Het Wapen van Amsterdam

Het Wapen van Amsterdam is a salon boat in Amsterdam, connecting the city’s canals with a dramatic maritime past. Built in 1948, it spent more than fifty years sailing on Switzerland’s Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. Today, spacious fore and aft decks, an openable interior, heating, and a bar shape its floating setting.

A seventeenth-century Dutch ship with the same name left India in 1667 carrying gemstones, pearls, gold, silk, and other valuable goods. A storm drove it to Iceland, where it ran aground in the Skeiðarársandur estuary on 19 September 1667. At least 190 people reportedly drowned, while the wreck and its legendary cargo have never been conclusively found. The salon boat now carries up to 175 people for cruises, dinners, receptions, weddings, and business events.

Its routes follow Amsterdam’s canals, the Amstel, and the IJ, with longer journeys reaching the Vecht, Aalsmeer, Uithoorn, the Zaan region, and the IJsselmeer. A seated dinner can accommodate up to 125 guests, while flexible arrangements use the vessel for larger groups. The contrast stays vivid: silk once helped survivors cross Iceland, while music and conversation now fill the decks.