Monday, February 23, 2004

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Gulden Pelikaan

I don't imagine that too many people are aware of the specifications for the Pelikaan (18 March 1653), an Amsterdam Directors' ship. I have a copy of an unpublished manuscript from the Nationaal Archief, in the Hague, that has the following information:

Length: 126ft Beam: 26-3/4ft Hold: 12-1/5ft Height between decks: 6-1/4ft

Guns (28): 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, 2-3pdr

I have been reviewing unpublished manuscript copies, and this was apparently the Gulden Pelikaan, not the ship commanded by Captain Overcamp, even though the adjective is omitted in the manuscript copy that I have.

The latter Pelikaan (or as the archaic spelling was, Pelicaen) was a ship belonging to the Admiralty of Amsterdam. There are three references to that ship. One is in "Thurloe", and is part of a list, and is reprinted in The First Dutch War, Vol.V, page 185. The other is on page 359, as part of a list of ships that had been at the Battle of Scheveningen and needed repairs.

We know that Pelikaan was also at the Gabbard, but survived. On 22 June 1653, the Pelikaan was lying in the Texel, with other surviving ships, after the battle (The First Dutch War, Vol.V, p.185). Therefore, we know the ship was at both the Gabbard and at Scheveningen.

The published reference to the Gulden Pelikaan is in Schetsen uit de geschiedenis van ons zeewezen, Vol.V, Note p.94. The note says that the Gulden Pelikaan was lost at the Battle of the Gabbard, and was commanded by Barend Tijmenszoon Soudaen.

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