The shop is open on Thursday and Friday from 10.00 – 17.00 hrs. and on Saturday from 19.00 – 16.00 hrs. Enthusiastic volunteers make sure that the sails are turning and that grain is ground on Saturdays and during the week.
Volunteer miller Fred Prins about De Walvisch:
"Working in windmill De Walvisch appeals to me in particular, because I can combine practising an old trade, in this case the miller’s trade, with producing a healthy product."
Address:
Windmill De Walvisch
Westvest 229
3111 BT Schiedam
Windmill De Walvisch (1794) was named after the whaling industry in Greenland which flourished at the end of the 18th century. In these years the sales area for the malt spirit and jenever (Dutch gin) was expanding. That is why there was a need to build a new windmill. Over the years De Walvisch regularly suffered damage by gales. On Good Friday in the year 1900 the mill lost a piece of one of the stocks (to which the sails were attached). It took eight months before it could be replaced. In the meantime the windmill continued to grind! A few years later it lost another stock. After this incident the mill was not in use for several years. In 1928 the Dutch Windmill Society took over the responsibility for the windmill.
De Walvisch has not only ground grain for the distilleries. At the beginning of the 1930’s even magnesium was processed. This produced a medicine and pure carbonic acid gas which was sold to the soft drinks factories which existed in Schiedam in these years.
In 1954 miller Kluit and his family put the windmill into use. Interesting to mention is that they also lived in the windmill. On several occasions restoration work in the mill was needed. For instance at the beginning of the 1970s the railing had to be restored and also the outside of the sails. De Walvisch also got a complete new cap. After an inspection in 1982 it appeared to be no longer safe to let the sails turn. A new brake wheel was needed. Subsequently The Schiedam Windmills Foundation took over the responsibility from the Dutch Windmill Society. Miller Kluit continued his work in De Walvisch.
In the early morning of 14th
February 1996 the inhabitants of Schiedam were woken up by sirens of the
fire brigade: De Walvisch was on fire. The fire destroyed the interior
of the mill from the cap down to the first floor. Thanks to financial
contributions by businesses in Schiedam, institutions and the people of
Schiedam it was possible to restore De Walvisch to its former glory. In
1999 the sails started to turn again. In 2001 De Walvisch was rented and
the following year a store was set up once more.