SALOON
BOAT SALLY
After a 17-year split, Cees Nater
decided to rescue his former love
and return her to her full glory
WORDS NIGEL SHARP PHOTOGRAPHS KEES STUIP
E
arly in the 20th century, saloon boats
were a common sight throughout the
inland waterways of Holland. They
were immediately recognisable by their
disproportionately large, heavily glazed
superstructures within which were the spacious saloons
that gave them their name. “That was where the rich and
important people kept dry with their cigars and whisky
while the crew were standing outside in the rain,” says
Dutch naval architect Olivier van Meer. “It was a very
typical Dutch way of transporting important people.”
Saloon boats were not only used as inland cruising boats
in their own right, but also as tenders for bigger boats,
for government offi cials to inspect the waterways and
dykes, and occasionally for racing across the Ijsselmeer.As with many other types of boat of the same era
throughout the world, only a small proportion survive
today. They were typically built of iron, and not
particularly heavily, and many began to go into decline
when they were used as transport barges or houseboats.
“A lot of them were lost during the Second World War,”
says Olivier, “and then we had this stupid era between
the war and the 1970s when we had no maritime
conscience at all. It’s only in the last 25 years that we
have learned that this is our heritage and something
we should take care of.” But some have survived and
even been beautifully restored; among the oldest of
these, possibly even the very oldest, is Sally.
Sally was built by WF Stoel & Son at the Nicolaas
Witsen shipyard, Alkmaar, in 1910 with a Daimler