The ship canals communicating with Rotterdam are described by a recent writer[92] on the subject as follows:—
1. _The Voorne Canal_ running from Helvoetsluis through the island of Voorne to the river Maas. The resolution of March 9th, 1880, resettled the police regulations for this route; the maximum dimensions of vessels using it being—length, 110; beam, 13·70; draught, 6 metres.
2. _The Niewe-waterweg_, or direct entrance from the North Sea to the Maas, which is without sluices, and is cut through the Hoek van Holland, thus forming a new outlet to the Maas.
Besides these approaches, there is another route to Rotterdam, to which great attention has been paid of late years, but the railway bridge across the river at Rotterdam causes a certain inconvenience to vessels using it. Vessels coming from the sea by the Hollandschdiep, enter the narrow passage of the Kil near the great Moerdyke railway bridge, and passing Dordrecht, the Maas is reached above the Rotterdam railway bridge. The Nieuwe-Haven, just above this bridge, is a most convenient port for small steam-yachts visiting Rotterdam.
There are two other important ship canals, giving access from the river Schelde to the inland waters of Holland:—
1. _The Walcheren Canal_, about seven miles long, from the new port of Flushing to Veere, which place, formerly known as Campvere, was a free port of the Scotch, who had a factory or trade station there for 300 years, from the year 1506. The maximum dimensions for vessels using this canal are:—Length, 120; breadth, 19·75; and draught, 7·10 metres.
2. _The South Beveland Canal_, from the West Schelde at Hansweert to the East Schelde at Wemeldinge, is five miles in length. The regulations of this canal, fixed by the resolution of May 28th, 1880, allow vessels of the following dimensions to use it, viz. length, 100; breadth, 15·75; draught, 7·10 metres.
The former of these two canals is not much used, but there is a great traffic of the large Rhine arks, and the inland steam barges and sailing vessels of Holland, going to and from Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and other towns of Belgium. The locks, like the others in the more important canals, take in thirty to forty of these vessels at once, all masters having to show their papers before passing. These ship canals are all State property, and are under the management of the Minister of the Waterstaat, Trade, and Industry. Many of the smaller inland navigations are under State control, but others belong to the communes through which they pass. The water-level, which is so all-important in the Netherlands, is regulated by the Amsterdam mark, called the A.P. (Amsterdamsche Peil).