Dutch Captain: Gerrit van Lummen

Andrew says that Gerrit van Lummen commanded a ship for the Admiralty of the Maze in 1641-1642. We know that he commanded the Burght (24 guns) for the Old Directors of Amsterdam in 1645. He took part in Witte de With's successful operation to push a large merchant fleet into the Sound without paying the toll to the Danes. He was appointed to command the Amsterdam Directors' ship Neptunis (36 guns) in March 1652. The Neptunis was a very large ship (perhaps as big as 250 or 260 lasts), having dimensions of 138ft x 32ft x 13ft. She carried 4-24pdr, 12-12pdr, 6-8pdr, 6-6pdr, 4-4pdr, and 4-3pdr guns. Her crew was nominally 125 men. Dr. Ballhausen says that he fought in the Battle off Dover on 29 May 1652. I have not been able to verify that, but that is very plausible. He was with the fleet in June and took part in the voyage to the Shetlands in July and August 1652. For whatever reason, Gerrit van Lummen doesn't appear in the commonly available published literature, except in the June 1652 list. We have to wonder if his ship was lost in the storm off the Shetlands. He certainly was not with the 65 ships seen in the Shetlands after the storm. Of course, others survived and made their way home independently. Sources:

1. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Directors' Ship Information 1652-1653", 2004.
2. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships 1600-1700", 2005.
3. Dr. S.R. Gardiner, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.I, 1898.
4. G. W. Kernkamp, De Sleutels van de Sont, 1890.
5. Hendrik de Raedt, Lyste van de schepen van Oorloge onder het beleyt Admirael Marten Harpersz. Tromp, 1652.