Discussion devoted mainly to the Anglo-Dutch Wars (at sea), including ships, battles, and persons. Our website, kentishknock.com, is the primary outlet for artwork, research results, and more formal analysis and commentary. Copyright (c) 2003-2007 James C. Bender
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Dutch captains in the campaign leading up to the Battle of the Downs
After digging into Charles Boxer's book Tromp's Journal 1639, I am starting to think that it might be possible to fairly completely list at least the captains, not the ships, that took part in the Battle of the Downs. I am hampered by not having an lists for 1634-1651, but at least some of the 1633 list will be relevant. Boxer even has named a few ships. For example, Jacques Forant's ship was the Overijssel (26 guns). There are others named, as well. The only difficulty is that the index of the book is quite lacking. Boxer also mangled some names, as he was obviously not that familiar with the material. I can understand the difficulty of reading handwritten Dutch names, and it only really becomes feasible when you can recognize a scribble as being some particular captain's name.