Free The Dutch by Richard E. Schultz Page B

four sides. Another smaller work site had a tile roof with three sides of the building enclosed. Both covered structures contained a fire pit and a small furnace. Henri noted a rolled tarp was used to protect the small building’s open side from the elements. The yard also had a well-built cabin with a loft and fireplace that had once served as a residence. A few additional sheds and a windmill for powering the saw completed the complex. Unfinished hulls in various stages of completion were almost haphazardly strewn about the property. A good amount of lumber, well-seasoned hard wood timbers and carefully cut oak and softer pine planking were stacked neatly around both work areas. The precious wood was protected from the elements by tarpaulins.
    The true prize of the parcel was two hundred yards from the water’s edge. It was resting on a slightly elevated hill and had purposely been set away from the shipyard. It was a large house, containing many rooms, which, according to the journeyman, Master Rudderman had built for his wife many years earlier, but the worker was quick to correct himself and added, Claus and Johanna had built the house together. In the Dutch fashion, the house had high brick walls and a sloping roof of slate. A few of the window openings had expensive glass panes; the rest were covered by shutters in the manner of the times. At the center of a long porch was a stairway that led to a great oak front door. The ornamented facade compared favorably with the homes of wealthy citizens who lived in the exclusive parts of central Rotterdam. A stable, large enough to house at least four horses and several milk cows, sat properly away from the residence. In between, a spacious vegetable garden completed the complex. The house itself was probably worth twice Henri’s inheritance.
    Henri never saw the inside of the house that day for Johanna Rudderman made her appearance at the shipyard and, after a cordial greeting, led him to a Kaag tied at the dock. Johanna was in her late-forties, of medium height and weight, with graying streaks in her long brown hair which she tied back and covered with a bonnet. Johanna motioned him to cast off the lines while she effortlessly raised the little sail, and they quickly left the shipyard behind. She was still dressed in mourning black, but had a pair of dark seaman’s trousers under her dress. Her leather boots gave her firm footing as she moved effortlessly about the little boat. The matron smiled with a sailor’s satisfaction as she skillfully caught a gust of strong wind in the little boat’s sail. She soon out raced the other larger ships that were going in the same direction. At first light, all those larger ships were bunched together at the dock in Rotterdam awaiting the morning tide.
    As they approached the Town of Schiedam, five miles downstream, easily recognized by a cluster of tall windmills, she lowered the sail and let the receding tide carry the boat toward the North Sea. When she secured the sail and boom, she opened a small chest and removed two crystal glasses which she half-filled with expensive French brandy. She handed one glass to Henri and casually, almost as a matter-of-fact said, “I may have a proposition for you young man.” Later Henri would hardly remember the whole discussion, which lasted for hours, but Henri knew the conversation had been the most stimulating event of his relatively short shipbuilding career. Mrs. Rudderman began their talk with a series of questions which Henri found difficult to answer. She first asked: “Who built the first ship with sails? Was it the Babylonians? Was it the Egyptians? Was it the Greeks?” Johanna Rudderman continued such questions almost endlessly until she asked one last memorable query: “Have you heard the Arabic tale of an eighth day of creation?” She then told him the story which was carried home by Crusaders to Europe. According to the tale, Islamic sailors