Menheerse Shipyard - Middelharnis

The Menheerse Werf (shipyard) is a former ship carpentry yard in Middelharnis. From 1750, most of the Menheerse (dialect for the village name Middelharnis) fishing fleet was built here, a maritime historical gem. The layout and buildings are largely intact as they were in 1750. Now it is an 'experience shipyard'. The monumental buildings such as the shipyard barge house, the brine warehouse and the shipyard shed are now used as a visitor centre, piano bar and experience wall.

The shipyard is still in use for maintenance, especially of historic ships, including the rental fleet. You can hire a boat or book a cruise and enjoy the panoramic view from the panorama deck on the MD10.

The Menheerse Werf was not the first shipyard to be established in MIddelharnis.

Back in 1675, a shipyard was built on the east side of the harbour by Claes Pieterse. In 1749, when the aldermen (the lords who set the rules in a municipality) of Middelharnis placed an advertisement in the 's Gravenhaegsche Courant whether anyone wanted to buy a new shipyard, Gijsbert Jacobsz Visser and his cousin Leendert Jonker responded. They established a new shipyard next to Pieterse's existing one. Things went so well for them that they became owners of both shipyards in 1788, despite the fact that a year before (in 1787) someone else had established another shipyard.

Jonker and Visser were Middelharnis' leading ship repairers, newbuilders and underwriters. In the late 18th century, Jan Peeman, a carpenter employed at the shipyard on the east side of the harbour, married the widow of one of the owners. This made him the owner of the shipyard. For generations, the yard remained in his family: until the end of 2018! That's when John and Addie Peeman sold the yard to Foundation Preservation Scheepstimmerwerf Middelharnis.