World's largest collection of bottle ships

Joshua Foer is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Joshua is a freelance science journalist and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Dylan Thuras.

User curiosity_nl recently added the Bottle-Ship Museum in Enkhuizen, Holland to the Atlas Obscura. It sounds like a place I'd like to visit:

This tiny museum is said to hold the world's largest collection of bottle ships--over 750 of them. An incredible variety of miniature boats--rescue boats, whaling ships, steamships, and modern dredgers--have been stuffed into every variety of bottle, from the tiniest light bulb to a 30-liter wine jug. Magnifying glasses are available where needed. On occasion, there are demonstrations of how to build bottle ships.

Shown above is a model of the Half Moon, the ship Henry Hudson was sailing when he discovered Hudson Bay and the Hudson River. It's builder, Ralph Preston, estimates that it took about 500 hours to assemble.

[#1 posted by catastrophegirl, June 26, 2009 10:40 PM]

i wish i'd seen that when i was there. the zuiderzee museum is there and it's pretty incredible actually.
although seeing the 12 century fishing boats and being able to walk up and touch them wasn't as awesome as seeing them IN USE in spakenburg.
those are some folks who know how to build a boat and i bet the miniatures are just as well made

[#2 posted by Anonymous, June 28, 2009 5:04 PM]

hey, that's my old home town! The museum is in a beautiful historic part of town, well worth the trip out. Actually the whole town is historic, it's over 650 years old. There's good fish to be had around the corner, and a Drommedary keeps guard, and there some great bars below street level on the harbour side. Getting a little nostalgic...
reens