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Efter upptäckten av ett vrak från år 1636 letar forskare efter identitetet av fartyget och kaptenen samt orsaken till haverin. Vi träffar historiker, som anser att spannmålshandeln vid Östersjön startade globaliseringen. Den animerade Hendrik lär sig att segla ett handelsfartyg och idka handeln i Finland. 

En 2020, dans le golfe de Finlande, des plongeurs professionnels découvrent l’épave d’un navire qui a sombré il y a environ 400 ans. Une investigation minutieuse des faits et gestes de ce bateau confirme l’existence des routes commerciales en mer Baltique vieilles de plusieurs siècles. Ce navire facilement manœuvrable transportait des céréales, du bois, des marchandises, des personnes et des nouvelles à une époque où les difficultés de la vie en mer étaient le pendant de la vie sur la terre ferme : guerres, famine, fléaux, etc. Cette épave est notre fil rouge pour raconter l’histoire de ce percheron de la mer qui a anticipé nos vies interconnectées et aussi, véritable précurseur de la mondialisation telle que nous la connaissons aujourd’hui. Ce témoin de bois, de cordes et de tissus du XVIIeme siècle revivra à travers l’histoire d’un jeune garçon embarqué à son bord pour une traversée tumultueuse.

In 2020 stuiten expertduikers per toeval op een bijna 400 jaar oud fluitschip op de zeebodem in de Finse Golf. Bij het onderzoeken van de oorsprong en het lot van het schip wordt de wereld van een eeuwenoude handelsroute over de Oostzee onthuld. Van graan tot roddel, van hout tot teer … dit gemakkelijk manoeuvreerbare schip vervoerde goederen, mensen en nieuws in een tijd waarin de ontberingen van het leven op zee de oorlogen, hongersnood en plagen aan de wal weerspiegelden. Dit scheepswrak is ons schip om het verhaal te vertellen van het vergeten, alledaagse werkpaard dat ons leven voor altijd heeft veranderd, maar ook van de globalisering zoals wij die vandaag de dag kennen, evenals de wereld die tot de oprichting ervan heeft geleid, en het verhaal van een jongen aan boord van één van deze schepen voor de allereerste keer.

WHITE SWAN

The Legacy of the Fluit Ship

A documentary feature about an everyman’s merchant vessel that changed life around the Baltic Sea, and sparked the Dutch Golden Age, spurring early globalization.

In the deep Finnish waters we see a heavily equipped expert diving team. 80m below surface, the visibility is nonexistent
aside from the spots graced by the divers’ underwater lights. Suddenly, we catch a glimpse of an enormous, fully intact
wooden ship wreck from an era long gone.

We utilize the Swan’s ship type – the everyman’s merchant vessels called fluits – to find out more about life around the Baltic Sea during a time that saw increasing sea trade, an influx of new cultures and people, and early globalization as we know it today.

Film

Deep sea divers encounter an enormous wooden shipwreck in pristine condition in the depths of the Baltic Sea with the year 1636 and the image of a swan carved onto it. Now, researchers, historians and maritime archaeologists in Finland, Sweden, Estonia and the Netherlands have a joint goal — to uncover the story of this ship wreck. The investigative work is done in labs, underwater and in the historical Amsterdam archives with thousands of volumes with fragile, centuries-old notarial documents.

1636. In a world where tulip fever is peaking, the plague kills 10 000 people in London, and young Finnish farmerboys have to fight foreign wars for the Swedish crown. Sailing on a merchant vessel frees the seamen from war ship labor, but the owners of merchant vessels can grow legacy wealth. Fluits, the Dutch-designed revolutionary merchant ships, become the workhorse of the Dutch Golden Age. This innovative and paradoxal era for the Dutch Republic alters the world order in a way that still impacts us today. However, a crucial part of the story, the fluit ship, has been lost. The everyman-built and -sailed fluit ship has been forgotten along with the ordinary people of the Republic. No construction manuals remain. Even the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum’s maritime section only has one painting featuring one, barely-there fluit ship.

Enter young, animated Hendrik. This teenager and party boy, orphaned and emotionally lost, is taken in by his wealthy shipowner aunt. As he proves to be reckless and uncaring of his aunt’s, professors’ or God’s wrath, he is sent out to seas to learn the tricks of the trade from ordinary seamen. Hendrik has zero sailing skills, but the sea is not a patient teacher.

“Everything is interconnected, one way or another. For millennia, the sea has brought food, news, new people, new cultures, new produce, and new innovations. Rulers have raged wars — and still do — over the access to the seas. Through the quest to uncover the identity of this one, forgotten, everyman’s fluit ship, we reveal how the early globalization still drives our daily lives today.”

Hanna Hemilä, Director & Producer

Film stills

Animation

    Quiz

    Question 1/:

    Zaandam fluit ship yard

    Click here to explore the changing Zaandam fluit ship yard!
    Requires iPhone, iPad or Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.

     

    “This is one of the most wreck-frequent areas. Ships would often sink when anchored."

    Niklas Eriksson, Maritime Archaeologist in Dalarö, Sweden

    Maritime Archaeologists

    Dr. Minna Koivikko

    Maritime Archaeologist
    Finnish Heritage Agency

    Dr. Niklas Eriksson

    Maritime Archaeologist
    Stockholm University

    Dr. Martijn Manders

    Maritime Archaeologist
    University of Leiden
    Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands

    Ivar Treffner

    Maritime Archaeologist
    Estonia Maritime Museum

    Filmmakers

    Hanna Hemilä

    Director & Producer

    Xavier Picard

    Animation Director
    Co-Producer

    Beata Harju

    Screenwriter

    Mika Mattila

    Cinematographer

    Annemiek van der Hell

    Co-Producer

    Information

    Production: Handle Productions Oy
    Co-Production : WindMill Film BV, Pictak Cie
    Director & Producer: Hanna Hemilä
    Animation Director & Co-Producer: Xavier Picard
    Screenwriter: Beata Harju
    Co-Producer: Annemiek van der Hell
    DP: Mika Mattila
    Sound Designer: Joonas Jyrälä
    In Collaboration With:
    The Badewanne Diving Team
    Maritime Archaeologists:
    Dr. Minna Koivikko, Finnish Heritage Agency
    Dr. Niklas Eriksson, University of Stockholm
    Dr. Martin Manders, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, University of Leiden
    Ivar Treffner, Maritime Archaeologist, Estonian Maritime Museum

    In Collaboration With