Dutch Captain: Maarten Schaeff

Maarten Schaeff served the Admiralty of Amsterdam. In the summer of 1652, he commanded the hired ship Engel (28 guns and a crew of 100 men). When that ship was paid off, he was given command of the States' ship Omlandia (30 guns and a crew of 100 men). Dr. Ballhausen suggested that Maarten Schaeff fought that the Battle of the Gabbard. That is probably true as the Omlandia was one fo the few ships mentioned by name that was lying at Vlissingen on July 2, 1653, following the Battle of the Gabbard. Maarten Schaeff very likely had relieved Jacob Troucquois as captain in early 1653. The Omlandia was one of the Amsterdam ships sunk at that Battle of Scheveningen. By July 1654, he was in command of the Vereenigde Provinciën. This was one of the ships that was carrying a lighter armament than normal during 1654. The 32 guns consisted of 4-24pdr, 14-12pdr, 10-8pdr, and 4-6pdr. Sources:

1. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, 1910.

2. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript “Dutch Captains”, 2004.

3. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships 1600-1700", 2005.

4. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships at the Battle of the Gabbard", 2003.

5. Johan E. Elias, Schetsen uit de geschiedenis van ons zeewezen, Vol.V, 1928.