100 years: The History of Fenrir
 
Barges live for a long time, often outlasting their builders and owners. Over the course of their life, a barge may operate under many names, serving many areas/countries and having many owners. This can make researching a barge’s history extremely difficult, but also very rewarding...
 
Fenrir was certainly no exception! Our knowledge of her history has only recently come to light, and it is all thanks to Ad Langelaar for painstakingly researching the history of Fenrir. Thank you Ad! We really do appreciate your efforts.
 
Now typically, you start with the information given to you by the previous owner during the sales process. For us however, this was not a fertile starting point. The owner knew little about the history, and all we really learnt was that Fenrir had possibly operated as a sailing school cafe for a brief time. Neither the surveyor or the notary could shed any more light. All in all, we acquired Fenrir without really knowing a great deal of her history and really wishing we could find out more. With her now moored up in the UK, and my ‘dutch’ language skills being non-existent, I had concluded that we would never get to know her history. How wrong we were!
 
By chance, Ad began researching her history, initially to understand the background to the Brons engine on-board, but soon other information began flowing. Unbelievably, despite the fact that she has had several owners, and different names, Ad was able to track down a relative of the original owners. We now knew the very first owner of Fenrir, was a lady ‘Agatha Leek’ from Noordscharwoude, whose husband Mr Leek skippered the boat. The barge was named ‘Agatha’. Not only that, but we have a photo of Dirk and Theo Leak on the barge (see the picture on the right). We also discovered that she may have first been built in 1905, much earlier than we had thought.
 
Mr Leek transported wood, harvest and products from the farms. Apparently, an awful lot of cabbages! By all accounts, the ship was much loved, and there are stories of precious cargo being stolen and the boat being under fire during the war!
 
And its from wartime that perhaps the most surprising story stemmed. As the retreating German forces withdrew from Holland, they deliberately sabotaged many of the dykes that protect Holland from the sea. Extensive flooding occurred and many lives were lost. Fenrir joined the local boats in rescuing people clinging to roof tops.
 
Originally, it seems the ship was fitted with a smaller, 1 cylinder Brons engine (about 15Hp). Later, this was upgraded to the existing 2EA model (about 36Hp). This was considered extremely powerful at the time, and this grainy picture taken from a magazine at the time, apparently shows Fenrir tugging/towing another barge. So, we can’t help but chuckle when we hear people talking about the power of the engines in their modern boats. How things have changed!
 
Eventually, Th. Leek established a transport company with lorries, we imagine the Netherlands somewhat mirroring the decline of the waterways in the UK. This transport company still exists today!
 
In about 1950, the ship was sold to Mr Droog from Zijdewind, who also transported wood and other goods.
 
At this time, Fenrir was operating under the name ‘Time is Money’. The picture on the right shows her as a working vessel. If we needed confirmation that this was the right boat, it came from seeing the ‘rippled’ effect on the bow... and the odd dent... both of which she still has now! We had thought these were ‘recent’ additions, but it’s now clear she looked this way over 50 years ago!
 
Until recently, Mr Droog was apparently still living on a ship and we had hoped to visit him in Holland. Unfortunately, we have discovered he recently died at the beginning of February 2009 which was terribly sad news.
 
The picture on the left shows her laden to the brim with wood as her cargo, it would appear taking a delivery from a larger vessel. If you compare the picture above with this one, you can see the difference having a full load makes. The barge is about a metre lower in the water!
 
Eventually, in the sixties Fenrir ceased her working life. She had been towing a wooden raft behind her, and the Brons engine would have been working very hard. We’re not sure what happened over the next 30 years or so, but at some stage she was converted into her current form, and renamed ‘Golfzang’ (Song of the Waves).
 
Ad, thank you once again for your efforts. It’s been a real joy to hear the stories and see the photos. Best of all, we can now preserve the history of this very special barge.
 
Fenrir (as Time is Money) nearly 50 years ago... well, at least we are not responsible for all the dents!