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Build own model ship Prins Willem and keep the memory of the ship, which no longer exists

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Model ship Prins Willem by Corel – ship and replica  history

The Prins Willem was probably the largest square stern ship of the fleet of the Dutch East India Company. Fitted out at Middleburg in 1649-1650, the Prins Willem was subsequently modified for use as a warship.

In addition to demolishing the forecastle and the stern bulkhead, 6 firing ports were added, three on each side. For a brief period, the Prins Willem was the flagship of the famous Admiral Witte de Witt in the Battle of the Kentish Knock during the First Anglo-Dutch War. Returned later to the Company, it once again traded with the Indies between 1653 and 1660.

General characteristics
Name: Prins Willem
Owner: Dutch East India Company
Launched: 1649
Fate: Sank in 1662 near Madagascar
Tons burthen: 700 tons
Length: 42 m (137 ft 10 in)
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 32 guns


A replica with the same name was built in 1984-85 at the Dutch shipyard Amels in Makkum for the Nagasaki Holland Village

The building cost was 1.4 billion yen. In 2003, Huis Ten Bosch K. K., the operating company of Nagasaki Holland Village declared bankruptcy and the replica was sold to a Dutch company for 130 million yen. In 2004, the replica became part of the theme park Cape Holland in Den Helder, the Netherlands. In 2009, the bowsprit of the Prins Willem replica was being restored.

On the morning of 30 July 2009, the replica was lost to fire, probably due to an electric malfunction.

Model ship Prins Willem by Corel is a detailed and faithful reconstruction of the ship fitted out by the Dutch East India Company for commercial traffic.

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