From a ‘sailing lighthouse’ and a minesweeper to an Icelander: maritime heritage awaits the public in Dok 9 (Antwerp)

A maritime experience center should be built on the Dry Dock site on Het Eilandje by 2026. The port is central to this. The center should inspire young people to pursue a career in the port and bring the same port closer to Antwerp residents and tourists.

In addition to the construction of that experience center, the dry docks themselves are also being tackled. They are valuable industrial heritage. “The inauguration of Dok 9 is a first important step in this story,” says Marc Van Peel, Antwerp’s honorary alderman and chairman of the Maritime Heritage Foundation.

The inauguration comes after the historic lightship West-Hinder III was permanently moored there earlier this month. That ship, which immediately attracts attention with its bright red paint, served as a sailing lighthouse until 1992. “Lightships were the signposts of the sea at the time,” says Dirk Meulemeester, retired naval architect.

Together with former navy captain Patrick Van den Bulck, he put his weight behind the restoration of the ship, which saw its end as scrap metal after years of service on the dangerous sandbanks off Oostduinkerke and Blankenberge.

“We were told: you don’t know what you’re getting into”, laughs Meulemeester. “Our answer: everyone is entitled to their stupidities.” And look: those stupidities have meant that the West-Hinder – apart from some recent renovation work – shines again as it once did.

READ ALSO. Volunteers restore old lightship West-Hinder III in Droogdokkenpark

Visitors are invited to discover what life was like on the lightship. “That must not have been very pleasant. For you lay in the middle of the sea for fourteen days, firmly anchored in the same place.” The eye-catcher is the three-ton anchor that was intended to ensure this. But the cabins and the mess where the passengers ate their meals together, for example, also provide a nice insight into life on the ship.

Icelander

A total of seven historic ships, plus a floating crane, are located in and around Dock 9. From now on, they can be visited for free every first Saturday of the month. “François Musin, for example, the oldest Icelander in the country,” Meulemeester points to a green-yellow colossus that still needs to be completely restored. “The intention is that we can eventually open it completely to the public. But that requires a lot of hours of craftsmanship. We will start it soon.”

“By opening this ship, I hope that people will realize what those on board did to ensure that we had fish on our plates. Life on a ship like this was very primitive and dangerous”

Dirk Meulemeester

retired naval architect

The François Musin was built shortly after the Second World War and is a protected heritage site. “These types of ships sailed to Iceland to catch cod,” Meulemeester explains. “By opening this ship, I hope that people will realize what those on board did to ensure that we had fish on our plates. Life on a ship like this was very primitive and dangerous. Sister ships of the François Musin left but never returned.”

Minesweeper

Anyone who visits Dok 9 will not only become acquainted with the physical maritime heritage, but also with the many stories attached to the ships. Thanks to François Masset, for example, who was a member of the Oudenaarde, a wooden ‘shallow water minesweeper’ from 1958, for ten years.

“I did everything. From navigation to driver. There were fourteen of us on board. So our task was to destroy mines. We mainly worked off the Belgian coast, but also off the Dutch coast and on the Baltic Sea,” says Masset with due pride. “The Oudenaarde is the only remaining minesweeper from a fleet of fifteen sister ships.”

Together with twelve other volunteers he restored the quarters of officers and non-commissioned officers, the kitchen and parts of the hull and deck. That took more than 40,000 hours to complete. The team now hopes that the minesweeper will be protected as a heritage monument.

Also on the Dry Docks site are the museum ships Angèle, Mon Désir and Liomar and an impressive floating crane. “We really want to ensure that this site becomes an experience place,” says Marc Van Peel. “Our maritime heritage comes together beautifully in Dok 9.”