Halve Maen Launched

Happened: 1608

Description

Hudson’s next, and perhaps most famous, ship was the Half Moon. A product of the Dutch East India Company’s (V.O.C.) shipyards, the Half Moon was distinctly different from its British counterpart. The Dutch ships were faster than their British equivalent, as they weighed less and were narrower. The V.O.C. also employed a system of ship building know as the tangent arc system which allowed the Dutch to be built lighter and narrower. Significantly, with the tangent arc system required no blueprints. The tangent arc system allowed shipwrights to memorize the mathematical formula and substitute their own numbers and those numbers would result in the dimensions of the ship. With the rampant espionage by other East India companies the tangent arc system gave Dutch shipwrights an advantage over their competitors. Due to the VOC’s use of the tangent arch system no documents exist giving the exact dimensions of the Half Moon. However, it is estimated that she weighed between sixty and eighty tons and was about eighty-five feet in length.

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