Adreana Anna Kop - shipbuilder
On this website, historical women from the maritime sector share their stories. This is the story of Adreana Anna Kop.
About Adreana Anna Kop
- Occupation: shipbuilder (or “shipmaker,” according to archival records)
- Lived: 1855–1923
- Employer: She ran her own business
- In which maritime sector did she work? Shipbuilding
What kind of work did she do?
She may have already been involved in the work when her husband Jacobus Boot (1855–1897; they married in 1877) was still running the shipyard, but certainly from the moment he died in 1897. That shipyard was De Dageraad in Woubrugge. From 1897 to 1917, she ran this company, where many ships were built, under the name Wed. J. Boot. For example, 62 inland waterway vessels were built between 1897 and 1904. In 1901, Adreana Kop was responsible for the construction of a second shipyard site to the south. The old section (“De Dageraad”) was located in Woubrugge and built wooden ships. This part of the shipyard was closed in 1914. The second section was located in Oudshoorn (under the name “De Dageraad Woubrugge,” even though it was in Oudshoorn) and steel shipbuilding took place there. After 1917, the shipyard’s name changed to “De Dageraad v/h Wed. J. Boot.” In 1981, the company went bankrupt.
What else is there to say about her life?
The Kop/Boot couple had ten children. Johannes Boot came from a shipbuilding family. Their eldest son, Wouter Boot, studied at the Polytechnic School and became a master shipbuilder. He took over his mother’s shipyard in 1917, after having already officially become director in 1916.
*In the exhibition
Adreana Kop, from the publication Ship Book De Dageraad 1847–1981 Inland Waterway Vessels, 2005
