Zwaan van Maaike is a Luxe motor built in Alsmeer, Holland, in 1923, to carry cargo on the extensive network of Dutch waterways. Retired from service in 1973, she lay unused in Kerkdriel until 1994, when she was found by Kellogg & Diana Flemming.

A 2 year conversion followed, to lovingly turn her into the luxury cruising barge that she is today. Great attention was given to retaining her character, whilst adding the essentials, like a new marinised DAF truck engine and ZF gearbox.

Bearing no name when she was found, Kellogg & Diana named her Swan after their yacht, in which they had previously sailed slowly around the globe.

In 1997 Swan began cruising the waterways of Europe, for 10 years, each summer Kellogg & Diana welcomed guests aboard to cruise with them, providing a high quality hotel barge service.

At the end of 2007 Kellogg & Diana retired from the cruising life, to return home to California, and Swan was for sale. We found her moored in Zaltbommel, Holland, in April 2008 and it was love at first sight, because she perfectly matched our dream barge. 

Her original name had later been uncovered, Maaike, which is a ladies name in Dutch that is not often used today. Armed with the old name & the new name we translated Swan into Dutch (Zwaan) and joined the newer name with the older name. So she is now called Zwaan van Maaike, which in Dutch means Swan from Maaike, and we would like to suggest that she is a beautiful swan that grew from an ugly duckling, which everyone can appreciate given the photos of her when Kellogg & Diana found her.

We plan to research more about her working life when we are next in Holland.