There are glaringly large gaps in the scant information we have about Calando. We would certainly be glad to receive any information which would add to our knowledge. What we know to date is as follows:- Calando was first registered (and we assume built) in 1926 in Amsterdam. The riveting work on the existing hull below the waterline has characteristics which suggest that it comes from that time period, so we assume that the bottom is original. We believe that she was an open-decked vessel in 1926, perhaps with a rudimentary engine of the era. We have been told that she was originally a 'milk boat':- that she made daily journeys to the farms surrounding Amsterdam to exchange the empty/full milk churns and take the fresh milk to a dairy; perhaps she delivered milk from the dairy to households around Amsterdam; quite likely she also spent time twice a year transporting dairy cows to/from the summer pastures on the islands near to Amsterdam - but unfortunately we have no prima faccia evidence in the bilges of ancient cow pancakes! Sometime around 1960 (there's a big leap in time!), a raised foredeck. a coach-house superstructure, and a modified stern deck were riveted onto the original hull to create the basics of the present interior. The DAF engine that we continue to use was added sometime after 1965. She had several Dutch owners over the next decades, then Australian owners who brought the vessel from Holland and onto the French waterways around the year 2000. We bought the vessel late in 2004. When we bought her, we registered her on the British Small Ships Register, as SSR 114505 maintaining the name Calando. Immediately prior to our ownership, she had Dutch ANWB registry, number P9920817, with the name Calando. At some time prior to that she was named El Jando, and had the call sign PF5588. And some time before that she was named Wilan, and had the call sign PE9955. |
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