We know for certain that the Paul, which was a Dutch prize, was one of the fishery protection squadron ships taken on 22 July 1652 (the Paulus). The Paul is one of those ships that we actually have English dimensions. That is only because the ship survived in service until 1667, as the English naval administration under Samuel Pepys kept a tidy set of records. The Paulus was a ship hired by the Admiralty of the Maze and her captain was Dirk Claeszoon van Dongen. The ship carried 24 guns and had a crew of 80 men. Let us estimate her Dutch dimensions:
English measurements:
Length on the keel: 84ft
Beam outside of the planking: 25.5ft
Depth in hold at the center: 9.67ft
Estimated Dutch Dimensions in Amsterdam feet (283mm):
Length from stem to sternpost: 112ft
Beam inside the planking: 29ft
Hold at the side: 11ft
I have seen estimates that there were as many as 15 ships in the fishery protection squadron in Dr. Elias's book, Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, Vol.II. We know the identities of 13 of these ships, although fewer of the captains. I have wondered if another Dutch prize used by the English, the Sophia, taken in 1652, might have been an otherwise unknown member of the fishery protection squadron. The Sophia's dimensions and estimates are as follows:
English measurements:
Length on the keel: 90ft
Beam outside of the planking: 26ft
Depth in hold at the center: 11ft
Estimated Dutch Dimensions in Amsterdam feet (283mm):
Length from stem to sternpost: 120ft
Beam inside the planking: 29.5ft
Hold at the side: 12.5ft
The Sophia seems to be too large, though, to have been relegated to the fishery protection squadron. She carried as many as 34 guns in the English service. Her other name was Speaker's Prize. The only question is where she came from. My own parochial view of the Battle of the Kentish Knock is that the only two Dutch losses were the Maria (Claes Sael's ship) taken as prize and the Burgh van Alkmaar (Gerrit Nobel's ship), which was destroyed by explosion. Perhaps the "Sophia" (we don't know her Dutch name) was a merchant prize that was good enough to be taken into the English naval service.
