Pieter Jans Lioren was son of the noted Elder Jan Willems, born at Hoorn and a member of the Frisian Mennonite congregation; he was made magistrate at Hoorn in 1597, a member of the admiralty in 1612, and mayor 1614-1616. In the coup d'etat of Prince Maurice against Oldenbarnevelt in 1618 he was thrown out of the senate. In 1595 he designed a new model for a sailboat on the proportions of Noah's Ark—the "Hoornsche gaings" or "fleutschepen" (120 ft. long, 20 ft. wide, 12 ft. deep). In a short time quite a number of these boats were in use. Half a century later the boats in the fleet were modeled on different proportions.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 352. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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