The storm that devastated the Dutch fleet in the Shetlands in early August 1652 is usually described as a disaster and Lt-Admiral Tromp lost his fleet command as a result, because he was blamed for taking the fleet there. We have a pretty accurate list of ships from Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet and have a list of ships that survived the storm, although the list is probably not complete. Published sources indicate that Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt's ship, the Amsterdam, and Isaac de Jongh's ship, the Sint Pieter, foundered in the storm. Carl Stapel has found a letter from Gerrit Munt that says he saw five ships capsize in the storm and sink. I had known that there were some Amsterdam Directors' ships that were not mentioned after the storm. Carl found that four were missing after the storm, an apparently had foundered, as well. This is the list of six ships believed to have been lost in the storm. Many others were severely damaged and many were discarded rather than repaired, such as Gerrit Munt's ship, the Huis van Nassau (28 guns):
Adm Ship Guns Crew Captain
A Amsterdam 34 125 Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt
R-Dir Sint Pieter 29 110 Isaac de Jongh (or Jonge)
A-Dir Neptunis 36 125 Gerrit van Lummen
A-Dir Sint Salvador 34 120 Mattheeus van Corneliszoon
A-Dir Prinses Roijael 28 110 Maarten de Graeff
A-Dir Groote Alexander 28 100 Jan Maijkers
Sources:
- Hendrik de Raedt, Lyste van de schepen van Oorloge onder het beleyt Admirael Marten Harpersz. Tromp, 1652
- Carl Stapel, personal communication "missing a-dir ships", 2006
