Model of a Life-Saving Cart for Shipwrecks 1832

This wooden model of a life-saving cart for shipwrecks was made at Rijkswerf Rotterdam. The wheel, a potent emblem of cyclical return, dominates the design. It speaks of perpetual motion and the relentless cycle of life and death, particularly poignant in the context of maritime disasters. Consider its evolution. In antiquity, the wheel symbolized the sun and cosmic order, seen in the solar chariots of Greek mythology. Later, as the "rota Fortunae," it represented the capricious nature of fate. Here, the wheel is not an instrument of destruction but a tool of potential salvation. The cart, designed to rescue those imperiled by the sea, attempts to defy fate, a testament to human ingenuity striving against nature's chaotic forces. The recurring symbol of the wheel, therefore, echoes humanity's enduring quest to understand and control the unpredictable currents of existence.