Peat shipping in Drenthe

It is 1899. Derk Slot is sitting peacefully in the stern of his ship, concentrating on what he is doing. His wife has gone out shopping, which gives Derk an excellent opportunity to continue working on the sewing box (1) he is decorating. Derk is a peat skipper. His barge is loaded with peat and lies waiting to be locked through. He bought that peat as merchandise for resale. He has a few regular customers that he knows are interested in buying it. This is how it works with most peat skippers.  

At the end of the 19th century, every year some 20,000 barges filled with peat sailed from south-eastern Drenthe to other parts of the Netherlands, one of which was Derk’s.   
He lived in the village of Smilde, like many other skippers. Places such as Meppel and Gasselternijveen also housed many peat skippers, but Hoogeveen beat them all.  

If Derk works hard and does it smartly, he can do good business in the peat trade. Fortunately, he has some spare time now and then, which now comes in handy to work on this sewing box for his wife Annigje Meijer. That's why he is carving her initials in it.