City crane rises from ashes

Until in 1837 the crane failed while lifting four cast-iron statues. That same crane has now been recreated at full size and given a place on the Bemuurde Weerd, near the Monica Bridge.

In many medieval trading towns that bordered a river, the loading and unloading quays used to have a crane driven by human power: Tiel, Schiedam, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Ghent and Bruges. But Utrecht also had such a city crane. Inside the crane were two large treadmills in which children walked: young boys, small in stature. People called them “the crane children. Of course now we immediately think of child labor, but it was different back then.

The crane children were well paid, they worked under the supervision of a crane master and enjoyed doing their work. The rotation of the treadmills set the hoisting rope in motion, and the onion-shaped turning head on top of the crane allowed the direction of the hoist to be changed manually. In the Middle Ages, Utrecht was still a significant port where goods were sailed into the city from the Rhine – via the Vecht and Keulsche Vaart.

The Utrecht city crane stood on the Oudegracht, right under the premises of the Winkel van Sinkel, where really all sorts of things were for sale: “Hats and caps and ladies’ corsets, licorice for candy and pills for poop. Anton Sinkel had thought that the four buttresses in the front facade should just be cast iron female figures. He had them come specially from England. But when the city crane lifted these “caryatids” off the boat, the crane collapsed on the last hoist and the statue fell into the moat. That happened on Saturday, Sept. 9, 1837. The crane was never rebuilt.

Image: the city crane used to stand on this spot under the premises of the Shop of Sinklel.

Old-fashioned craftsmanship

Now, 185 years later, the crane is there again. Rebuilt by hand, entirely of oak, at the Museumwerf Vreeswijk, partly by students of the Crafts School Vreeswijk of the training for skilled woodworking. But also with the help of the necessary volunteers. The crane is not in its original location next to City Hall, but on the Bemuurde Weerd, where a smaller crane once stood.

Initiator and spiritual father of the project is Jan van Seumeren (a true “crane man” and indeed also the man who together with his brother Frans at the time lifted the Russian submarine Kursk from the seabed for Vladimir Putin). Van Seumeren has brought together many major sponsors to make this costly project possible.

One of those sponsors is Van Schie. The company from Mijdrecht supplied the steel frame within which the city crane was erected in the yard, but also built the entire structure on which the city crane now stands in the water. However, this was not without controversy. It was not known to the municipality of Utrecht that a large concrete slab had once been placed on the ground at that exact spot. Direct piling into the ground was therefore not possible.

Van Schie then constructed a framework of tubular piles that was fixed ón and to the concrete slab. All this to support a weight of 13,000 kg. The 13.5-meter-high city crane now stands “shining” in the heart of the city, an icon that the city of Utrecht is extremely pleased with, because until now every tourist returned home with a selfi e of the Dom Tower. Now you can also send the city crane out into the world as a backdrop.

‘Creankinders’

City cranes used to be powered by manpower. These were mostly young boys, small in stature, who walked in treads. They were called “crane (craen)kinders. Now we would say, “Child labor! But it was different then. Youth were allowed to work at a much younger age in those days.

Moreover, the crane children took pride in their work. They were treated well, did not have to report to the dock until nine in the morning, and worked constantly under the supervision of the crane master. Indeed, in ‘s-Hertogenbosch they had their own guild, and in Ghent a guild house was even built for the “kraankinders,” proving that they were also treated with respect in Belgium.

The archives of the municipality of Utrecht show that as early as 1827 a thorough labor contract was concluded for the children of “De Craen,” in which all the rights and duties of the young workers were laid down in 51 articles. These “Regulations because of the Crane children” also laid down the hourly wage, as well as overtime allowances. It is even thought to have been one of the first collective bargaining agreements in the Netherlands. The city crane in Utrecht employed 12 crane children, who, in addition to walking in the treadmill, were used for “towing services” on shore.

Image: Old engraving from 1510 of the city crane in Bruges, Belgium. The treads here were partially open, so you could see the crane children walking.