Miramichi 2008 - K(C)amerman(s)-Homepage

Brugge was at that time the most important destination for foreign boats. Brugge therefore selected itself capable people and
sent them out to the foreign boats to direct these to the own harbor and to guide them safely between the sandbanks of the river
Zwin. But later, when all the front harbors like Damme, Hoeke and also Sluis couldn’t be reached anymore by bigger boats due
to the silting up, Antwerpen took over the role of Brugge. From that time on Antwerpen cared for skilled pilots and motivated to
build bigger pilot boats.
The classical cutter
The boats of the pilots
The 19 th century, a difficult period for our pilots
In this century the pilot services and its duties were first administrated by the
French, then by the united Netherlands and finally in 1830 by Belgium, which became
independent in that year. The French were well interested in navigation and the
support of the pilot-services, mainly since 1806 when Napoleon wanted to expand
Antwerpen to a military post for his war against England. But when Napoleon was
overcome, the Dutch took over the duties. The customs, that before always were
taken in from the freight-boats were abolished. Some pilots of Vlissingen were allowed
to guide foreign boats from the sea to Antwerpen. The Flemish pilots were allowed to
bring these boats safely back to Vlissingen. After the formation of the Belgium
Kingdom as a result of the separation from the Kingdom of The Netherlands this
situation became more embarrassing.
The Dutch closed the entrance to the Schelde after the separation in 1830. This
was reopened only in 1839 based on the “Scheidingsverdrag” (“Divorce-Treaty”)
agreed in London. This treaty allowed the boat-captains to choose the pilots they
wanted and allowed Belgium to set up pilot centers at both sides of the Schelde.
Belgian pilots came then with their families and settled in Vlissingen, what originated a
remarkable competition between the Dutch and the Belgian pilots.
In the second half of the 19 th century the Dutch and the Belgian pilots used mainly 3 types of boats: schooners, “Dundee”cutters
and classical cutters.
Schooners were boats of 2 masts, 22 till 30 m long and were about 6 meters wide. These supple sailboats could navigate very
fast and reacted very good on the rudder. Next to the crew the capacity was for max. 8 pilots on board. Mostly they had also two
sea-capable row-boats on board which the pilots used to cross over to the foreign ships.
Sometimes “Dundee”-cutters were used. These were also 2 mast boats but smaller. Next to the crew only 4 pilots could stay
on board. From the larger pilot boats always about 12 were on sea. They most stood on different places, e.g. the South Coast of
England, or next to the island Wight, especially to get those ships coming from the West or from the South. Other pilot boats
stood in front of Walcheren and the ”Mud-Flats”-Islands to get the ships coming from Scotland, Germany or Scandinavian
countries. These pilot-boats on sea didn’t wait passively till a ship set a yellow-blue striped flag with a “G” to announce that the
ship wanted a pilot on board. The pilots went actively to offer their service themselves. And here the competition with the Dutch
had a big influence. Sometimes, when both pilot-boats arrived at the ship about at the same time, the rowers, which brought the
pilots, were the ones who decided the success. In this kind of “championship” the end of the race sometimes was decided by the
length of the rows!
The third type of pilot boat was the classical cutter with only one mast. This type is still (or again) in construction today. It was
used much closer to the coast, e.g. in the area between the light-boats from Westhinder and Wandelaar. It was also used for the
transportation of pilots to the large ships to replace the colleagues there on board. Sometimes they stood also in front of
Blankenberge and some away from Walcheren to pick up and bring back directly to Vlissingen the pilots from the large ships
after having brought them to the open sea.
There is very few knowledge about the organization of the pilot-services during the time of Napoleon. Due to a bombing on the
town-hall of Vlissingen in 1809, the house and the archive burned down and a lot of historical documents got lost.
In the 20 th century these magnificent sailboats had to make place for the motorized steel-boats. The classical cutter will still
stay in use for long time by well-off sport-sailors. Till far in the 20 th century dominated in the international regattas.
K(C)amerman(s), a name with a lot of faces
We have investigated thoroughly and in detail the meaning of this family-name (this science is called “onomastik” and
evaluates the origin and development of names). What makes it difficult are the variations in the spelling. The most common
difference is the first letter, where we find either a “C” or a “K”, sometimes amongst the same family and it’s siblings, sometimes
for the same person but on different official documents. In former times the “C” was more common, the “K” came later and was
first introduced officially about 1860. We believe that this change had to do with the modernizing of the language in the 19 th
century in The Netherlands, while in Belgium they kept the “C”. Other variations are the spelling with double “m” or with or
without an “s” at the end.
Most probably the annex “man” replaces “of the”, so the spelling in the middle ages could have been “man of the camer”,
where “camer” is not explicitly clear what it means. One explanation points to a farm and means a kind of room, where the fire
place or oven was. In German “Kammer” is a word, which is still in use and means a closed room, where things for daily use or
household are stored. The word “camer” can also have to do with the naming of a geographical place, e.g. a parcel of a forest or
a closed or limited place or room. This word has Celtic, as well as Old-Frisian and Latin roots and was later also used for an
administrative institution, a group of people that came together with a common interest or objective, like a Chamber from
Parliament, or a Chamber for Commerce, etc.
It makes us curios to know how our name is pronounced in countries like Spain or New Mexico, or other non-Dutch speaking
countries. How does it sound?
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