1500 Swiss on a Timber Raft or Höllander Flöße

19 December 2021

A Dutch chronicle from the nineteenth century (Jan Willem van Druijnen, Leven aan de Waal of Vervolg der Kronijk van Nijmegen 1819-1859) reports that more than 1500 Swiss arrived in Nimwegen (Nijmegen) on timber rafts in July and August 1819, on their way to Dordrecht. They emigrated by ship to South Brazil.

It indicates mass emigration and the route taken by the emigrants. The rivers were the most secure, cheap, and comfortable way to travel, although the (hygienic) conditions were catastrophic.

Timber rafts were the most remarkable but almost forgotten means of transport on the Rhine. This transportation system began in the sixteenth century.

The primary reason was the decision by the Dutch province of Holland in the sixteenth century to use only stone to build buildings. The demand for (long) piles to strengthen the foundations of the houses in this delta was enormous.

For example, the palace on Dam Square is built on more than 13,000 piles. The flourishing shipbuilding industry also needed wood. This wood (oak, beech, pine) was present in the Vosges, the Black Forest and other forest areas along the Rhine in Switzerland. Smaller rivers, such as the Main and Neckar, transported the trees downstream to Mainz and Mannheim. The piles were tied into huge rafts up to 300 metres wide.

The rafts sailed to Dordrecht. They were dismantled and sold to local customers. A log aft contained up to 30,000 m3 of tree piles. These giant rafts were called Höllander Flöße. It was a complicated logistical operation to manoeuvre the rafts downstream on the Rhine at approximately 16-20 kilometres per day (no night sailing).

Hundreds of crew members lived and slept on the raft in wooden huts, and the fleet lord, helmsmen, and other staff had impressive mansions.

Pigs and other animals for slaughter, thousands of kilograms of flour, cheese, and butter, salt, peas, and beans, and tens of thousands of litres of beer were taken along as forage.

Everything and everyone went out of the way when the colossus came along. A small boat with a red and white flag sailed ahead for one hour to warn, as the raft could not stop.

The braking distance with dozens of heavy anchors was miles long. Bridge pillars, quays and other ships were often damaged.

Hundreds of crew members rowed the raft, accompanied it on the side, or manned the so-called knees at the front with ropes. Hundreds of these rafts passed the Waal at Nijmegen in four centuries on their way to Dordrecht, a highly lucrative commercial activity whose profits were fabulous. As an indication, a raft was valued at up to 1 million guilders at that time.

The costs were high. The toll cost around 40,000 to 60,000 guilders, including the purchase of wood and forage, as well as the crew’s salaries.

The last raft, consisting of 2,500 piles pulled by tugboats, passed the Rhine in 1967. Four centuries of transport by rafts had ended, and by that time, Switzerland had already become an immigration destination.

(source: K. Moerbeek, B. Gunterman, Het Nijmeegsch Rondgezicht. Een tentoonstelling over het oudste stadspanorama van Nederland, Nijmegen 2019).