OPENING OF THE HOLSTEIN CANAL IN 1784

[aukepalmhof]

The stamp shows us a lock in the Eider Canal, with a “galiote” leaving the lock pulled by a horse.

"Opening of the 'Holstein Canals' in 1784"
The 'Holstein Canal': ... was opened on 18.10.1784 after 7 years of construction. He connected the lower reaches of the Eider at Rendsburg with the Kiel Fjord and thus the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. The canal was renamed 'Eiderkanal' in 1853. It was the first artificial waterway between the North and Baltic Seas. They could be sailed by seagoing sailing ships up to 50 Commerzlasten (= 121 t load weight). The channel was 3.45 m deep, 17 m wide at the bottom, and 31 m wide at the surface. Its excavation length was 34 km and its distance to Rendsburg 43 km. The watershed overcame the canal through a total of 6 locks. The canal system included u.a. Packhouses (warehouse) in Tönning, Rendsburg, and Kiel-Holtenau. A passage from Holtenau to Toenning (180 km) took 3-4 days. In rough or stern winds sails could be set, but mostly one was dependent on the pulling with human or horsepower. The 'Holstein Canal' was the most modern canal of its time and was widely regarded as a technical marvel. They saved the time-consuming and extremely dangerous circumnavigation of the Jutland peninsula, through Skagerrak and Kattegat. With its construction and completion, a long-cherished wish of the ship-owners and the merchants came true. In the best years, the channel was passed by four to five thousand sailing vessels. However, they lost more and more important with increasing ship sizes. Although the number of ships using it increased until the second half of the 19th century, the bulk of the tonnage had to be transported around Skagen and through the Danish Sound. Since 1848, it was thought to replace the Eiderkanal by a larger, more modern waterway, which was to lead in the fairway of the Elbe, when the graving of the Kiel Canal commenced and after a 7-year construction period in 1895 opened to traffic. They are today the most-used channel in the world. The 'Holstein Canal' has been largely absorbed in him. [Nav 129: 1460]

Aak to Zumbra a dictionary of the World’s watercraft gives:

An important coaster along the North Sea built especially on the Eider River (the eidergaliot) the right-bank tributaries of the Elbe River (elbgaliot), and the Weser River. Built until the early 19th century, on the Eider to the 1930s.
Smaller than the Baltic Sea galiot. It also served as pilot boats of the Eider(eiderlotsengaliot).
Flat floors or low deadrise; straight keel, sometimes bilge keels. Mainly carvel planked some clinker. Sharp bow; some a clipper bow, rounded stern; moderated sheer; relatively low freeboard. Decked, usually with a deck cabin. Outboard rudder; a few steered with a wheel; rarely used leeboards.
Mainly ketch rigged with loose-footed gaff sails; gaff topsails to the mainmast and sometimes on the mizzenmast. Yard on the mainmast might carry a square sail. One or two jibs to a rising bowsprit and jibboom; staysail.
Crew 3-4.
Reported lengths 15 – 23m.

Navicula gives:
Eider Galiote: ... Bj. ca 1801-1820 - 2 mast - Coastal Sailing vessel - Traffic North- Baltic Sea - - 250 ts - 30 m L –

Wikipedia has more on the canal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eider_Canal

Germany 1984 80pf. Sg 2071, scott?