Discover the Hoge Berg

When standing on the Wadden Sea dyke near Oudeschild, you’ll now need a good dose of imagination to picture this once having been a world-class harbour. That was however the case for three centuries. Cargo ships, whalers and warships were anchored here, with inland vessels, pilot ships and fishing boats buzzing around in-between. There was always something going on. A trip to the Wadden dyke at Oudeschild was one of Texel’s major attractions.

Gateway to the world

The Texel Roads thanks its existence to its location on the Marsdiep, which provides a gateway to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, Holland became an important trading nation and its seagoing ships increased in size. They became too deep to cross the shallows of the Zuiderzee. For this reason, they sailed without cargo or ballast to the Texel Roads, in order to be further supplied and rigged up here. When they returned from their travels, cargo was transferred to inland vessels which then transported it onwards to Medemblik, Enkhuizen, Hoorn and Amsterdam

Waiting for the wind

All travel was done under sail. A ship which was heading south or west had to wait on the Roads for a steady north or easterly wind. That could sometimes take months. In 1593, a fleet of 150 cargo ships lay anchored on the Roads. They had been fully loaded with grain in the Baltic region and much of the grain was destined for Italy. Their stopover at Texel had a tragic ending. On Christmas Eve, a fierce storm raged in which dozens of ships were lost.

Drinking water

Another advantage to a visit to Texel was the drinking water which was pumped up at the Hoge Berg. This pure, iron-rich water stayed fresh for a long time. The VOC ships therefore took many barrels of this water on board with them, as the next place to refill their water supplies would be the Cape of Good Hope.

Council of war

In the seventeenth century, the Roads were also an important base for the Admiralty. During the Anglo-Dutch wars, fleets led by the Dutch admirals gathered on the Roads in order to sail out together for navel battles. Various dignitaries of the Admiralty settled on Texel. The Brakestein manor and the Doolhof woodland on the Hoge Berg are now reminders of those times.

Whaling

In the spring, whalers on the Roads prepared for their journeys to Greenland in the summer months. A number of captain’s families lived in Den Hoorn. They often took family members or acquaintances with them as crew. The ships sometimes came back empty and sometimes with loads full of barrels of whale oil and baleen.

Pilot boats

The Haaksgronden lie further out to sea from the Marsdiep. These are treacherous shallows, worsened by the way in which they change position on an almost yearly basis. No captain wishes to run aground here. For this reason, large ships always took a pilot on board who knew precisely how to avoid the shallows. These pilots were often inhabitants of Texel, most of whom lived in Den Hoorn. Once the large ship was safely in deep water, the pilot had to return home. Small, swift, seaworthy ships sailed back and forth from the departing sea vessels for this purpose.