitje" in particular will be honoured at the graduation ceremony at the beginning of July 2022. Swaantje Fock and Jonathan Binder will present her with her own "Tuitje" rigging shirt - barefoot and wearing rigging shirts over her smart clothes for the festive occasion, of course. Who knows, perhaps 19-year-old Noomi, like many Hermann Lietz students before her, will end up working in nautical science, boatbuilding or another maritime-related field.
On future visits to Spiekeroog, she will certainly want to return to the oak boat "Tuitje" again and again. In addition to the characteristic large safety glass window to the cockpit, the cosy saloon is located below the teak deck. The galley is on the port side, with a cosy seating area with a large table in front of it. On the walls are a photo of the founders Hilke and Fritz Wolff, a painting of the neighbouring island of Juist and a golden masthead - the ornate wooden spike that is traditionally carried in the masthead on flat-bottomed ships, unless - as is currently the case on "Tuitje" - a masthead indicates that the ship is debt-free.
The quick-laying mast makes bridge passages easier
There is plenty of storage space on the starboard side below deck. A robust Refleks diesel stove ensures cosy warmth and quick drying of wet oilskins, which can be hung up next to it. Opposite on the port side is the wet room with toilet, washbasin and shower facilities. In the foredeck, close together, there are three berths with space for a maximum of five people. A striking feature of the passageway is the full-length Oregon pine mast with its massive foot. Thanks to the impressive counterweight, it is easy to lay and raise. In the past, fishermen were able to sail right up to the rigid bridges, quickly raise the mast as far as necessary and then sail under the bridge with the rest of the speed. Afterwards, the mast could be quickly raised again to sail on quickly.
Such technically sophisticated activities probably no longer take place these days when "Tuitje" is used by different crews during the summer holidays. Sometimes a teacher sails with his family to the West Frisian Islands in the Netherlands. And the next crew returns to the East Frisian Islands. "There are also plans for a summer trip to the Baltic Sea," says Fock, who also uses the "Tuitje" a lot with her family and dreams of the boat logging 1,000 nautical miles in one season.
Regardless of the number of nautical miles travelled, the "Tuitje" is a stroke of luck for the Hermann Lietz School. "Sailing is home for me," says Swaantje Fock, "and 'Tuitje' is also an affair of the heart."
Hollandimport flat bottom boat
Dutch shipbuilders developed the flat-bottomed ship as a type of vessel specially tailored to the conditions of the Zuiderzee in today's IJsselmeer. For a long time, the Zuiderzee was the economic heart of the Netherlands: a hub for supra-regional trade and a source of food thanks to its abundance of fish. But with its shallows, tidal currents and storms, it was also a notorious body of water. Ships were therefore required that were suitable for different water depths, had good sailing characteristics and could still transport large loads. Flat-bottomed or round-bottomed ships, which were initially built from wood and later also from iron and steel, have a flat underwater hull without a beam keel. This means they can easily fall dry in the mudflats. Lateral drift is reduced when sailing by the characteristic centreboards.
The Hermann Lietz School on Spiekeroog
Alfred Andreesen founded the Hermann Lietz School Spiekeroog in 1928. As a colleague and successor to Hermann Lietz, who died in 1919, he created a rural educational centre for the "reform pedagogy of seriousness". Not only the head alone was to be educated here, but also the heart and hands. The school in the midst of rugged nature, outside the protective dyke, still without electricity or drinking water, seemed ideal for this. Living and learning became an inseparable unit here. To this day, working together in craft or artistic guilds complements the curriculum as an equal and vital field of activity. Responsible behaviour in everyday life is intended to strengthen independence and build personality.
Technical data "Tuitje"
- Shipyard/year of construction: Bültjer/1990 (Refit 2004)
- Material/construction:Oak/Karweel
- Torso length:11,50 m
- Width: 3,80 m
- Draught (without swords):0,90 m
- Weight: approx. 12.0 tonnes
- Mast height:13,50 m
- Mainsail: 37,0 m²
- Jib (can be travelled as a boom jib): 18,5 m²
- Botterfock: 30,0 m²
- Baumklüver: 50,0 m²
- Motor: Volvo D2-55, 55 hp (2004)
