Hanseatic League and Dutch
ships’ capacity was defined in the late Middle
Ages by a volumetric unit used for cereals (last), which
had a weight equivalent in pounds.
A last was
initially the load of a four-wheel wagon.
Then it was defined in different ways in different
harbors:
Dantzig:
1 last of rye
= 3.105 m3 or 2,257 Kgf.
Hamburg: 1 last of grain = 3.159 m3;there was
another unit: 1 schiffslast = 2,000
Hamburg pounds = 1,935 Kgf.
… but
2,000 Amsterdam pounds = 1,976 Kgf.