17 In the ship 78

Maastrichter Smedenstraat 11-13

The name "In het Schipken" was in use at the number 11 property as early as 1703 and probably before that. It is not yet known who the owner was then. Next to this property (possibly house number 13) there was another property with a 'ship' name: 'het Visschip van Dordt'. It contained a forge, and its owner, who was a goldsmith by profession, had another property in the Maastrichter Brugstraat called 'het Schipke'. His profession fitted well in this street with properties like 'het Ketelken', 'Hamerken' and 'Hoefijser', but the question why all those ship names are there remains unanswered. The street did lie within walking distance of the Bat and the Vissersmaas, the places where boats did business.

The gable stone has been restored and made slightly shorter. In this process something crazy occured. In a picture of the old stone from 1960 another year is mentioned, namely '782', and it is not impossible that this year or the '2' was added later. In 1782 the property 'het Schipken' was sold by widow Cornelia D'Heur to her grandson-in-law Cornelis Basiliée with instructions to make substantial repairs. In 1783 he sold the property on to Maria Anna Debije. It may well be that Basilée added the year then and that the '2' was omitted when the stone was made shorter, but there is no conclusive evidence for this.

The two photos show the Maastrichter Smedenstraat before and after the major redevelopment of the Stokstraat Quarter around 1965.

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